Laois 1-23 Westmeath 2-17
Laois withstood a late comeback from Westmeath to hold on for a 1-23 to 2-17 in the opening round of the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship round-robin in O’Moore Park this afternoon.
The sides were level at the break - Laois 1-08 Westmeath 0-11, Laois’s goal coming from Paddy Whelan after a fumble from Westmeath keeper Paddy Maloney.
Alan Devine and the impressive Niall Mitchell did most of the damage for Westmeath in the opening half and the visitors could count themselves unlucky not to be in front
The sides went score for score in the early stages of the second half before Laois went up a gear, scoring eight points on the trot to go 1-19 to 0-14 ahead as the game entered the last 10 minutes.
Westmeath - who won all three Round Robin games last year to top the group - refused to give in and late goals from sub Eoin Price and Robbie Greville reduced the gap to two.
But Laois did just enough to hold on and a late free from captain Ross King - his tenth of the day - ensured the home side did enough.
Scorers - Laois: R King 0-10 (8f, 1 65), S Maher 0-4, A Dunphy 0-3, P Whelan 1-0, C Dwyer 0-2, W Dunphy, E Rowland (f), P Purcell, C Taylor 0-1 each,
Westmeath: A Devine 0-5 (3f), N Mitchell 0-4, R Greville 1-1, E Price 1-0, P Greville 0-2 (1f), S McGovern, D McNicholas, G Greville, C Boyle, J Galvin 0-1
Laois: E Rowland; C Healy, L Bergin, D Palmer; C Collier, C Dwyer, L Cleere; P Purcell, R King; C Taylor, A Corby, B Conroy; W Dunphy, S Maher, P Whelan. Subs: A Dunphy for Corby (29), M Whelan for Taylor (41), S Downey for Conroy (49), E Lyons for Dwyer (62), E Killeen for P Whelan (66)
Westmeath: P Moloney; C Shaw, T Doyle, T Gallagher; G Greville, P Greville, J Boyle; A Clarke, C Boyle; A Devine, D McNicholas, N Mitchell; S McGovern, R Greville, K Doyle. Subs: E Price for K Doyle (41), D Egerton for J Boyle (55), N O’Brien for McGovern (57), J Galvin for C Boyle (66)
Referee: J Owens (Wexford)
