This 1-12 to 0-10 victory over neighbours Laois at Mullingar gave Westmeath a long-overdue league win.
The winners reeled off five unanswered points in the last twelve minutes to claim a deserved success as Laois' challenge went off the rails.
James Dolan's injury-time goal had assured the hosts of a 1-6 to 0-5 interval lead after the sides had been level on five occasions. Dolan took a pass from captain Ger Egan and calmly slotted the ball to the net to put daylight between the teams for the first time.
Ray Connellan then stroked over his third free of the game to leave four between them at the turnaround.
For the O'Moore County, it was a disappointing day as the office as they finished the match with 13 men and completely lost their way in the closing quarter.
The losers did draw level through an Evan O'Carroll '45', 1-7 to 0-10 after 58 minutes, but Westmeath then rallied with five unanswered points, while Padraig McMahon and Brendan Quigley were both sent to the line.
Connellan (two frees), substitute David Lynch and Ger Egan (2) fired over the decisive scores for Tom Cribbin's men.
Westmeath - D Quinn; M McCallon, K Maguire, J Gilligan; J Egan, K Martin, J Dolan (1-0); P Holloway, K Daly; C McCormack (0-1), G Egan (0-4, 2f), D McCormack; R Connellan (0-5f), J Heslin (0-1f), D Glennon. Subs: P Sharry for C McCormack (BC), L Smyth for J Heslin (BC), J Gonoud for P Holloway, D Daly for D McCormack, J Connellan for J Egan, D Lynch (0-1) for D Glennon.
Laois - G Brody; P McMahon, M Timmons, R Kehoe; C Boyle, G Hanrahan, D Strong (0-1); J O'Loughlin (0-1), B Quigley; J Finn (0-1), D Kingston (0-3, 2f), B Sheehan; R Munnelly (0-1f), E O'Carroll (0-2,1'45), N Donoher (0-1). Subs: C Kelly for J Finn, K Meaney for B Sheehan, E Keane for E O'Carroll.
Referee - D Gough.
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