Third win on the trot for Laois
NHL DIVISION 2:
Laois 4-14 Westmeath 0-13, O'Moore Park
Laois slammed home four goals to move into second place in Division 2 of the Allianz National Hurling League, following a comfortable 13-point win over 13-man Westmeath in Portlaoise.
Neil Foyle, Owen Holohan and Tommy Fitzgerald bagged first half goals for the hosts, who led by 3-5 to 0-7 at the interval.
Willie Hyland claimed Laois' fourth goal six minutes from the end, with the visitors, by then, reduced to 13 players following a straight red card for Tony Doyle and a second yellow for Brendan Murtagh.
The hosts never trailed after Foyle gave Laois a 1-1 to 0-1 lead in the eighth minute. He cut through the Westmeath defence like a knife through butter, before knocking the ball to the net from the tightest of angles.
Fitzgerald added Laois' second goal two minutes later, as Westmeath struggled to come to terms with the movement of the home forwards.
Niall Rigney's charges dominated possession in the opening half, and could afford nine wides by the half-time whistle l as they led by seven points at that stage.
Westmeath kept in touch thanks to the efforts of Murtagh, Andrew Mitchell and Dan Carthy, and to their credit, the Lakesiders raised their game on the restart.
Half-time substitute Doyle was dismissed following a wild swing at Foyle, who subsequently left the game through injury and was replaced by Jimmy Dunne.
An Alan Dowdall point cut the gap to six points with 10 minutes remaining, but following Murtagh's dismissal Westmeath fell apart.
Hyland caused huge problems for the Westmeath late on, adding 1-2 to the Laois tally in the closing six minutes to help the hosts claim a double scores win.
