Laois 3-26 Westmeath 1-21: O’Moore County triumph in Joe McDonagh Cup final

Mark Kavanagh steered Laois to victory in the Joe McDonagh Cup final with a 12-point tally as they defeated a brave Westmeath side, 3-26 to 1-21.

It means the O’Moore County will compete in the 2020 Leinster Championship.

Killian Doyle opened the game’s scoring with a sublime side-line to put Westmeath ahead with three minutes played.

But it didn’t take Laois long to find their feet in front of goal with Ross King driving an unstoppable shot past Conor Lynch in the Westmeath net following an almighty scramble in the box.

The game gradually began to slow down in terms of pace following a frantic opening period with Kavanagh and Doyle exchanging points at either end to leave the score at 1-3 to 0-4 in favour of Laois with 10 minutes on the clock.

A further flurry of points followed with nothing to separate the sides after 20 minutes until Aaron Dunphy took the game by the scruff of the neck, scoring 1-1 inside a minute to edge Laois in front 2-6 to 0-7.

The wing forward went by Paul Greville with ease and buried the ball past Conor Lynch in the Laois goal.

The perfect response followed from Westmeath with a goal of their own straight from the restart from sharpshooter Doyle before following it up with another routine point to give the Raharney man his ninth score of the game, leaving four points between the teams.

Mark Kavanagh pointed the final score of the half, as Laois went in 2-11 to 1-10 ahead.

Two scores inside 90 seconds of the second half for Westmeath gave them the perfect start in their bid to pull back the deficit but Kavanagh kept them honest with a further two points close to goal to make it a four-point game once more.

With 46 minutes played, blood substitute for Laois Stephen Bergin who had only entered the field of play moments earlier, was in the right place at the right time to take a pass from Paddy Purcell and fire the ball past Conor Lynch to extend the lead for Laois to five points.

With 10 minutes left on the clock, Laois began to gain a real foothold in the game with Bergin’s goal minutes earlier leaving a lasting effect on the battling qualities shown by Westmeath to that point in the game.

A further four points for Mark Kavanagh and three from play for substitute Eanna Lyons extended Laois’s lead, as Eddie Brennan’s side pulled away to win by a convincing score line of 3-26 to 1-21.

Both sides now progress to the All-Ireland series, with Laois hosting Dublin and Westmeath welcoming Cork to Mullingar.

Referee: Colum Cunning (Antrim)

Scorers for Laois: Ross King (1-0), Mark Kavanagh (0-12, 6f), John Lennon (0-2), Aaron Dunphy (1-4), Charles Dwyer (0-2), Stephen Bergin (1-0), Eanna Lyons (0-3), Neil Foyle (0-2), Paddy Purcell (0-1)

Scorers for Westmeath: Killian Doyle (1-11, 6f), Shane Clavin (0-1), Aonghus Clarke (0-1), Cormac Boyle (0-1), Allan Devine (0-1), Derek McNicholas (0-1), Liam Varley (0-1), Ciaran Doyle (0-2), Joey Boyle (0-1), Eoin Price (0-1)

Laois

1. Enda Rowland

2. Lee Cleere

3. Matthew Whelan

4. Donnchadh Hartnett

5. Jack Kelly

6. Ryan Mullaney

7. Padraig Delaney

8. John Lennon

9. Paddy Purcell

10. Aaron Dunphy

11. Mark Kavanagh

12. Stephen Maher

13. Willie Dunphy

14. Charles Dwyer

15. Ross King

Subs: Stephen Bergin (Clough Ballacolla) for Mark Kavanagh (43) blood substitute, Stephen Bergin for Ross King (49), Eanna Lyons ( Ballyfin) for Stephen Maher ( 55), Neil Foyle ( Borris-in-Ossory-Kilcotton) for Charles Dwyer (59), Joe Phelan (Camross) for Jack Kelly (71)

Westmeath

1. Conor Lynch

2. Darragh Egerton

3. Tommy Doyle

4. Gary Greville

5. Liam Varley

6. Aonghus Clarke

7. Paul Greville

8. Shane Clavin

9. John Gilligan

10. Joey Boyle

11. Killian Doyle

12. Cormac Boyle

13. Allan Devine

14. Darragh Clinton

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