London may be propping up the division but yesterday in Rochfortbridge they gave the table toppers a fright as they dominated the opening half an hour. By that stage the visitors led by 0-7 to 0-2, but the sending off of London's Gus O'Brien was to change the complexion of the game.

Points from Diarmuid Slattery, Niall Horgan and two from Eric O'Reilly had propelled London into a four-point lead inside 11 minutes as complacent Westmeath were unable to cope with the onslaught.

JP Casey steadied the ship but further points from Liam O'Connell and O'Reilly pushed them further ahead before O'Brien was ordered off for a second bookable offence.

It was the boost Westmeath needed and points flowed from the boots of Joe Fallon, Gary Dolan, Martin Flanagan and Alan Mangan as the home side closed the gap to the minimum by the interval.

With the winds on their backs after the break Westmeath predictably continued in the ascendancy and it was only a matter of time before the over stretched London defence buckled.

London, to their credit, never game up the hunt.

WESTMEATH: G Connaughton; D Healy, D Mitchell, K Henson; B Morley, B Gavin, D Kilmartin; R O'Connell, M Flanagan (1-3); F Wilson (0-1), A Mangan (0-2), M Ennis; J P Casey (2-7), G Dolan (0-1), J Fallon (0-3), Subs: S Colleary for Ennis, D O'Donoghue for Gavin, C Whyte (0-1) for Dolan, S Mitchell (0-1) for D Mitchell, P Leavy for Wilson.

LONDON: S Walls; G Cullen, C Costello, C Kissane; F Greenan, K Scanlon, M Donaghy; D Slattery (0-1), S Hehir; G Crawford, N Horgan (0-1), C Foody; G O'Brien, E O'Reilly (0-4), L O'Connell (0-1). Subs: M Gillespie (1-0) for O'Connell, G Kane for Slattery, D Holland for Foody.

Referee: F Barrett (Kildare)