Andy Comerford's Kildare produced the result of the first round of the Christy Ring Cup when they registered an extra-time victory over much-fancied Westmeath at Mullingar. The visitors led by eight points at half-time, but goals from top-scorer Brendan Murtagh and Alan Devine sparked a Westmeath recovery which saw them edge two points in front before late points from David Harney forced the game into extra-time. And Harney's accurary - he scored 0-11 in total - proved the difference between the sides in the additional 20 minutes as Kildare eeked out a surprise 3-19 to 2-21 victory over the two-time winners. In the all-Ulster clash at Newry, Down withstood a late Derry rally to win by 3-20 to 1-22. Derry corner forward Sam Dodds gave an exhibition of free-taking by scoring 0-17 of his side's total, but the home side had more firepower all-round with Gareth 'Magic' Johnson bagging 2-3 and Paul Braniff 0-7. Despite shooting 16 wides, holders Carlow overcame neighbours Wicklow by 4-16 to 3-9. Paudie Kehoe scored 2-4 for the winners, while Craig Doyle and Damien Roberts hit 1-3 and 1-2 respectively. Joe Murphy top-scored for Wicklow with 1-5. In Tralee, a point by former Tipperary star Evan Sweeney in the fifth minute of injury-time secured a 3-11 to 1-16 victory for Kerry over a luckless Mayo side. Dual star Keith Higgins had opted to play in this game rather than travel to New York with the Mayo footballers for today's Connacht SFC opener, but despite scoring 0-4, it wasn't enough to save the visitors from a narrow defeat. Tweet

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