Offaly sink Westmeath to retain Division Three status

Offaly take advantage of three Westmeath dismissals to secure victory in Mullingar

Peter Cunningham’s goal helped Offaly to victory over Westmeath. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

Offaly 1-20 Westmeath 1-14

Offaly retained their position in Division Three with a deserved win in Mullingar against a Westmeath side which finished with just 12 men.

The visitors led by 0-4 to 0-3 when midfielder Peter Cunningham scored a great solo goal in the 17th minute. Luke Loughlin cleverly found the net for Westmeath from a close-range free in added-time. At the break, Offaly led by 1-8 to 1-6.

Killian Daly picked up a straight red card for the home team less than a minute after the resumption of play. Westmeath went on to lose both Boidu Sayeh and John Connellan to second yellow cards in the 61st and 66th minutes respectively.

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Offaly: A Mulhall; D Hogan, P McConway, S Pender; D Dempsey, D Brady, N Darby (0-2); P Cunningham (1-2), M Brazil (0-1); C McNamee, A Sullivan (0-2), C Donohue (0-1); B Allen (0-3, one free), C Carroll (0-1), N Dunne (0-7, four frees). Subs: S Doyle for Brady (h-t), S Nally for Pender (54 mins), C Johnston (0-1) for Sullivan (67 mins), J Hayes for Brazil (67 mins).

Westmeath: K Fagan; M McCallon, K Daly, B Sayeh; R Wallace, J Gonoud, J Dolan; A Stone, D Corroon; L Loughlin (1-4, 1-1 frees), R O'Toole (0-1), A McGivney; J Connellan (0-5, two frees), C McCormack (0-1), T McDaniel. Subs: G Egan (0-1, free) for McDaniel (40 mins), K Martin (0-2) for McGivney (40 mins), D Whelan for O'Toole (63 mins), G Carr for Gonoud (63 mins).

Referee: J Henry (Mayo).