Midfielder Patrick Purcell fired a terrific 3-6 in Navan as Laois preserved their perfect qualifier group record and moved closer to a Leinster SHC quarter-final place.

Purcell scored all but a point of his tally in the first-half and gave a performance that boss Eamonn Kelly described as one of the great midfield displays he's ever seen.

Meath came into the game with momentum after a surprise win over Kerry and were level with Laois at 0-5 apiece after 20 minutes.

But Laois raced clear after that and Purcell's three goals before half-time left them sitting pretty on a 15-point interval lead.

Meath pulled back two goals in the second-half to save some face though, realistically, the game was up at half-time.

It was all the more impressive from Eamonn Kelly's Laois as experienced defender Cahir Healy limped out with a serious hamstring problem after just 14 minutes.

But they powered on to a big win and top spot in the qualifier group table, two points ahead of Kerry whom they face in the final round on May 14 in Tralee.

As for Martin Ennis' Meath, they've also got two points and face rock bottom Westmeath in Round 3 on the same date so, depending on the result there, they could either progress to the quarter-finals or be relegated.

Meath gave as good as they got initially and the sides were level on four occasions up to 0-5 apiece.

Ross King was excellent for Laois and hit three of those early points and 11 points in total as he displayed unerring accuracy from frees.

Laois took off from there and Purcell's 21st and 35th minute goals were laid on by Neil Foyle though his second, in the 27th minute, was all down to his own hard work as he flicked clear of a group of players and soloed away for a fine goal.

Laois led 3-13 to 0-7 at the break and extended their lead to 16 with a King point after the restart.

Meath sub Neil Heffernan clawed back 1-1 and there was a second goal for the hosts in the 54th minute from Joey Keena who'd begun the game as a sweeper.

But even that goal only reduced the gap to 11 points and Laois finished in style with six points in a row to win at their leisure.

Their midfield duo accounted for 3-17 of their tally with 3-10 of that coming from open play.

Kerry secured their first win of the group stage with a 0-20 to 2-12 win over Westmeath, who are now bottom of the table.

Scorers for Laois: P. Purcell (3-6); R King (0-11, 6 frees, 1 '65); N. Foyle, A. Corby (0-2 each); S. Downey, B. Conroy, W. Dunphy, A Dunphy (0-1 each).

Scorers for Meath: S. Clynch (0-6, 4 frees, 1 '65); N. Heffernan (1-1); J. Keena (1-0); S. Quigley, M. O'Sullivan, A. Forde, K. Keoghan, A. Gannon, S. Brennan (0-1 each).

LAOIS: E. Rowland; L. Bergin, C. Healy, D. Palmer; M. Whelan, C. Collier, L. Cleere; R. King (c), P. Purcell; S. Downey, C. Dwyer, S. Maher; W. Dunphy, P. Whelan, N. Foyle.

Subs: B. Conroy for Healy (14); A. Dunphy for Whelan (48); A. Corby for Foyle (60); E. Killeen for Dwyer (63); S. Bergin for Maher (67).

MEATH: S. McGann; S. Whitty, S. Brennan, C. Reilly; S. Geraghty, K. Keoghan, D. Kelly; A. Forde, J. Keena; S. Quigley, S. Clynch (c), J. Kelly; G. McGowan, M. O'Sullivan, A. Gannon.

Subs: N. Heffernan for Quigley (h/t); K. Keena for McGowan (h/t); C. McCabe for Kelly (48); P. Farrell for Clynch (60); D. Reilly for O'Sullivan (65).

Referee: J Keenan (Wicklow).