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.

Source: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO

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).

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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