Division 2A
Kildare 0-14 Carlow 2-13
KEHOE CUP champions Kildare were largely on top in the first period and led 0-10 to 0-4 after 31 minutes, with Gerry Keegan, Johnny Byrne and Jack Sheridan among the scorers.
Carlow hit back, however, and, with Ross Smithers goaling, trailed by just one point at half-time. In the 48th minute, Carlow edged ahead through Craig Wall and they were never headed thereafter.
London 0-13 Westmeath 2-16
WESTMEATH always looked to hold the upper hand in this clash and, aided by a 14th minute Cormac Boyle goal, led by four after 23 minutes.
Only London’s free-taker Kevin O’Loughlin and Kevin Reid kept the Exiles in touch as the first-half ended with Westmeath eight to the good. Robbie Greville added Westmeath’s second goal after the break and London ’keeper Padraig Buckley also saved Brendan Murtagh’s penalty.
Division 2B
Mayo 1-14 Donegal 0-13
MAYO saw off the challenge of Donegal in Castlebar on Sunday, but were made to sweat for the win by a spirited visiting side who played the majority of the second-half with just 14 men after Christopher McDermott was shown a second yellow card not long after the throw-in, writes Colm Gannon.
Mayo led 0-10 to 0-3 at the break, with dual star Keith Higgins chipping in with three points of that total, as did Kenny Feeney. Donegal’s three points came from two frees from Kevin Campbell and one from play from Ciaran Matthewson.
The second-half started well on the scoreboard for Donegal, who cut the gap back to just four points inside the opening 11 minutes despite going down to 14 men in that period, with Campbell very effective from placed balls.
The score that eventually decided the outcome of the game came in the 50th minute. Higgins spotted Feeney one-on-one with his man in front of the goal and he dropped the ball in behind the pair. Feeney reacted quickest and was able to pull on the sliotar and beat Paul Burns to raise the green flag. Feeney quickly followed that up with a point from a free and put eight between the sides.
Donegal did reel in that lead over the next 20 minutes, with Matthewson and Campbell leading the charge, but they never looked like creating the goal chance they needed to really make it a contest and Mayo held on for a vital win by four points.
Wicklow 0-13 Meath 0-22
SEVEN points from Joey Kenna set Meath on their way to a nine-point win against Wicklow.
Meath had ex-Tipperary player Timmy Hammersley in their ranks and he finished the game with 0-3 to his name.
Division 3A
Monaghan 2-13 Tyrone 2-18
TYRONE staged a late rally, hitting 1-2 going into stoppage time, the goal by Conor Grogan, to clinch victory in this fairly low-key and, at times, scrappy encounter in Clones on Sunday, writes John P Graham.
Tyrone’s Damien Casey put on an exhibition of point scoring in the first-half, hitting 0-6, 0-5 from frees, and finished the game with 0-10. Tyrone led at half-time, 1-12 to 1-5, the Tyrone goal coming in the 29th minute from substitute Mathew Mulgrew, with Monaghan’s Sean Leonard slotting home a loose ball two minutes later.
Monaghan made a much greater battle of it in the second-half, Mark Treanor the catalyst with a goal in the four minutes after the resumption. That helped Monaghan get the margin down to the minimum with three minutes of normal time remaining, despite being down to 14 men with the second yellow card dismissal of Patrick Finnegan, but Tyrone rallied to clinch victory.
Louth 1-14 Roscommon 1-16
LIAM KILCLINE hit the net for Roscommon as they had to fight very hard to overcome Louth in Darver and emerge two-point winners.
Fingal 4-18 Warwickshire 1-6
FINGAL were control throughout as they recorded a 21-point win over last year’s Division 3B champions Warwickshire.
After jumpint to a 2-4 to 0-1 lead, they were ahead 2-5 to 1-4 at the break and put the foot down in the second-half.
