The midlanders lost Donal O'Donoghue to the sin-bin in the second half, but that was nothing compared to Val Andrews' home side - who had goal scorer David Devaney, Darren Clarke and John Neary flashed yellow cards.

Paidi O Se's outfit steered themselves towards an 0-05 to 0-03 half time lead, despite taking almost a quarter-of-an-hour to find the target.

Mark Stanfield and Clarke both pointed for Louth before Mangan banged over a free for the Leinster champions on 14 minutes.

After missing a '45, Stanfield tagged on one from play on 32 minutes, but with Devanney off the field and Westmeath throwing on ace attacker Dessie Dolan, the game turned in their favour.

Denis Glennon and Dolan - on for Paddy Mulvihill - bagged late braces for Westmeath's interval lead.

Ronan Valentine (0-02) traded scores with Mangan on the restart as Louth reduced the arrears back to 0-06 to 0-05.

Ten second half wides may not have helped Westmeath's cause but they had enough in reserve - thanks to Fallon and Mangan's composed scores - to pull through.

Devanney's late goal-and-a-point woke Westmeath back into to action.