Higgins' late salvo stuns Westmeath

WESTMEATH WERE left stunned at McHale Park, Castlebar, yesterday where Mayo's Keith Higgins struck with two late  goals to leave the visitors on thewrong side of a 2-14 to 2-13 scoreline in their Division Two A tie.

Westmeath had looked the better team but for battling qualities alone Mayo deserved something out of this tie. However, a win looked beyond their reach when second-half goals by John Shaw and Brendan Murtagh had Westmeath six points clear with five minutes remaining.

A free from Higgins on 65 minutes seemed just a token effort from Mayo who had cut the deficit to five but that point was to prove crucial in bringing Pete Finnerty's charges their first win under his guidance as coach, Higgins shooting twice to the net inside a minute and sensationally robbing Westmeath who had been riding high on an unbeaten run.

Wicklow, who reached the divisional league final last year, are effectively out of contention in this campaign after losing by 1-16 to 1-14 to Kildare at Arklow yesterday. Kildare looked the crisper hurlers of the two sides and led for most of the match including being ahead by 1-8 to 1-5 at the break.

A three-minute spell in the second half proved decisive in an entertaining, well-contested match between Kerry and Roscommon in Woodmount, the home side running out 2-11 to 0-9 winners.

Despite trailing by three points at the interval, Carlow turned the tables on a brave London side still chasing their first Division Two B league points at Ruislip yesterday, winning 2-15 to 1-10.

Also in Division Two B, Derry beat Armagh by 3-11 to 2-13 at Keady, while visitors Down ran out  2-17 to 0-21 winners against Meathat Páirc Tailteann.

SCORERS: Mayo - K Higgins 2-7; P Higgins, S Broderick 0-2 each; A Freeman, S Barrett, D McConn 0-1 each; Westmeath - B Murtagh 1-5; J Shaw 1-1; P Clarke 0-3; P Dowdall 0-2; B Connaughton, R Jackson 0-1 each.

Kildare - M Dowd 1-1; O Lynch 0-6; A McAndrew 0-4, B White, A Bourke 0-2 each; T Murphy 0-1; Wicklow - J Connors 1-1; J O'Neill 0-7; E Furlong 0-4; S McGrath, E Mason 0-1.

Carlow - C Doyle, J King 1-1 each; R Dunbar 0-4 (three frees); B Lawlor 0-3; K English 0-2 (frees); R Foley, A Gaul, J Coady, M Brennan 0-1 each; London - M Finn 0-8 (five frees); S Quinn 1-0; J McCarthy, N O'Callaghan 0-1 each.

Kerry - S Brick 1-1, JM Dooley 1-0, J Godley, B Brick 0-3 each, J McCarthy 0-2, J Egan, M Quilter 0-1 each; Roscommon - K McDermott, K Conneally 0-2 each; M Connaughton, M Kelly, G Fallon, S Sweeney, S Curley 0-1 each.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times