New blood serves Laois well

Gaelic Games O'Byrne Cup final/Laois 0-17 Westmeath 0-12: An ice-cold and crystal-bright afternoon in Mullingar got the year off to a cheery start for the Laois footballers. Mick O'Dwyer didn't pretend that finally winning the O'Byrne Cup had completed him as a coach but there was no mistaking his contentment at having won a campaign manned by up-and-coming personnel.

His team were too sharp for Westmeath and despite disappearing for periods were always in command of the match. The defence - an entirely new configuration as he boasted afterwards - was always able to disrupt the Leinster champions' at times ponderous attacks and when the forwards got moving they were capable of killer bursts of scoring that kept the scoreboard ticking away out of their opponents' reach.

It wasn't a completely wasted afternoon for Westmeath, however. Although the team were well short of match fitness even by the standards of January and further weakened by the absence of John Keane and Des Dolan in Hong Kong with the All Stars, manager Páidí Ó Sé will have been pleased with the potential shown by forwards Patrick Mulvihill and John Brennan.

The contrast in sharpness could be seen in the attacking statistics. Westmeath shot 11 wides to Laois's three and lacked the slickness going forward to make the best of what was a reasonable supply of ball.

Within seconds of the start the winners were on the board with Mark Dunne, who looked strong and dynamic throughout, picking off the first points and triggering an opening surge that took Laois to a six-point lead, 0-6 to 0-0, by the 15th minute.

Finding their range quickly the visitors threatened from all angles and five of the six forwards were responsible for the opening salvo. Last year's dual minor and senior phenomenon Donie Brennan was fast and alert in kicking the fifth and sixth scores in the sequence.

Westmeath eventually began to take their opportunities and enacted a purple passage of their own with five unanswered points. During this phase their physical advantage was well exploited, particularly as first Denis Glennon and then Mulvihill bustled through and had their perseverance rewarded.

But what the Laois backs lacked in physique they made up for in energy and enthusiasm, never allowing their opponents to settle and getting in flicks and challenges to disrupt incoming attacks.

Colm Begley, another graduate from minor, was particularly impressive in frustrating a below-par Denis Glennon.

No sooner had Alan Mangan, Westmeath's most accomplished forward, trimmed the deficit to one than Laois were off again and made two significant gains by the interval.

One, they took a three-point lead, 0-9 to 0-6, in with them at half-time and two, Daniel McDermott had been sin-binned for another foul on Brennan just before the break.

Referee Brian White seemed to have taken a pragmatic approach to the experimental disciplinary dispensation now that it is widely believed to be doomed to extinction. He was over-tolerant of jersey pulling and didn't appear to be keeping too rigorous a count of petty fouls but in general the match was free from rancour and McDermott's was the only yellow card.

Laois exploited the advantage by clipping an additional two points on the restart although Stephen Kelly's could have been a goal. Although the lead was brought back to three, 0-12 to 0-9, going into the final quarter few in the crowd of 10,121 would have backed against Laois. And rightly.

In the space of two minutes they rattled off another three points from Munnelly, who might have had a penalty in the 54th minute and who had to be replaced after taking a knock - "only muscle," according to O'Dwyer - Dunne, on another impressive burst, and Brennan, finishing clinically after a swift attack through the middle.

At 0-15 to 0-9 it was all over and all that remained was the harmless exchange of a few points in the closing minutes.

LAOIS: M Nolan; N Donoher, C Begley, T McDonald; K Kelly, P O'Leary, P McMahon; M Dunne (0-2), N Garvan (capt, 0-1); R Munnelly (0-3, two frees), C Conway (0-2, frees), G Kavanagh (0-2); S Cooke (0-1), S Kelly (0-3), D Brennan (0-3). Subs: P Lawlor for Cooke (41 mins); D Murphy for Munnelly (64 mins).

WESTMEATH: G Connaughton; D McDermott, D Mitchell, D O'Donoghue; D Heavin, D Kilmartin, M Ennis (capt); R O'Connell, C Galligan (0-1); A Lambden, J Brennan, J McAteer; A Mangan (0-6, four frees), D Glennon (0-2), P Mulvihill (0-2). Subs: J Fallon (0-1) for McAteer (42 mins); P Tormey for Lambden (46 mins); J Davitt for McDermott (58 mins); P Walsh for Glennon (71 mins).

Referee: B White (Wexford).