Laois 0-12

Westmeath 0-10

Laois withstood a second half fightback by Westmeath at a blustery Bord na Mona O'Connor Park to avenge their two league defeats to the same opposition and progress to a Leinster SFC semi-final against Meath.

With Donie Kingston unable to start to due to injury, Evan O'Carroll stepped up to the plate with 0-8 as John Surgue's men defeated their midland rivals at the same stage of the championship for the second year running, albeit by a much slimmer margin. Parading three championship debutants, the O'Moore County laid the foundations for their victory in the first half when they built up a 0-8 to 0-2 lead after playing with the wind.

O'Byrne Cup and Allianz League Division 3 champions Westmeath, who had lost just one game all year coming into this fixture, rallied in the second half and when substitute Callum McCormack pointed in the 69th minute, the margin was down to the minimum, 0-10 to 0-11. But Laois refused to panic and sealed the win with an Eoin Lowry point in the fifth minute of injury-time. The result means Westmeath will go into the draw for the first round of the All-Ireland SF qualifiers tomorrow morning.

With captain Stephen Attride sidelined, Laois suffered another defensive blow when full back Mark Timmons was forced off with a hand injury after only eight minutes. In spite of this, O'Carroll and Paul Kingston had early points and with Westmeath's star man Ger Egan - who was carrying an injury - missing a routine free at the other end, the O'Mooremen added three more to lead by 0-5 to 0-0.

The out-of-sorts Lake County had to wait until the 23rd minute for their opening score from an Egan free. The Tyrrellspass clubman kicked another one later in the half, but points at the other end from O'Carroll - who posted 0-5 in the opening half - Kingston and Boyle left the winners with a six-point cushion at the break.

Westmeath resumed with a point from John Heslin straight from the throw-in, but it was soon cancelled out by another O'Carroll effort.

Westmeath's James Dolan and Evan O’Carroll of Laois. ©INPHO/James Crombie.

Two Egan scores reduced the deficit to three points with 15 minutes remaining as Westmeath finally showed glimpses of their impressive early-season form, but O'Carroll kept them at arm's length with another fine score. 

Ronan O'Toole put a goal between the sides again before Egan and McCormack made it a one-point game. Laois had the ball in the net in the first minute of stoppage-time, but it was ruled out after Marty Scully's attempt to fist a point dropped under the crossbar.

With Denis Booth, Sean O’Flynn, Paddy O’Sullivan and Colm Begley excellent in defence, last year's Leinster finalists managed to kept hold of the ball for most of the additional time before Lowry fisted over the insurance point.

Laois - G Brody; D Booth, M Timmons, G Dillon; S O’Flynn, C Begley, P O’Sullivan; J O’Loughlin, K Lillis; D O’Reilly, C Boyle (0-1), D O’Connor; P Kingston (0-2), C Murphy, E O’Carroll (0-8, 5f). Subs: R Pigott for M Timmons, M Scully for C Murphy, D Kingston for C Boyle, B Quigley for D O’Connor, E Lowry (0-1) for D O’Reilly, S Byrne for C Begley.

Westmeath - E Carberry; K Maguire, R Wallace, B Sayeh; K Daly, N Mulligan, J Dolan; S Duncan, D Corroon; D Lynch, J Heslin (0-1), F Boyle; R O’Toole (0-1), K Martin, G Egan (0-7, 6f). Subs: C McCormack (0-1) for S Duncan, L Loughlin for F Boyle, D Giles for D Corroon.

Referee - F Kelly.

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