Albeit they never actually looked like causing one of the greatest small ball upsets in recent years by overturning their hosts, Westmeath’s senior hurlers still emerged from a resplendent Páirc Uí Chaoimh with many new admirers last Sunday afternoon, the understrength visitors losing to Cork by a mere two goals in what was an entertaining contest played in front of quite a small crowd.
Yes, this was a very experimental Rebel County side with only a handful of likely championship starters on duty, but this should in no way detract from a very satisfactory performance by Joe Fortune’s troops in a contest where the seldom-wrong bookies had Cork marked down to win by a minimum of 18 points in the ‘spread bet’.
