Glennon fires hat-trick as Westmeath defeat Down to seal return to top tier

Davy Glennon's hat-trick of goals fired Westmeath back to the top tier as they beat Down by 14 points in the Division 2A league final.

Killian Doyle and Cormac Boyle also hit the net for the Lake County in Thurles, while Jordan Doran struck a late consolation goal for the Mourne County.

The sides had met in Mullingar on 6 March, with the visitors claiming a fantastic win to put them in a position to top their league table.

After a fantastic opening spell in Thurles put them into a 0-05 to 0-01 lead, it looked as though another surprising win was on the cards.

Paul Sheehan laid the platform for Down's quick start with a brace of scores, which were added to by points from Pearse Óg McCrickard and the lively Ryan McCusker.

Joey Boyle interrupted the Ulster flow with his first of four points, and though McCusker cancelled that out just after, Eoin Keyes soon found the range Lake County once more.

Joe Fortune’s side went on to dominate the remainder of the half as they created 15 of 21 scoring attempts from the 15th minute to the interval — during which time they outscored the Mourne men 1-08 to 0-03.

Doyle took over the game by scoring 0-07 (4f) during that run while Joey Boyle and Derek McNicholas — hurling in his 19th season for Westmeath — also raised white flags.

A crucial green one was waved in the midst of that blitz. Boyle won a ruck ball at midfield on 18 minutes, took off at pace, and released Glennon into the '21 to fire across the goal into the top corner.

Down’s errant free-taking hurt their chances of staying in the game, and Westmeath took full advantage by starting the second half in a hurry.

They turned a 1-10 to 0-08 lead into 2-14 to 0-08 during the next seven minutes, with Killian Doyle hitting the net.

To their