JACK & THRILL AS LAKE OPEN WITH VICTORY

JACK COONEY’S tenure as Westmeath manager began with a 0-12 to 0-8 victory against Carlow in the opening round of the O’byrne Cup.

Westmeath played with the wind in the first half and held a 0-9 to 0-5 interval advantage.

Sean Petit was top scorer for Westmeath, registering 0-5 on the day.

Meath overcame Laois on a scoreline of 3-11 to 0-6 in Portlaoise on Saturday.

Andy Mcentee’s charges led by 2-8 to 0-3 at the break and pushed on for a 14 point win.

Thomas O’reilly, Ronan Ryan and Daniel Quinn found the net for Meath.

Longford defeated Wicklow by the minimum on Saturday, 1-7 to 1-6.

The Longford goal had more than an element of fortune about it, with a long punt from Barry Mckeon beating the Wicklow goalkeeper thanks to the bounce of the ball.

Wicklow’s goal was a fantastic one, with Gearoid Murphy finishing to the net after beating two defenders.

A late score from Robbie Smyth ensured Longford earned the narrow victory.

Louth suffered a 0-16 to 1-6 defeat to Wexford in Darver on Saturday.

Louth started brightly in what was Wayne Kieran’s first game in charge of his native county, and his side registered the first two points of the game.

The teams were evenly matched early on, but Wexford began to pull away towards the end of the half and led by 0-9 to 0-5 at the interval.

The only goal of the game came in the 38th minute courtesy of Sam Mulroy and it reduced the deficit to a single point but Wexford pushed on for a seven point win.