Laois footballer, Mark Barry.
Allianz Football League Division 3
LAOIS 3-20 LEITRIM 0-6
By PJ Leddy at Sean O'Heslin Memorial Park
Laois demolished their opponent's challenge when bouncing back to claim a runaway win over well below par Leitrim outfit in Sean O'Heslin Memorial Park Ballinamore in what was an extremely one sided contest where the home supporters had to endure a difficult afternoon.
Laois played very well from start to finish and hardly put a foot wrong over the course of the 70 minutes. In the opening half Laois were certainly firing on all cylinders and Leitrim only chugging along. O'Moore County drew first blood when Ronan Coffey fired over two minutes into the action.
Over the next seven minutes Laois hit three goals on the trot with Kevin Swayne, Pa Kirwan and Benny Carroll all finding the Leitrim net. The home side were certainly shell shocked by Laois's blistering start.
In the following sixteen minutes Laois continued to rule the roost with Mark Barry shooting five points with three coming from play and two from frees. Damon Larkin and Niall Corbett also added Laois points apiece in this period.
Leitrim opened their account when Tom Prior fired over a 32nd minute point. But over the next three minutes Laois hit back with two Mark Barry points, one from a placed ball, and one from James Kelly.
Before the break Leitrim's Tom Prior answered with his second point of the game which left Laois leading by a whopping 3 – 12 to 0 – 2 at the interval. After the restart the O'Moore men stretched their advantage in the opening eleven minutes of the second half with James Kelly and Mark Barry (free) whipping over a point each.
Keith Beirne opened his account when he answered with a 49th minute Leitrim point. Laois's Pa Kirwan hit the only two point play of the game when he split the Leitrim posts from play on the 52nd minute mark.
Over the next four minutes Laois's Simon Fingleton and Leitrim's Keith Keegan swapped points at opposite ends. Laois continued in control right up to the end with Conor Brown, Niall Corbett (free) and Damon Larkin whipping over a point each.
Leitrim closed the scoring in game with two Darren Cox points.
Scorers for Laois: Mark Barry 0-7 5f; Pa Kirwan 1–2 2p; Benny Carroll & Kevin Swayne 1–0 each; Damon Larkin 0–3; James Kelly & Niall Corbett f 0–2 each; Ronan Coffey, Conor Brown Simon Fingleton & Jonah Kelly 0–1 each.
**Scorers for Leitrim:**Tom Prior & Darren Cox 0–2 each; Keith Beirne & Keith Keegan 0–1 each,
Laois: Killian Roche; Ben Dempsey, Simon Fingleton, Trevor Collins; Pa Kirwan, Brian Byrne, Seamus Lacey, Kevin Swayne, Damon Larkin; Daniel O'Reilly, Mark Barry, James Kelly; Ronan Coffey, Benny Carroll, Niall Corbett. Subs: Cathal Lee for Carroll (33); Jonah Kelly for Barry (43); Fionn Holland for Swayne (46); John Brennan for Coffey (56): Conor Brown for Roche (59).
Leitrim: Daire O'Shea; Eoin McLoughlin, Kieran Clancy, Sean Harkin, Eanna McNamara, Mark Diffley, Jack Foley; Jack Flynn, Keith Keegan; Paul Honeyman, Conor Quinn, Riordan O'Rourke; Jordan Reynolds, Keith Beirne Tom Prior. Subs: James Rooney for S Harkin (19); Darren Cox for Reynolds (30); Cathal McHugh for E McLoughlin (37), Stephen McLoughlin for Foley (42); David Feeney for O'Rourke (59).
Referee: Fergal Kelly (Longford).
