24-05-2025
Kerry suffer relegation after heavy loss to Westmeath
Kerry's 10-year existence in the Joe McDonagh Cup came to an end on a fittingly grey and drab afternoon in Tralee, with their 17-point loss to Westmeath confirming the Kingdom's relegation to the Christy Ring Cup.
Somewhat ironically, it was John 'Tweek' Griffin who captained Kerry to Christy Ring Cup success in 2015, but a decade later he is in the ignominious position of being the team manager as the county drops down to the third tier of championship hurling for the first time.
Westmeath's McDonagh Cup campaign hadn't been a whole lot better, but they came to Tralee knowing a win would keep them up, and they went about getting the victory with an assured performance, spearheaded by the excellent Killian Doyle.
The Raharney man scored 15 points – six from play – while the Leinster men embellished the win with goals from Niall O'Brien and David O'Reilly, one in either half.
The first goal came in the seventh minute, O'Brien finishing across Louis Dee's goal after Peter Clarke's measured delivery in, to push the visitors 1-02 to 0-01 ahead.
Clarke, Kevin Regan and David Williams added Westmeath points to make it 1-5 to 0-2, before Kerry struck back with a goal from Luke Rochford – well set up by Shane Nolan – and a Killian Hayes point to bring them to within two points, 1-05 to 1-03.
That was as good as it got for Kerry. Westmeath scored the next 10 points in a 16-minute spell to go 1-15 to 1-03 ahead, and though Padraig Boyle converted from play and from a free, the Kingdom looked all but beaten, 1-16 to 1-05 adrift at the break.
There looked little chance of Westmeath letting it slip from there, despite playing against the wind and under increasing rain, and when O'Reilly struck for a point and then a goal within 20 seconds of each other to make it 2-19 to 1-06 in the 41st minute, that was that.
It all petered out thereafter. Boyle converted a couple of more Kerry frees, and the Kingdom got four from play from their subs, while Doyle popped over another couple of Westmeath frees and O'Reilly brought his tally to a goal and six points for the game.
So it is Kerry who are relegated – their head-to-head loss to Down saves the Mourne men – while Westmeath live to fight another year in the Joe McDonagh Cup.
Kerry: Louis Dee, Kyle O'Connor, Flor McCarthy, Dara Kearney, Darragh Shanahan, Kevin Goulding (0-01), Daithí Griffin, Paudie O'Connor, Killian Hayes (0-01), Tom Doyle, Luke Rochford (1-00), Daniel Casey, Niall Mulcahy (0-01), Padraig Boyle (0-06, 5f), Shane Nolan (0-01).
Subs: Luke Crowley (0-01) for D Casey (ht), Seamie Foran (0-01) for D Kearney (52), Tomás Godley (0-02) for F McCarthy (57), Sean McGrath for L Rochford (57), Jeremy McKenna for D Shanahan (63).
Westmeath: Ciarán O'Brien, Conor Gaffney, Tommy Doyle, Gary Greville, Eoin Keyes, Robbie Greville, David Hickey, Kevin Regan (0-01), Eamon Cunneen, David O'Reilly (1-06), David Williams (0-02), Mark Cunningham (0-01), Peter Clarke (0-02), Niall O'Brien (1-01), Killian Doyle (0-15 ,8f, 1 '65').
