Westmeath and Carlow shared the points in a testy encounter at TEG Cusack Park this afternoon, both sides picking up a red and a black card each, with referee Liam Devenney often the centre of attention.
Westmeath started brightly with a brace of points from Ger Egan in the opening four minutes.
However, Carlow responded well with points from Darragh Foley and Lee Walker, before a mix-up in the home defence following a short kick-out saw Darragh O’Brien tee up Foley for a goal.
Westmeath lost Ronan Foley to the sin bin in the 16th minute, and Carlow’s possession game enabled them to stay narrowly in front.
They led by 1-5 to 0-4 with the clock approaching 35 minutes when a high delivery by Callum McCormack was met by the fist of Finbar Coyne whose goal left the home team trailing by just a single point.
A free by Murphy deep into added-time doubled Carlow’s lead to 1-6 to 1-4 at the break.
Westmeath halved the deficit in unusual fashion when Egan slotted over a free after the referee moved in the original 45’ award.
Lake County captain Kieran Martin was sent off after picking up a second yellow card in the 43rd minute.
Carlow still led by the bare minimum when Brendan Murphy (who wore three different jersey numbers throughout the game) rifled home a 54th-minute goal.
Four unanswered points – the best of them a long-range shot from O’Toole – levelled the contest by the hour mark, at which stage both teams had 14 men after Lee Walker was red-carded in the 58th minute.
His colleague Chris Crowley was sin-binned in the 66th minute, but neither side was able to add to their total in the closing minutes, Westmeath undoubtedly spurning the better opportunities in a tense finale.
Westmeath: E Carberry; K Daly, R Wallace, B Sayeh; J Dolan, N Mulligan, D Lynch; D Corroon, S Duncan; J Halligan, C McCormack, F Coyne (1-00); R O’Toole (0-01), K Martin, G Egan (0-09, 0-07f).
Subs: L Loughlin for Halligan (h-t), T McDaniel for McCormack (h-t), J Gonoud for Coyne (52).
Carlow: R Molloy; C Crowley, C Lawlor, BJ Molloy; J Morrissey, D St Ledger, C Moran; B Murphy (1-01), E Ruth; S Gannon, D Foley (1-04, 0-04f), L Walker (0-01); D Walshe, D O’Brien, S Murphy (0-01).
Subs: B Kavanagh for Moran (31), S Clarke for Walshe (52), D Moran for O’Brien (63), S Doyle for Morrissey (70 + 5).
Referee: Liam Devenney (Mayo)
In the other Division 3 game, Louth produced a fine performance to upset Laois at Croke Park.
Laois started their campaign with a victory at Down but they came undone in the wide open spaces of HQ against a game and hungry Wee County.
As punishment for for breaking training regulations last year, Laois lost home advantage for one league game and thus both teams made the journey to Dublin.
Louth scored two goals in a minute, from Conor Early and Ryan Burns, and after Burns slotted home a penalty they headed for half-time 3-04 to 1-06 ahead, Ross Munnelly netting a spot-kick for Laois.
They never let that advantage slip, closing it out in the second half to atone for last weekend's loss to Longford in Drogheda.
Laois: G Brody; D Seale, S Nerney, A Campion; S Attride, R Piggott, G Dillon; J O’Loughlin, K Lillis; D O’Connor, C Boyle, S Byrne; R Munnelly (1-6, Pen 1m, 4f), C Murphy (0-1, 1f), P Kingston.
Subs: M Scully for S Byrne (2), C Begley for M Scully (23), D Kingston (0-2, 1f) for D Seale (HT), E O’Carroll for D O’Connor (HT), M Barry for R Munnelly (56), P Cahillane for C Murphy (66).
Louth: F Sheekey; F Donohoe, E Carolan, D Corcoran; A Williams, B Duffy, J Clutterbuck; T Durnin (0-1), C Early (1-0); C Branigan (0-1), C Downey, C McKeever (0-1); A McDonnell, S Mulroy (0-2,1m, 1f), R Burns (2-3, Pen 1m, 2f).
Subs: C Early BC (30), J Califf for C Early (37), A McDonnell BC (48), D Byrne for R Burns (51) H Osbourne for D Corcoran (58) E Duffy for A McDonnell (61) R Moore for C McKeever (66) B Duffy BC (72) J Clutterbuck BC (77).
Referee: Barry Tiernan (Dublin)
