Westmeath stun Saffrons

Westmeath pulled off the first shock of the summer when they fought back to beat Antrim by 0-14 to 0-12 in Mullingar - despite playing with 14 men for over 40 minutes.

Antrim looked the more accomplished team in an often-ragged first half. Neil McManus was a dominant figure at centre half-back, while Liam Watson was causing lots of problems.

Westmeath's woes were compounded on the half-hour mark when corner-back Conor Jordan, who had been booked in the 16th minute along with Watson, was shown the yellow card for the second time.

The Glensmen were well worth their five-point interval lead - 0-8 to 0-3.

McManus increased Antrim's lead within two minutes of the resumption, but a fired-up Westmeath continued to plug away, with defenders Paddy Dowdall, Adam Price and Paul Greville rallying their colleagues to great effect.

Niall O'Brien was on song from dead balls and his free, followed by a long-range one from Brendan Murtagh, put Westmeath in front for the first time with just a minute left.

Westmeath now face Galway in the Leinster quarter final.