Westmeath taste Leinster glory
Westmeath 0-12 Laois 0-10
Westmeath captured their first ever Leinster title in an enthralling contest at Croke Park tonight.
Showing huge courage and determination, Westmeath recovered from a shaky start to dethrone the Leinster champions.
Paidi Ó Sé's charges looked very nervous in the opening period, during which Laois dominated and looked very much like the team that won last year's crown.
For all their, possession, Mick O'Dwyer's team had only managed three points by the 21st minute. In that same period Westmeath shot five wides but settled down once Alan Mangan opened their scoring on 23 minutes.
Westmeath went on to control the rest of the half and four injury-time points sent them into the break leading 0-7 to 0-5.
On the restart, Westmeath took up where they left off with four unanswered points to set them up for the win.
Despite a final fightback, Laois never looked like repeating last year's success. But could have grabbed a shock result in the dying moments when Kevin Fitzpatrick was presented with a goal chance, but he blasted narrowly wide.
