Down's Simon Wilson lifts the Divison 2 trophy Photo taken from RTE Website

Down will play Division 1 hurling next year after Paul Branniff put on a master class of scoring to condem Westmeath to defeat in the Allianz NHL Division 2 final.

Westmeath started this game as though they were about to rip through Down and continue their great scoring run. Within eleven minutes they had broken through for two goals and after twently minutes led by six well-deserved points.

John Shaw got the first major for the Lake County on eight minutes and three minutes later corner forward Barry Kennedy pounced for goal number two.

Paul Braniff responded with a point for Down but an Andrew Mitchell score had Westmeath 2-1 to 0-1 to the good with 20-minutes on the clock.

Down finally realised that they were in a league final with promotion on the cards and a burst of 2-6 without reply completely changed the complexion of the game.

Brendan McGourty fired over two points and Branniff was on hand with a point before he scored a goal to level the game at 1-4 to 2-1 on 29 minutes.

Two more points put Down ahead before Martin Branniff pounced for his side‚s second goal two minutes into added time to leave Down 2-7 to 2-1 ahead at the short whistle.

The goals just kept coming in the Gaelic Grounds as Gareth Johnson fired home Down's third major two minutes into the second period. That put Down nine-points clear but substitute Killian Causeway responded with a neat goal of his own to bring Westmeath back into contention.

Braniff extended the Down lead before Barry Kennedy and Andrew Mitchell got two back for the Leinster side to leave them trailing by 3-3 to 3-8 with ten minutes of the half played.

However, the Ulster side started to pull away with Paul Branniff bringing his tally to 3-7 with three minutes left on the clock as Down moved 5-14 to 3-5 ahead. The centre forward knocked in two fine majors as the Mourne County went into overdrive as the points flowed and a well-deserved return to Division 1 hurling was attained.

Down -
Graham Clarke, L Clarke, S Murray, E Dorrian, S Wilson, G Savage, Gabriel Clarke, A Savage, G Adair, G McGratton, P Branniff, B McGourty, J Convery, G Johnston, M Branniff.

Westmeath -
M Briody, D Curley, B Murtagh, P Greville, D Gallagher, C Murtagh, D McCormack, P Williams, O Devine, R Whelan, V Bateman, A Mitchell; D Carty, J Shaw, B Kennedy.