By Daire Walsh

Westmeath 1-12
Laois 0-9

Sarah Dillon registered an outstanding tally of 1-4 on Sunday afternoon as Westmeath claimed their first TG4 Leinster Intermediate Football Championship title since 2011 with a commanding triumph over Laois in the familiar surroundings of TEG Cusack Park in Mullingar.

After Vicky Carr – whose home club St Loman’s is a short trek from Cusack Park – broke the deadlock with an opening minute point, Dillon and Caoimhe Kilmurray also found the target in fine style. Milltown’s Dillon subsequently pounced on a loose opposition kick-out to fire home a seventh minute goal and Kilmurray was then on hand to add her second point of the contest before Laois finally opened their account through the boot of full-forward Ciara Burke.

Westmeath responded to the latter score with white flag efforts from Dillon and Anna Jones (free) and while Jane Moore kicked a fine point for their O’Moore County rivals, a third from Kilmurray had Frank Browne’s outfit firmly in the driving seat.

Dillon superbly split the posts to bring her personal haul up to 1-3 on 24 minutes and even though some last-ditch defending was required to snuff out Laois corner-forward Eva Galvin as she bore down on goal in the latter stages of the half, Westmeath were full value for their 1-8 to 0-2 interval buffer.

Laois were playing with a wind advantage on the resumption, however, and it took just over three minutes for them to match their opening period tally as substitute Emily Lacey kicked over a brace of points. Jones had a goal ruled out for a square ball in between these scores, but the Westmeath full-forward eventually got her side up and running in the second half with a 35th minute pointed free.

Lucy McCartan proceeded to join her cousin and club-mate Carr on the Lake County scoresheet as the third-quarter progressed and Dillon reinforced her attacking prowess with another excellent point under pressure. 

Lacey continued her impressive outing off the bench for Laois with a third point inside the final-quarter and Moore also added her second of the game as the O’Moore side gamely attempted to force their way back into the reckoning.

Substitutes Lauren Kearney and Emma Lawlor were also on target as the final whistle approached, but even though Mo Nerney knocked over a free on the stroke of full-time, an earlier score from Philippa Ruane ensured Westmeath secured provincial honours in accomplished fashion.

Scorers – Westmeath: S Dillon 1-4, C Kilmurray 0-3, A Jones 0-2 (2f), V Carr, L McCartan, P Ruane 0-1 each.

Laois: E Lacey 0-3, J Moore 0-2, M Nerney 0-1 (f), C Burke, L Kearney, E Lawlor 0-1 each.

WESTMEATH: A Temple; L McCartan, S Murphy, F Coyle; C Gonoud, L Power, S Buckley; V Carr, A Roche; L McCartan, S Dillon, T Dillon; G Byrne, A Jones, C Kilmurray. Subs: A Ruane for Gonoud (37), P Ruane for T Dillon (51), F Walshe for Coyle (57), C Dunne for S Dillon (60).

LAOIS: E Barry; S Farrelly, F McEvoy, G Lalor; A Gorman, A Moore, A Moran; F Dooley, J Moore; S Havill, L Walsh, C Crowley; A Galvin, C Burke, M Nerney. Subs: E Lacey for Walsh (23), E Lawlor for Burke (38), L Kearney for Crowley (41), G Moran for Havill (46), A Byron for Lalor (50).

Referee: Henri Clifford (Meath).

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