O'Byrne Cup final: 13-man Royals belatedly take the silverware May 13, 2018





Westmeath's Conor Slevin with Cillian O'Sullivan Meath during the O'Byrne Cup final at Cuasack Park Mullingar Westmeath's Conor Slevin with Cillian O'Sullivan Meath during the O'Byrne Cup final at Cuasack Park Mullingar

Meath beat neighbours Westmeath by 4-13 to 1-13 in a dramatic O'Byrne Cup final at Mullingar.

The climax of the winter competition found an unlikely slot in mid-May and Andy McEntee's charges prevailed thanks to a match-winning haul from the exceptional Donal Lenihan.

Donal Keogan was the unlikely scorer of the game's opening goal on 20 minutes and the centre back's major made it 1-3 to 0-4. Lenihan plundered his first three-pointer two minutes later and the winners had midfielder Paddy Kennelly sent off for a second yellow card eleven minutes from the short whistle.

Callum McCormack supplied the hosts' goal on 26 minutes but a couple of Lenihan points and one from Cillian O'Sullivan ensured the 14-man Royals of a 2-7 to 1-7 interval lead.

Lenihan's second goal six minutes after the restart, following an exchange between Luke Loughlin and O'Sullivan, effectively finished the game as a contest and the victors struck their fourth goal deep into injury time via the palm of substitute Daniel O'Neill, despite having had Eamon Wallace dismissed for a straight red card offence on the hour.

Meath - A Colgan; S Lavin, C McGill, S Glynn; J McEntee, D Keogan (1-0), S McEntee; B Menton, P Kennelly (0-1); B McMahon, B Brennan (0-1), M Burke; C O'Sullivan (0-2), G Reilly, D Lenihan (2-8, 0-2f, 0-1'45). Subs: J Wallace for G Reilly, E Wallace for B Brennan, D O'Neill (1-0) for M Burke, T O'Reilly (0-1) for B McMahon, A Flanagan for B Menton, C O'Brien for J McEntee, S Curran for S Lavin.

Westmeath - S Gallagher; R Wallace, S Duncan, B Sayeh; C Slevin, J Gonoud, J Dolan; A Stone, D Daly; K Martin (0-3), C McCormack (1-0), J Egan; L Loughlin (0-2), F Coyne, J Connellan (0-6, 5f). Subs: N Mulligan for R Wallace, G Egan (0-2) for C Slevin, M McCallon for B Sayeh, R O'Toole for F Coyne, G Carr for A Stone, A McGivney for J Egan, A Loughlin for D Daly, J Rock for N Mulligan, N Scally for K Martin, J Moran for C McCormack.

Referee - F Smyth.

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