Westmeath will aim to secure a top-of-the-table finish when they travel to Portlaoise tomorrow.

Wins over Carlow and Antrim have placed Michael Ryan's charges in pole position and they will be up against a Laois team which needs to win.

Despite already being safely through to the championship proper, manager Ryan has no intention of allowing his players to ease the foot of the pedal.

"Laois have a very good record in Portlaoise. They're a very proud hurling county. They were in Spain for a week, training very hard out there," he remarked.

"They lost a couple of games in the league by only a point or two, so they won't be happy with that, and they're going to come out all guns blazing."

Cheddar Plunkett's charges got the better of the Lake County by 1-15 to 1-9 12 months ago and their greater need for the two points should be sufficient motivation for them to repeat the dose on home soil.

Verdict - Laois.

Laois team: tbc.

Westmeath team: Shane McGovern; Shane Power, Tommy Doyle, Gary Greville; Aaron Craig, Aonghus Clarke, Alan McGrath; Cormac Boyle, Eoin Price; Niall O'Brien, Derek McNicholas, Robbie Greville; Alan Devine, Brendan Murtagh, Daragh Clinton.

Match details: Sunday, Portlaoise, 2pm.

Referee: Alan Kelly.

Odds: Laois 4/9, Draw 10/1, Westmeath 2/1.

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