Michael Ryan was overjoyed with Westmeath's stunning victory over Offaly.

The underdogs produced a superb performance to inflict a 14-point defeat on their illustrious neighbours in the first round of the Leinster SHC round-robin series at TEG Cusack Park yesterday. In doing so, they repeated their 1976 victory over the Faithful, which incredibly was the last championship meeting of the neighbouring counties.

"Full credit to the boys - they were absolutely fantastic. The attitude the last few weeks in training has been absolutely incredible and I sensed in the dressing-room before the game that this was a team ready to perform," the Lake County manager told the Irish Daily Star.

"They played some fantastic hurling. We put a lot of emphasis on use of the ball and thankfully a few things paid off today."

Ryan was already looking ahead to next Saturday's top-of-the-section clash with Kerry in Tralee.

"There's a huge game down in Kerry in six days' time and Kerry won well today (against Carlow). It's a very difficult game. Kerry are on the crest of a wave. I saw them down there playing Laois in the league play-off and they hammered them.

"We know we'll have to work really hard. Tralee is a big wide-open pitch and I think we'll be ready for the challenge."

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