Leinster U21HC: Doyle twins star as Lake County sink Royals
May 24, 2017
Killian Doyle and James Goonery Westmeath with Ronan Ryan Meath
Twins Killian and Ciaran Doyle did most of the damage as Westmeath inflicted a 2-20 to 0-12 defeat on Meath at Trim.
The Raharney siblings led the home defence a merry dance from start to finish, contributing 2-15 between them in the opening match in this year's U21 hurling championship, with Adrian Moran's charges easily sealing a quarter-final date with Laois at Mullingar next Wednesday night.
Still featuring most of the personnel who stunned Kilkenny in last year's competition, Westmeath were simply a class apart tonight and this game was settled as an issue by the interval as the winners built up a commanding 2-10 to 0-6 advantage.
A late addition to the Lake County starting XV, Ciaran Doyle had the ball in the hosts' net inside ten seconds and Killian also netted as the Lake County made a dream start - 2-0 to no score after only three minutes.
Conor Kearney and Ross Ryan got the Royals up and running and Kearney cancelled out a Killian Doyle strike before a run of four unanswered Westmeath points from Killian Doyle (3) and midfielder Jack Galvin made it 2-5 to 0-3.
Points from Peter Farrell and Kearney left just the two goals between the sides but the visitors finished out the opening period strongly with three late points from Killian Doyle in the 29th, 30th and 31st minutes to lead by ten at the break.
Meath had missed two goal chances before the short whistle and, realistically, they needed to bag those to have any chance. Killian Doyle helped himself to 1-7 in the first half and he notched five more scores in the second half as Westmeath marched into the last eight.
Westmeath - M Kennedy; S Quinn, C Shaw, N McKenna; J Rabbitte, D Giles, D Egerton; M Daly, S Clavin; A McLoughlin, K Doyle (1-12, 0-8f), J Galvin (0-2); J Goonery (0-2), N Mitchell, C Doyle (1-3). Subs: P Lynam for S Clavin, D Clinton (0-1) for N Mitchell, R Gillen for J Rabbitte, D O'Reilly for J Galvin, J Bermingham for M Daly.
Meath - C Ennis; B Murphy, I Hughes, C Dempsey; P Slevin, D Kelly (0-2, 1f, 1'65), Ronan Ryan; M Healy, L Martyn; P Farrell (0-1), J McCluskey, C Kearney (0-5, 4f); Ross Ryan (0-1), G McGowan, E O'Donnacha (0-2). Subs: M Cullen (0-1) for P Farrell, J Cox for C Kearney, S Gibbons for C Dempsey, S O'Hanrahan for L Martyn, M Slevin for G McGowan.
Referee - J O'Brien.
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