Laois minors’ Leinster jaunt comes to a ruthless end at the hands of Westmeath
Laois's Conor Hickey wins the race to gather this sliotar Photo: Denis Byrne
Laois's run in the Leinster MHC officially came to an end in Laois Hire O'Moore Park on Saturday afternoon after they felt the wrath of an impressive Westmeath outfit in their final round clash of the group phase.
Both sides came into the fixture needing to win and also required other fixtures to go their way if they were to qualify for the next stage.
Laois's task was much tougher however as they needed to put a huge dent in their -32 score difference while needing both Dublin and Kilkenny to lose, for Westmeath they simply needed to win and for Kilkenny to beat Wexford.
The hosts made a bright start to the game without one of their main attacking threats in LJ Cuddy and they took a three point four minutes into the game, but Westmeath soon took control and ran riot for the remainder of the half.
Led by the excellent Conor Williams and Dara Geary, Westmeath went in at half time with a twelve point lead and it was deserved.
The second half was much tighter as Laois tried their hardest to battle back into contention but Westmeath had more than enough of a cushion built up so they were never in much danger.
Laois made a very promising start to the half, taking a three point lead after four minutes despite the opening score coming at the Town End through Conor Cleary.
Cuddy's replacement on the field also took over the free taking duties and Jamie Mahoney nailed the first one and he was followed by an excellent pair of scores from play by Laois captain Callum Jones.
Oisin Gilligan hit the net against Wexford last week and he was almost in on goal again early on in the game but his shot flew just over the bar.
Whittling down the score difference was a big objective for Laois if they were to qualify and they weren't shy in chasing it as they landed countless balls into the inside forward line, but the Westmeath backs proved to be stern competition.
Westmeath soon found their groove after their slow start and would go on to dominate for the remainder of the half, starting with a pair of points within seconds of each other from Tom Shaw and MJ Long.
Conor Raleigh followed with a free and the spread of scorers widened with Aidan Doyle, Dara Geary and Eoghan Beehan all splitting the posts.
A second point from Aidan Doyle made it seven on the trot for the Lake County and Long increased it to eight from the left wing.
Westmeath captain Conor Williams is a dominant force at centre back and he also showed his own scoring prowess with a free from his own 65 before following that up with another half way between his 45 and 65 metres lines.
Mahony got one back for Laois with a free from the 45 but the Westmeath dominance continued with scores from corner forwards Geary and Raleigh from opposite wings.
Long, Geary and Raleigh saw out the half with further points for the visitors to make it 0-17 to 0-5 at half time.
Raleigh opened the second half with a beautifully executed sideline cut to increase the Westmeath lead before Dan Bowe fired back with a long range free of his own from centre back.
The sides then traded a brace of points each with Geary and Raleigh on target for Westmeath and Mahony hitting back with a free and an incredible effort from play.
Mahony followed again with another score either side of points from Williams and Geary, the second half was proving to be a much tighter contest.
Scores from Luke Hynes and Bowe brought the gap back to eleven with 10 minutes left on the clock, but Laois were proving quite wasteful with a series of wides.
The scoring slowed severely late on as the sides knew their fate approaching the final ten minutes.
Raleigh added three more points to his tally in that period and Geary capped off an excellent display to bring his own number up to five points from play.
Jerry O'Connell marked his appearance off the bench with a point and Mahony completed the Laois scoring as Westmeath ran out thirteen point winners.
Conor Raleigh 0-10 (0-6fs, 0-1 sideline), Dara Geary 0-5, Conor Williams (0-2fs) and MJ Long 0-3 each, Aidan Doyle 0-2, Tom Shaw, Eoghan Beehan and Conor Cleary 0-1 each.
Jamie Mahony 0-7 (0-4fs), Dan Bowe (0-1f) and Callum Jones 0-2 each, Oisin Gilligan, Luke Hynes and Jerry O'Connell 0-1 each.
Odhran Devine; Cian Mathews, Cian McKeogh, Oisin Gavin; Cillian Clarke, Conor Williams, Eoghan Goldrick; Conor Cleary, Dean Kelly; MJ Long, Eoghan Beehan, Aidan Doyle; Dara Geary, Tom Shaw, Conor Raleigh.
Shane Murray for Shaw (42m), Oisin O Muiri for Kelly (55m), Luke Dowling for Doyle (59m).
Ryan Keeshan (Rathdowney-Errill); Conor Hickey (Borris-Kilcotton), Jack Rice (Mountrath), Cillin Hoey (Portarlington); Harry Donohue (The Harps), Dan Bowe (Rathdowney-Errill), Rian Dwyer (Ballinakill); Luke Hynes (Camross), Tadhg Hughes (Rosenallis); Dan Downey (Park Ratheniska/Timahoe); Jamie Mahony (The Harps), Killian James (St Paul's); Oisin Gilligan (Ballyfin), Bobby O'Connor (Trumera), Callum Jones (Borris/Kilcotton).
Rory Standish (Rathdowney/Errill) for O'Connor (37m), Jerry O'Connell (Abbeyleix) for James (40m), Bobby McWey (Ballypickas) for Gilligan (50m), Darragh Keeshan (Borris/Kilcotton) for Donoghue (53m).
Conor Daly (Kildare)
