Kingston on form as Cork hold off stubborn Westmeath

Cork have had turkey shoots and scares against Westmeath in recent years but this was neither. Not impressive nor worrying, just enough to maintain the Rebels' winning start in the Allianz Hurling League.

An experimental selection got their goals early from Shane Kingston (1-07) and Shane Barrett (1-02) while Westmeath never threatened the major that could have woken this game from its slumber.

Killian Doyle carried their hopes with a 13-point contribution before he exited injured. Still, his side edged the second-half scoring by 0-11 to 0-10.

With Seán O’Leary-Hayes a late injury withdrawal, Pat Ryan made eight changes from the victory over Galway. Seven were having their first starts of the 2023 League, while there were competitive debuts for St Finbarr’s duo Ethan Twomey and Ben Cunningham.

In their three recent meetings, Cork have put 7-27 and 1-40 on Westmeath either side of a tense four-point victory. This threatened to be a score-fest as early as the third minute when Kingston snatched Twomey’s delivery out of the air and buried to the net.

Cunningham had his first point before Cork rumbled some Westmeath short puck-outs, with Conor Cahalane and Brian Hayes swooping for scores. 1-06 to 0-01 in 11 minutes but the visitors would win the rest of the half.

The drifting Doyle kept them ticking over with eight first-half points, three from play, but just as they were gaining some level of momentum, Hayes turned over possession and Barrett was all alone inside to raise the green flag.

Both goalscorers, Kingston and Barrett, had further shots saved by Noel Conaty as Westmeath went into half-time seven behind, 2-11 to 0-10.

There were debut points for substitute Cathal Cormack and Twomey, who set up a goal chance for another sub