Ladies firing on all cylinders in emphatic win over down

TESCO Homegrown Ladies' NFL Division 2: Westmeath 7-19, Down 0-4

Westmeath won the corresponding fixture against Down by 12 points last year, but trebled that margin in Kinnegad today in an emphatically one-sided TESCO Homegrown Ladies' NFL Division 2 opener.

Garrycastle's Jennifer Byrne notched up a hat-trick, and centre-forward and veteran of the 2011 Mary Quinn Cup-winning side, Fiona Claffey, led by example as the hosts recorded a facile win.

Another member of that All-Ireland winning outfit, Mullingar Shamrocks' Emma Morris, helped herself to 1-6 as Westmeath made light of the inclement weather conditions.

They led 2-11 to 0-2 at the change of ends, and the scores kept coming in the second half, with Byrne sealing her hat-trick on 42 minutes, and goals flying in from Claffey, Claire Killian and Chloe Kelly.

New manager Niall Williams was delighted with the result.

“It was a good solid start to the league. We knew coming in to this that our home games are very important for maintaining our status in this division and if we win them we’ll see where we go from there,' the Delvin man remarked.

For a full report, see this week's paper.

Westmeath
Sarah Keegan; Tríona Durkan, Jenny Rogers, Aileen Martin; Tara Fagan, Maud-Annie Foley, Sinead Whelehan; Stacey Holloway (0-1), Karen McDermott (0-1); Jo-hanna Maher (0-2), Fiona Claffey (1-2), Emma Morris (1-6, 0-3f); Nicole Feery (0-2), Jennifer Byrne (3-2), Karen Hegarty (0-1). Subs used: Chloe Kelly (1-1) for Feery, Fiona Leavy for Maher and Carole Finch for Whelehan (all h/t), Ciara Blundell for Fagan and Aimee Giles for Holloway (both 41), Laura Kiernan for Durkan, Niamh Spellman for Martin, Claire Killian (1-1) for Byrne and Roisín Brennan for Hegarty (all 50).