NHL 2: Lilies wallop Westmeath
Kildare easily won this proverbial relegation "four-pointer" in Mullingar yesterday to increase the pressure on new Westmeath manager Kevin Martin.
Kildare 4-10
Westmeath 0-11
Coming off the back of a 19-point mauling by Carlow, many were expecting a Westmeath backlash, but it never materialised as Andy Comerford's Kildare - who lost the recent Kehoe Cup final to the same opposition - took control with two goals just before half-time.
Westmeath had just taken the lead for the first time in the 32nd minute through a Brendan Murtagh free when his side were dealt a double blow. Richie Hoban saw his penalty come back off the crossbar, but David Carter was on hand to fire home the rebound, while David Harney added a second goal in injury-time to give the visitors a 2-5 to 0-7 lead at the interval.
Carter struck again midway through the second half and John Houlihan also found the net with a minute to go to give the Lilywhites their first win of the campaign and leave a sorry Westmeath in deep relegation trouble.
Scorers - Kildare: D Carter 2-1; D Harney 1-3; J Houlihan 1-1; B White 0-4 (4f); M Fitzgerald 0-1; Westmeath: B Murtagh 0-4 (2f); A Dowdall, D McNicholas, A Mitchell ('65, f) 0-2 each; J Clarke 0-1.
