Westmeath 1-12 Laois 0-10
Westmeath opened their Allianz Football League Division 2 campaign with a deserved 1-12 to 0-10 victory over 13-man Laois in Mullingar, their first win in league or championship since 2013.
Having struggled in the top division last year, the Lake County were in determined mood and captain Ger Egan teed up James Dolan for a timely goal and a 1-06 to 0-05 interval lead.
An Evan O'Carroll '45' had Laois level at 0-10 to 1-07, but in between the dismissals of Padraig McMahon and Brendan Quigley Westmeath notched five unanswered points.
These Leinster rivals were tied on five occasions during the opening half but Westmeath struck for a crucial goal in the first minute of injury-time when the hard-working Egan played in Dolan, who finished calmly to the back of the net.
The same player was then fouled, allowing Ray Connellan to tap over his third successful free, leaving the home side four points clear at the break.
Westmeath had lost two players to black cards, Callum McCormack in the 13th minute and John Heslin in the last minute of normal time, while play was often scrappy despite conditions being ideal for football.
With a slight wind in their favour, Laois had the better of the exchanges throughout the third quarter and were deservedly on level terms (0-10 to 1-07) when they converted their third '45' of the afternoon in the 58th minute, O'Carroll splitting the posts after Darren Strong had missed two earlier kicks.
However, Padraig McMahon picked up a second yellow card three minutes later and Westmeath made the most of their numerical superiority from then on.
They rattled off five scores on the bounce from Ray Connellan (two frees), substitute David Lynch - just moments after entering the fray - and a brace from Ger Egan, including the last score from of the contest from a free. Laois then lost Quigley to a straight red card in the 68th minute.
This first round game was unusual in that the respective managers, Tom Cribbin (Westmeath) and Tomás Ó Flatharta (Laois), had previous spells in charge of their opponents.
Westmeath: D Quinn; M McCallon, K Maguire, J Gilligan; K Daly, K Martin, J Dolan (1-00); P Holloway, D McCormack; C McCormack (0-01), G Egan (0-04, 0-02f), J Egan; R Connellan (0-05, 0-05f), J Heslin (0-01, 0-01f), D Glennon.
Subs: P Sharry for C McCormack (BC, 15 mins), L Smyth for Heslin (BC, 35), J Gonoud for Holloway (half-time), D Daly for D McCormack (52), J Connellan for J Egan (56), D Lynch (0-01) for Glennon (65).
Laois: G Brody; P McMahon, M Timmons, R Kehoe; D Strong (0-01), G Hanrahan, C Boyle; B Quigley, J O'Loughlin (0-01); J Finn (0-01), N Donoher (0-01), B Sheehan; R Munnelly (0-01, 0-01f), D Kingston (0-03, 0-02f), E O'Carroll (0-02, 0-01 '45').
Subs: C Kelly for Finn (50 mins), K Meaney for Sheehan (62), E Keane for O'Carroll (70).
Referee: David Gough (Meath)
