Christy Ring title with injury-time scoring burst

Westmeath 1-23 Down 2-18

The game won’t be remembered for the purity of hurling but for honest effort it couldn’t be faulted. Seven times two evenly-matched sides were level, until the Leinster side finished with those two late points to take the spoils.

While Westmeath were marginally the better side, Down were very disappointed at the failure of the referee to play the full 35 minutes plus injury time in the first half. He only played 33 minutes 40 seconds in that opening half, but to be fair Westmeath were well on top coming up to the break and finished with three points in a row.