O’Moore men pay a heavy price for Brody’s mistake
SWEEPER ‘keeper Graham Brody was left with egg on his face as Westmeath powered to the Allianz League Division 4 title. Trailing by a point with 20 minutes to go, Jack Cooney’s men reeled off 1-4 without reply in the next 14 minutes to seal it. Ger Egan was terrific for Westmeath, shooting 1-7, and his 60th minute goal turned the game. It came from an interception at midfield when Laois goalkeeper Brody raced upfield and lost possession, allowing Westmeath to break away and punish him. It’s Westmeath’s second final win in a matter of months after claiming the O’Byrne Cup in January. It’s also a big pre-Championship statement ahead of the Leinster quarter-final on May 26 between the counties. Westmeath won by three points when the sides met in Round 4 of the league. They also beat Laois to top spot in Division 3 on scoring difference and edged the first-half in front of 7,649. In what was a meeting of the 2018 and 2017 Division 4 winners, Laois led at first following points from Evan O’Carroll and Donie Kingston. But they kicked eight firsthalf wides and paid a high price as Westmeath went in 0-7 to 0-5 ahead at the interval. Paul Cahillane also had a great goal chance for Laois in the 16th minute after rounding the goalkeeper but hit the side-netting. Free-taker Egan shot five of those Westmeath points while Ronan O’Toole and John Heslin were also on the mark. Noel Mulligan and David Lynch were late additions to the Westmeath lineup though they lost James Dolan to a sin-binning just before half-time. Just as Dolan was returning from his 10-minute lay-off, Westmeath lost Boidu Sayeh to a black card after 46 minutes. Crucially, they trailed 0-10 to 0-9 at that stage after a strong Laois start to the second-half. O’Carroll and Kingston both kicked a brace of points in that period while Mark Timmons boomed one over from distance. It was opening out into an exciting contest with the scores tied four times in the second-half. Laois were swept aside by Westmeath during that 14minute blitzkrieg that yielded the 1-4. Brody’s error for the Westmeath goal moved them from one to four points clear. David Lynch and Egan added points and they led 113 to 0-10 with just minutes to go.