Laois 4-13
Westmeath 1-12
PAUL KINGSTON’S SECOND half hat-trick blew Westmeath out of the water and
ensured that Laois will play a local derby, against either Carlow or Kildare, in next
month’s Leinster semi-final with confidence high after a fully merited 10-point win in
this evening’s championship clash at Bord na Móna O’Connor Park in Tullamore.
Westmeath played some good football in the first quarter of this tie, with Luke Loughlin
and Ger Egan particularly prominent as they moved into an 0-5 to 0-2 lead after 20
minutes, but that didn’t last as Laois took control at midfield and set up a series of
chances, completely changing the balance of the game.
Trevor Collins, Colm Begley and Alan Farrell were all on target as Laois moved 0-10 to 0-
6 ahead by half time, but with a strong breeze set to favour Westmeath after the break,
the tie was still finely-poised.
Just a point apiece was added in the 10 minutes after half time, and with Westmeath
starting to get nervous, Paul Kingston found space, picked up a pass from Colm Begley
and blasted the ball to the roof of the net from 15 metres out.
Four minutes later he added a second, and Laois should have had a third when he ran in
and set up Benny Carroll, but Carroll was adjudged to have thrown rather than palmed
the ball into the net while standing at the far post.
It looked as if Laois might pay for that error when Finbar Coyne kicked two nice points
and then a scrappy Mark McCallon goal cut the gap to four points, but Kingston
produced another stunning finish to stretch the lead once more, and the tie was well and
truly settled when Evan O’Carroll cut through the defence twice, once to clip over an
elegant point from the left wing, then a second time to take a pass from David Conway
and sidefoot a precise low shot past Stephen Gallagher to wrap up the win.
Scorers for Laois: Paul Kingston (3-2), Evan O’Carroll (1-1), Ross Munnelly (0-3f), Niall Donoher (0-2), Alan Farrell (0-1), Donie Kingston (0-1f), Colm Begley (0-1), Trevor
Collins (0-1)
Scorers for Westmeath: Luke Loughlin (0-4, 0-2f), Ger Egan (0-3, 0-1f), Mark McCallon (1-0), Finbar Coyne (0-2), John Connellan (0-1f), Kieran Martin (0-1), Ronan O’Toole (0-1).
LAOIS
1 Graham Brody
2. Stephen Attride
3. Mark Timmons
4. Gareth Dillon
5. Trevor Collins
6. Colm Begley
7. Finbarr Crowley
8. John O’Loughlin
9. Kieran Lillis
10. Alan Farrell
11. Paul Kingston
12. Damien O’Connor
13. Ross Munnelly
14. Donal Kingston
15. Benny Carroll
Substitutes:
18. Niall Donoher for Farrell (23 rd minute)
20. Evan O’Carroll for Carroll (59 th minute)
17. Darren Strong for O’Connor (59 th minute)
21. David Conway for Munnelly (63 rd minute)
22. Shane Nerney for Timmons (65 th minute, blood)
19. Gary Walsh for D Kingston (67 th minute)
24. Denis Booth for Attride (75 th minute)
WESTMEATH
1. Stephen Gallagher
4. Jamie Gonoud
3. Sam Duncan
2. Mark McCallon
5. John Egan
6. Alan Stone
7. Noel Mulligan
8. Denis Corroon
9. Darragh Daly
10. Kieran Martin
11. Callum McCormack
12. Ger Egan
15. John Connellan
14. Ronan O’Toole
13. Luke Loughlin
Substitutes:
20. Finbar Coyne for Connellan (31 st minute, black card)
19. Ronan Wallace for Daly (42 nd minute)
21. Anthony McGivney for Egan (49 th minute)
26. John Heslin for O’Toole (55 th minute)
18. Boidu Sayeh for Mulligan (71 st minute)
17. David Whelan for McCallon (71 st minute)
Referee: Padraig Hughes (Armagh)
53-point thriller sees Carlow dispatch Antrim after extra-time to set up meeting with Dublin