Westmeath 1-9

Offaly 1-7

Westmeath are through to their first O'Byrne Cup final in 13 years after a strong first half performance laid the foundations for a two-point victory over Offaly at TEG Cusack Park.

Denis Corroon netted in the first half as the Lake County made it three wins from three under new manager Colin Kelly. They will have an opportunity next weekend to claim their first O'Byrne Cup in 30 years before travelling to Derry for a difficult Allianz League Division 3 opener on Sunday week.

The hosts opened up an early 0-3 to 0-0 lead before a Joey O'Connor goal brought Offaly back onto level terms. Corroon replied with a similar score before points from Luke Loughlin, John Egan and Callum McCormack gave Westmeath a 1-7 to 1-2 interval lead. Offaly's two first half points came from Nigel Dunne frees.

McCormack extended the Lake County's advantage on the restart before a wind-assisted Offaly reeled off four unanswered points to close the gap to two, 1-6 to 1-8. Substitutes Mickey Brazil and Cian Johnson were among the scorers for the Faithful, for home Cian Donohue was very impressive at centre back, but their momentum was eventually broken by a fisted Alex Gardiner point as Westmeath prevailed.

Westmeath - E Carberry; K Daly, S Duncan, M McCallon; J Dolan, B Sayeh, N Mulligan; A Stone, D Corroon (1-1); A Gardiner (0-1), L Loughlin (0-2, 1f), N Scally; C McCormack (0-2), K Martin (0-1), J Egan (0-2). Subs: F Coyne for N Scally, F Boyle for A Stone, G Leech for K Martin, C Slevin for A Gardiner.

Offaly - P Dunican; D Brady, P McConway, S Pender; D Dempsey, C Donohue, J Lalor; C McNamee, S Nally; J Hayes (0-1), A Sullivan, J O'Connor (1-0); B Allen (0-1), N Dunne (0-2f), S Doyle. Subs: C Johnson (0-2) for S Doyle, M Brazil (0-1) for A Sullivan, B O'Dea for C McNamee, A O'Sullivan for J O'Connor, S Tierney for B Allen.

Referee - D Hickey.

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