The summer arrived in style this afternoon in Portlaoise as Laois and Westmeath basked in the warm sunshine and played out a hugely entertaining Joe McDonagh Cup clash, with the Lake County powering ahead in the closing stages to secure what could be a hugely important 2-21 to 1-21 victory in the first round of this new competition.
It is Westmeath's first win against the O'Moore men in the Championship since 1968.
These two counties were considered as front runners in the GAA’s new second tier section of the championship and they showed their ability at different stages in the tie, with Westmeath prevailing on account of their longer periods of ascendancy.
Michael Ryan’s side played with the aid of a deceptively strong breeze in the first half but their inaccuracy meant that they failed to fully exploit that assistance, even after Robbie Greville got them out to a great start when he fielded the ball over the head of Leigh Bergin and placed an inch-perfect low shot under Enda Rowland after six minutes.
Laois soon drew level as Westmeath started to rack up the wides, though they did move three points in front at various stages, with Eoin Price, Cormac Boyle and Ciarán Doyle all on the mark from open play. Their hurling was sharp and purposeful throughout, though eight missed chances – six of them struck right, on the terrace side of the ground – looked as if they might prove very costly.
The home side were far more dependent on Ross King’s free taking to keep them in contention, but they took over the game in the fifteen minutes before half time, taking only their second lead of the game through Neil Foyle’s goal shortly before the break.
Paddy Purcell, by far the star performer for Eamonn Kelly’s side in the Allianz League but never really as prominent today, was the instigator as he took possession on the 45m line and surveyed his options. Eschewing the easy point, he drove at goal and set up Charles Dwyer, who blasted for goal from the 20m line.
Former Laois goalkeeper Paddy Carroll proved his loyalty to his new home county of Westmeath with a stunning save, but the ball fell perfectly for Foyle to bat it to the net.
Two frees from King and points from Aidan Corby and Willie Dunphy made it 1-13 to 1-10 in favour of Laois at half time, and with the breeze set to favour them after half time, a comfortable home win looked likely.
Instead, the tide turned completely. Niall Mitchell got a flick on a lobbed ball to find the net with his first touch after coming on as a half-time substitute, and two points from Aonghus Clarke proved that Westmeath were a changed side.
Perhaps even more significant was the strength of their defensive play, though Kelly’s decision to deploy a sweeper in front of his full-back line seemed to backfire as Westmeath backs began to hoover up every loose possession close to their own goal with an extra man at their disposal.
The sides traded scores up until the final ten minutes, when Laois finally found some momentum and drew level through points from Matthew Whelan, Ross King and Charles Dwyer, all in the space of four minutes.
They failed to push on however and once Derek McNicholas put Westmeath in front with a haymaker of a free from well inside his own half with two minutes to play, Westmeath never looked back, closing out the win with two points on the break.
LAOIS: Enda Rowland; Lee Cleere, Leigh Bergin, Joe Phelan; Eric Killeen, Matthew Whelan, Padraig Lawlor; Ben Conroy (0-01), James Ryan; Charles Dwyer (0-04), Aidan Corby (0-01), Patrick Purcell (0-01); Willie Dunphy (0-01), Neil Foyle (1-02), Ross King (0-10, 0-09 frees 0-01 ‘65)
Subs: Stephen Maher (0-01) for Corby (HT), Ryan Mullaney for Phelan (46), PJ Scully for Dunphy (53), Cian Taylor for Ryan (55), Colm Stapleton for Cleere (63), Mark Kavanagh for Foyle (64).
WESTMEATH: Shane McGovern; Shane Power, Tommy Doyle, Gary Greville; Liam Varley, Paul Greville, Derek McNicholas (0-01, free); Cormac Boyle (0-03), Eoin Price (0-02); Joey Boyle, Aonghus Clarke (0-03), John Gilligan; Niall O’Brien (0-07, 0-04 frees), Ciaran Doyle (0-02), Robbie Greville (1-03).
Subs: Alan Devine for Gilligan (HT), Niall Mitchell (1-00) for J Boyle (HT), Brendan Doyle for Power (41), Conor Shaw for Doyle (68), Alan Cox for C Boyle (70+5)
Ref: Patrick Murphy (Carlow)
