Louth came from three points down at half-time to overwhelm Westmeath in this afternoon's Leinster MFC opener at Haggardstown.

Louth 2-10
Westmeath 0-6

The visitors, who are managed by Tommy Carr, seemed poised for victory when leading 0-6 to 0-3 at the break, but the Wee County scored an unanswered 2-7 in a dominant second half display to secure a quarter-final berth on May 19. For Westmeath, whose record at this level continues to be a major worry for football supporters in the county, the backdoor awaits.

Early points from Robert Quigley and Stephen Kilcoyne helped the home side to a 0-2 to 0-1 lead before Westmeath surged into a 0-5 to 0-2 lead thanks to scores from Andrew McCormack, Lorcan Dolan (two) and Ray Connellan. Shane Matthews closed the gap, but Moate clubman Rob Gorman hit the last point of the half to give the Lake County a three-point interval cushion.

The loss of star forward Ger Leech to injury just before half-time (he was replaced by fellow St. Mary's, Edenderry Hogan Cup winner Ryan Caffrey) wasn't a good omen for Westmeath who, incredibly, failed to score in the second half.

With Conor Grimes gaining the upper hand at midfield, Louth had levelled through scores from Matthews and Kilcoyne by the three-quarter hour mark. The outcome remained in doubt until Kilcoyne netted in the 50th minute and followed up with another point to make it 1-7 to 0-6 in the home side's favour.

Substitute Cian Doyle fisted home a second goal Louth goal before Kilcoyne, somewhat fittingly, shot over to cap a great second half performance from the Wee County.

In the afternoon's other Leinster MFC first round clash, Meath scored a 1-11 to 0-11 victory over Longford at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park.

Louth - S McQuillan; C McMenamin, K Lenehan, C Ward; T McCann, A English, D Marks; C Grimes (0-1), J Stewart; C Giggins, D McMahon, M Newell; S Matthews (1-2), R Quigley (0-1), S Kilcoyne (0-5). Subs: M Kane for McMenamin, J Arrowsmith (0-1) for Newell, C Doyle (1-0) for Giggins.

Westmeath - B Doyle; B O'Donoghue, L Corless, D Lynam; A McCormack, E Quigley, M McMahon; PJ Maguire, A Curley; T Watts, G Leech (0-1), R Gorman (0-1); L Dolan (0-1), R Connellan (0-1), S Dempsey (0-2). Subs: R Caffrey for G Leech, K Daly for Curley, G Leech for Connellan, J Barrey for Maguire.

Ref - R Malone (Dublin). Tweet

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