After suffering a surprise opening round defeat to Meath, Kerry got their Leinster SHC round robin campaign back on track but they were almost caught on the line by 14-man Westmeath in TEG Cusack Park today.

Nothing less than a win for either side would suffice if they were to keep their respective hopes of making the last eight of the Leinster SHC alive and it was Fintan O'Connor's charges who were breathing a sigh of relief at the final whistle.

Two second-half Westmeath goals set up a dramatic finish but Kerry held on to record a 0-20 to 2-12 victory.

Backed by the breeze, the visitors enjoyed the better of the exchanges early on and raced into an 0-8 to 0-3 lead.

Westmeath's cause wasn't helped by the 15th minute dismissal of Niall O'Brien and the 14-man Lake County, who lost out to Laois in round 1, subsequently struggled to make any inroads on the first-half proceedings.

They trailed by 0-5 to 0-12 at the halfway stage and the third quarter followed a similar pattern with the Kingdom continuing to hold the upper hand.

However, the momentum switched in their favour when Niall Mitchell found the back of the Kerry net 18 minutes into the second half to leave the scoreboard reading Kerry 0-18, Westmeath 1-9.

A converted 31st minute Killian Doyle penalty left the Kingdom looking nervously over their shoulders as it cut their advantage to three points while Robbie Greville made it a two point game shortly after.

But, as events transpired, time ran out on the spirited Westmeath comeback and Kerry live to the tell the tale.

Kerry - M Stackpoole; J Buckley, R Horgan, S Weir; J O'Connor (0-1), D Dineen, T Murnane; J Goulding (0-1), P O'Connor (0-1); J Conway (0-2), M O'Leary (0-1), B O'Leary; P Boyle (0-3), M Boyle (0-4), S Nolan (0-7, 4f, 1'65). Subs: J Griffin for M O'Leary, M O'Connor for P Boyle, K Carmody for B O'Leary.

Westmeath - P Maloney; C Shaw, T Doyle, T Gallagher; G Greville, P Greville, A Clarke; C Boyle, J Boyle; A Devine (0-8, 6f, 1'65), K Doyle (1-2, 1-0pen, 0-1f, 0-1'65), R Greville (0-2); N O'Brien, N Mitchell (1-0), D Egerton. Subs: J Galvin for J Boyle, D McNicholas for D Egerton, A Cox for G Greville.

Referee - P O'Dwyer.

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