Fresher Red Hands should have edge on Laois

WITH some luck in Croke Park last Saturday evening, Mick O’Dwyer and Laois would be little more than interested spectators of tomorrow’s Bank of Ireland SFC qualifiers.

Instead they will be battling the might of Tyrone for their championship survival.

Late last Saturday, wing-back Kevin Fitzpatrick came close to getting a goal which would almost certainly have denied Westmeath an historic victory. But it was not to be. Given that the game was a replay, they now find themselves in the onerous situation of playing a qualifier with little time for rest or recuperation.