Kerry 0-20 Westmeath 2-12: Kerry senior hurling manager Fintan O’Connor, confessed to being “relieved, more than anything” after his side pulled off a vital win against Westmeath in miserable weather in Mullingar yesterday afternoon.

To say Fintan O’Connor is your conventional inter-county hurling selector wouldn’t just be inaccurate: it would be wrong.

Waterford crashed out of the Munster senior and U21 championships in the space of four days, yet the 14 Déise players involved in both defeats were keen to reload immediately for Sunday’s All Ireland quarter-final, according to selector Fintan O’Connor.