Joe McDonagh Cup: Laois cruise to victory

Joe McDonagh Cup

Laois 6-36 Down 1-12

By Alan Hartnett at Ballycran

The Laois senior hurlers continued their perfect start to the Joe McDonagh Cup campaign,defeating Down in Ballycran.

Tommy Fitzgerald's side were looking to build upon their nine point win over Westmeath in Round One and they truly did.

Down lost in Round One by 21 points and things didn't get any better here for the Allianz Hurling League Division Two champions.

Their cause wasn't helped in the 30th minute when Caolan Taggart was shown a red card, but, in truth, the game was over as a contest even by that stage.

After making the almost four hour journey up, Laois didn't show any signs of stiffness as they scored two goals in the opening five minutes.

Cha Dwyer got the opener after a fantastic ball inside from Ben Conroy off the right wing to finish off an excellent team move and it was the Slieve Bloom man who got the second goal as Cha repaid the favour after good initial work from Tom Cuddy and Fiachra C Fennell.

A glut of points ensued for the visitors as Jer Quinlan, Mossy Keyes and Aidan Corby all got off the mark to move Laois ten clear after just 15 minutes.

The first half top scorer for Laois was Tomas Keyes with seven, six of those from play, as Down could barely get near the Laois goal and then were reduced to 14 men.

Down did get some respite before half time as Laois failed to deal with a long ball and Pearse Og McCrickard fired a shot to the back of the net.

But Laois continued to score down the other end as they led 2-22 to 1-4 at half time - an unassailable 21 point advantage.

Early second half scores from Cha Dwyer, Aidan Corby and Jer Quinlan were match by Eoghan and Daithi Sands.

Laois upped the tempo once again as the half progressed with Ben Conroy slamming in their third goal while James Duggan and PJ Scully each pointed after their introductions to the play.

Duggan soon added a goal to his point when he was on the end of a delightful ball over the top from Ryan Mullaney to cleverly flick the ball over Steven Keith into an open net.

Fellow sub Scully was in for Laois’s fifth goal minutes later, making Tommy Fitzgerald’s decisions for starting spots in the next game that bit tougher.

Laois set a record of 50 points in a championship game last year against Down and that was in sight once again this season as Podge Delaney and Ryan Mullaney added further points.

James Duggan was the man to get the score that broke the record with his second goal bringing Laois’s tally to 6-33, 51 points in total.
David Dooley, Cha Dwyer and Ryan Mullaney tagged on late scores to bring a very one-sided game to a close and all focus now lies on Kerry in two weeks’ time.

Down will be left to pick up the pieces as they face Westmeath next.

Scorers for Laois: Jer Quinlan 0-8 (3fs), Tomas Keyes 0-7 (6fs), Ben Conroy 2-2, James Duggan 2-1, Cha Dwyer 1-3, PJ Scully 1-2 (1f), Aidan Corby 0-5, Ryan Mullaney and Podge Delaney (2fs) 0-2 each, Cody Comerford, David Dooley, Fiachra C Fennell and John Lennon 0-1 each.

Scorers for Down: Pearse Og McCrickard 1-1, Paul Sheahan 0-4 (3fs), Daithi Sands and Eoghan Sands 0-2 each, Tim Prenter, Caolan Taggart and Marc Fisher (65) 0-1 each.

Laois: Cathal Dunne; Diarmaid Conway, Lee Cleere, Cody Comerford; Tom Cuddy, Padraig Delaney, Ryan Mullaney; Fiachra C Fennell, Patrick Purcell; Aidan Corby, Charles Dwyer, David Dooley; Tomás Keyes, Jer Quinlan, Ben Conroy.

Subs: John Lennon for Cuddy (30), Martin Phelan for Keyes (HT), James Duggan for Corby (51), PJ Scully for Quinlan (55), Donnchadh Hartnett for Comerford (55).

Down: Stephen Keith; Matt Conlan, John McManus, Tom Murray; Marc Fisher, Caolan Taggart, Liam Savage; Donal Hughes, Phelim Savage; Chris Egan, Tim Prenter, Eoghan Sands; Finn Turpin, Ruairi McCrickard, Pearse Óg McCrickard.

Subs: Niall MacFarland for Fisher (17), Paul Sheahan for Prenter and Daithi Sands for Turpin (both ht), Ben Taggart for Murray (45), Michael Dorrian for R McCrickard (56).

Referee: Eamonn Furlong (Wexford).