Westmeath capped off a productive Allianz FL Division 3 campaign when defeating Laois by three points to claim the silverware in Croke Park this evening.

In what was a dress rehearsal for the two counties Leinster SFC quarter-final fixture on May 26, Jack Cooney’s charges prevailed on a scoreline of 1-13 to 0-13 with ‘man-of-the-match’ Ger Egan’s second-half goal proving to be the difference between the sides at the final whistle.

Tyrellspass clubman Egan has been his team’s standout performer throughout the league and he continued his rich vein for form with a return of 1-7 in the decider.

The eventual winners were slow out of the traps as points from Evan O’Carroll and Donie Kingston got Laois off to a promising start.

The most clear cut goal chance of the opening period fell to Paul Cahillane who shot wide from close range just before Egan opened Westmeath’s account in the 16th minute.

Egan sent over five points and Ronan O’Toole and John Heslin also made the scoresheet as the Lake County seized control of proceedings to take a 0-7 to 0-5 lead into the break.

They were, however, forced to play the first 10 minutes of the second-half with 14 man after James Dolan was shown a black card just before the break and Laois made their numerical advantage count with three unanswered points after the resumption via Kingston (2) and O’Carroll.

Right corner-forward O’Toole got the team in maroon and white back on level terms with their first point of the second-half in the 43rd minute and captain Kieran Martin restored their lead with a fisted effort a minute later.

Two quick fire points from Mark Timmons, a fantastic long range effort from outside the 45m line, and O’Carroll edged Laois back in front and Westmeath found themselves down to 14 men again when referee Jerome Henry showed a black card to Boidu Sayeh for a challenge on Cahillane.

A converted Egan free left the teams tied on 0-10 apiece with 20 minutes of normal time to go.

Defender Ronan Wallace edged Westmeath back in front and the game’s defining moment arrived in the 60th minute when Egan blasted home the game’s only goal after Laois netminder Graham Brody had been caught out of position.

There was five points separating the sides when David Lynch and Egan tagged on further scores and although Laois managed to reduce the gap to three in the time remaining they were unable to engineer the goal they needed to resuscitate their challenge.

John Sugrue's side were also left to rue a wide tally of 16.

Westmeath - E Carberry; K Daly, R Wallace (0-1), B Sayeh; K Maguire, N Mulligan, J Dolan; S Duncan, D Corroon; D Lynch (0-1), J Heslin (0-1), L Loughlin; R O’Toole (0-2), K Martin (0-1), G Egan (1-7, 0-4f). Subs: N O’Reilly for D Lynch, J Halligan for N Mulligan, T McDaniel for L Loughlin, D Giles for R O’Toole.

Laois - G Brody; S Attride, M Timmons (0-1), G Dillon; T Collins, C Begley, S O’Flynn; J O’Loughlin, K Lillis; E Lowry (0-1), C Boyle, M Scully; D Kingston (0-5, 3f), P Cahillane, E O’Carroll (0-6, 3f, 2'45). Subs: R Munnelly for E Lowry, B Carroll for C Boyle, B Quigley for K Lillis, P Kingston for P Cahillane, D O’Connor for M Scully.

Referee - J Henry.

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