Dublin had to work hard to dispose of a plucky Westmeath challenge in the third round robin tie of the Leinster senior hurling championship in slippery ...
A Lake County goal did arrive on the hour mark when a delivery by sub Ciaran Doyle (a twin brother of Killian) was only batted out by Seán Brennan and O’Brien was on hand to boot the sliotar to the net. Riain McBride finished the game with six points from play, but a number of them were scored in acres of space. Nothing epitomized their spirit more than a superb solo point from their highly-rated full back Tommy Doyle in the 26th minute. They were somewhat fortunate to be in front at that stage. Behind him, Noel Conaty was called into action to good effect on a couple of occasions. The reliable Donal Burke nudged Dublin ahead from a sixth-minute free before Niall O’Brien belatedly equalized some two minutes later, his side having already missed five chances in the opening exchanges.
Dublin manager Mattie Kenny was “delighted to get the win and come away with the two points” from Mullingar, his unbeaten side having had to work hard to ...
But in the second half our guys played much better and got more space, and we began to cope better with the slippery conditions. Westmeath trailed by 0-21 to 0-15 when Killian Doyle was very narrowly wide from a goal chance in the 55th minute. Subs: C Doyle 6 for McNicholas (h-t), O McCabe 6 for Regan (53), D Clinton 6 for O’Brien (65), J Bermingham n/r for Egerton (70 +2). Dublin: S Brennan 6; J Madden 7, E O’Donnell 6, C O’Callaghan 7; D Ryan 6, P Smyth 7, S Barrett 6; C Burke 6, C Crummey 8; D Burke 8, R McBride 8, D Sutcliffe 6; P Crummey 6, R Hayes 5, A Mellett 6. Top scorers, Killian Doyle (five frees) and Donal Burke (three frees) both registered six points in the opening half. After the game, Kenny lauded the Lake County challenge, stating: “Westmeath worked really hard in the first half and we knew there would be a bit of a backlash from them.