Hurling

Joe McDonagh Cup

Carlow 1-22 Laois 1-22

By Kieran Murphy at Netwatch Cullen Park

A superbly struck penalty from Marty Kavanagh with the last puck of the game gave the home side a share of the Joe McDonagh Cup spoils in this thrilling encounter on Saturday.

Six points up in the first half and seven in the third quarter, Laois threatened to cast the home side adrift but Carlow hung on and kept themselves in the competition. Laois also lost Fiachra C Fennell to a second yellow on 52 minutes, but it didn’t seem to affect them. In fact, they scored three points in the final minutes and looked to have the game in hand before that late Kavanagh penalty.

Laois had the edge in the first half with Stephen Maher converting the frees while helping himself to a few scores from play as well. Also, in form was Ross King who scored four points for Laois.

Carlow depended heavily on Kavanagh who scored eight points in the first half, but his brother, Jack, was a major influence in the half-back line. He opened the scoring with a long-range point in the first play while Carlow had their goalkeeper, Brian Tracey, to be thankful to as he made three superb stops to keep his line intact in the opening half.

Carlow would probably have wanted to ignore the half-time whistle as they built up momentum in the final 10 minutes of the half. Yet the common consensus was that Laois were unlucky to be only 0-14 to 0-12 ahead at the interval.

Carlow’s James Doyle and Laois forward, Martin Phelan exchanged early second half points and from that point on supporters on both sides were treated to a white-knuckle ride all the way to the finishing line.

The visitors scored their goal towards the end of the third quarter when Patrick Purcell broke down the left. As the Carlow defence cut down the space Purcell spotted the unmarked Stephen Bergin just outside the small square. The pass wasn’t perfect but it was still accurate enough for the corner-forward to have the time to balloon the sliotar into the back of the net.

Carlow never flinched and with Conor Kehoe, Marty Kavanagh, Doyle and Chris Nolan all raising white flags they were very much back in the game.

The sides were level when Carlow lost a marginal decision as Chris Nolan looked to be fouled but was pinged himself for holding on to his marker.

From there, two points from Maher and a long free from keeper, Enda Rowland, looked to be decisive. Carlow had one last chance when they won a free on half-way. Marty Kavanagh landed the ball in the small square where a Carlow forward was fouled.

Laois didn’t argue and when the dust had settled Kavanagh shot low and hard to the net. There was time for no more. A share of the points was probably fair, but Laois will be kicking themselves.

Scorers for Carlow: Marty Kavanagh 1-13 (1-0 pen, 65, 8fs), Jack Kavanagh 0-3, Conor Kehoe, James Doyle, Chris Nolan 0-2 each

Scorers for Laois: Stephen Maher 0-10 (4fs), Ross King 0-4, Stephen Bergin 1-1, Martin Phelan, Enda Rowland (fs) 0-2 each, Aidan Corby, James Keyes (s/l), Patrick Purcell 0-1 each.

Carlow: Brian Tracey; Paul Doyle, Conor Lawler, Jack McCullagh; Fiachra Fitzpatrick, Diarmuid Byrne, Kevin McDonald; Jack Kavanagh, James Doyle; Jon Nolan, Marty Kavanagh, Conor Kehoe; JP Treacy, Paddy Boland, Chris Nolan.

Subs: Jack Treacy for Treacy (25).

Laois: Enda Rowland; Fiachra C Fennell, Liam O’Connell, Donnchadh Hartnett; Ryan Mullaney, Padraig Delaney, Ian Shanahan; Aidan Corby, Ross King; Patrick Purcell, Stephen Maher, James Keyes; Martin Phelan, Gearoid Lynch, Stephen Bergin.

Subs: Jack Kelly for Mullaney (50), PJ Scully for Phelan (55), Tomás Keyes for Lynch (58), John Lennon for King (58), James Duggan for Bergin (73).

Referee: Sean Cleere (Kilkenny).