Understrength Laois emerged victorious from this afternoon's O'Byrne Cup final - a repeat meeting of the 2004 Leinster final - as they edged Westmeath 0-17 to 0-12 in Mullingar.
The county's first O'Byrne honours since 1994, won in front of 10,121 spectators owed much to a blistering start.
Mick O'Dwyer's side led 0-06 to no score after the first quarter, with Donie Brennan, Ross Munnelly and Chris Conway all on target. Westmeath had to wait 16 minutes for their first score, but, when it came from Alan Mangan, it seemed to settle them.
Five unanswered points from Páidí Ó Sé's charges, with Mangan and Paddy Mulvihill in scoring mood, helped the home side cut the deficit to three points (0-09 to 0-06) by the time the half-time whistle had sounded.
All Star Tom Kelly's twin brother, Stephen, evaded David Mitchell late on for Laois' ninth, but Colin Galligan brought it back to a three-point game in injury time.
The Dessie Dolan-less Westmeath lost corner back Danny McDermott to the game's first sin-binning on 34 minutes, and against the 14 men, the O'Moore county went further in front on the restart with midfielder Noel Garvan, Mark Dunne and Brennan all pointing.
Although Mulvihill, Denis Glennon and Mangan - the home side's leading scorer with 0-06 - reduced the deficit, a yellow card for centre back David Mitchell killed off the Westmeath challenge on 54 minutes.
