Kerry progress easily

All-Ireland SHC Qualifier - preliminary round: Kerry 3-15 Westmeath 0-13 Kerry's hurlers cruised to an easy victory over a disappointing Westmeath in the first of the All-Ireland qualifiers at a balmy McDonagh Park, Nenagh, on Saturday afternoon.

Kerry opened their account with a long-range Pat O'Connell free in the opening minutes before Michael Slattery extended their advantage with a well worked point in the sixth minute.

Westmeath kept in touch with points from John Shaw and Paddy Dowdall, but with Kerry's midfield pairing of Aidan Cronin and Darren Young providing the platform, corner forwards Michael Slattery and Shane Brick caused huge problems for the Westmeath defence.

Westmeath mined two points to bring their tally to four from meagre spells of possession, with Andrew Mitchell and Barry Kennedy both finding their range to pull Westmeath level midway through the half.

Michael Slattery restored Kerry's advantage with a close-range free after Shane Brick was dragged down in the 20th minute.

Kerry were then handed the initiative after a dreadful mistake by Brian Conaty in the Westmeath goal. O'Connell's weak shot from 25 yards looked harmless, but the sliotar skimmed off Conaty's fingertips, over his head and into the net to gift the Kingdom a four-point advantage.

Westmeath replied with an Andrew Mitchell free but Kerry tacked on the points as the interval approached to secure a six-point cushion at the break, 1-8 to 0-5.

Kerry continued to prosper after the interval and extended their lead to 10 points with a Shane Brick point and an opportunist goal from Michael Slattery after just 60 seconds.

Kerry's defence improved immensely in the second half and snuffed out the best Westmeath had to offer, and Shane Brick put the outcome beyond any shadow of a doubt with his side's third goal in the 55th minute.

As time ticked away, Kerry tacked on point after point to secure an easy passage to the next round of the preliminary qualifiers and a meeting with Carlow.

KERRY: J Healy; T Cronin, A Healy, I Brick (capt); J McCarthy, C Flaherty, C Harris; A Cronin, D Young (0-1); P O'Connell (1-3, 0-1f), B Brick (0-1), L Boyle (0-1); S Brick (1-1), G O'Brien, M Slattery (1-5, 0-3f). Subs: M Conway (0-2) for O'Brien; H Twomey for McCarthy; M Lucid for Cronin, I McCarthy (0-1) for O'Connell; E Fitzgerald for S Brick.

WESTMEATH: B Conaty; M Williams, B Murtagh (0-1), B Williams (capt); V Bateman, D McCormack, N Gavin (0-1); C Fanning, P Dowdall (0-2); J Forbes, J Shaw (0-4, 0-2f), B Kennedy (0-1); D Carty, A Mitchell (0-4, 0-2f), F Shaw. Subs: N Williams for Forbes; P Williams for F Shaw; P Fanning for Carty.

Referee: D Kirwan (Cork).