Coaches and players give new rules the thumbs down already

THE new playing rules were in the dock in this O’Byrne Cup first round game in Netwatch Cullen Park yesterday and both sides expressed their reservations after the game. ‘A lot of the kick passes were very short. There was a lot of lateral kick passing,’ said Westmeath manager, Jack Cooney while experienced Carlow player, Daniel St Ledger, added: ‘The three handpasses did nothing for the game. The rest of the new rules were irrelevant,’ he said. Westmeath started better and Killian Daly, Sean Petit and Joe Halligan knocked over scores in the opening six minutes. A ninth minute free from Daniel St Ledger got Carlow off the mark but the loss of Paul Broderick blunted the home attack. At half-time Westmeath led 0-9 to 0-5 and were full value for their advantage. They lost Petit to the bin on forty minutes but Carlow failed to exploit their numerical advantage. From a new rule point of view the home side did

engineer an offensive mark with Conor Crowley gaining clean possession. He off-loaded to Lee Walker who pointed. The Westmeath insurance point came on 69 minutes from a Luke Loughlin free.

WESTMEATH: K Fagan; B Sayeh (N. Cully 49), RWallace, G Carr (K Martin h/t); N O’Reilly, NMulligan, C Slevin; S Flanagan, K Daly; A McGivney, P Fagan (C McCormack 60), J Maxwell; T Watts (L Loughlin 40), J Halligan, S Petit (T Molloy 67).

Scorers: S Petit 0-5 (3fs), L Loughlin 0-3fs, J Halligan 0-2, K Daly, P Fagan 0-1 each.

CARLOW: R Molloy; BJ Molloy, J Murphy, C Crowley; J Moore, S Doyle, D Lunney; J Kennedy (J Lowry 45), D Foley; S Clarke (N Roche 49), P Broderick (C Moran 16-J Clarke 58), L Walker; Conor Crowley (D Thompson 42), D Walshe, D St Ledger.

Scorers: D Lunney 0-2, D Walshe 0-2 (1f), S Doyle, D Foley (0-1f), Lee Walker, D St Ledger (f) 0-1 each.

Referee: A Nolan (Wicklow).