Clare dramatically maintained their Indian sign over Laois as a late seven point turnaround saw the home side effectively kill their rivals Division 3 promotion hopes in Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chiosóg in Ennis.
Despite being reduced to 14 men for the last 50 minutes of the tie, Laois were impressively defiant and looked set for a rousing victory when a Patrick O'Sullivan goal entering the final ten minutes put his side three clear at 2-14 to 0-17.
When needed most however, Clare managed to pick themselves up off the canvas and produce a remarkable final flourish to outscore the visitors by 0-07 to 0-01 for the remainder.
Successive two-pointers through substitute Cormac Murray and Aaron Griffin inched the Banner back in front and once Laois passed up a last gasp equalising free, Clare countered with the last two points through the excellent Eoin Cleary and replacement Jamie Stack to prevail.
With both sides having a real mixed bag of a start to this year’s campaign, the was exactly how the narrative of their clash would turn out too as the lead changed hands eight times over the 70 minutes.
In truth, a draw might have been the fairest outcome as Laois also had a second half penalty from chief threat Evan O’Carroll saved but in terms of realistically staying in the hunt for promotion to the second tier, victory was almost a prerequisite for both.
The sending off of Brian Byrne for an off-the-ball incident with Ikem Ugwueru in the 22nd minute seemed a hammerblow for Laois who only led by 0-05 to 0-04 at the time in spite of having the aid of a strong wind.
Byrne had arrowed over an early two-pointer but in his absence, his team-mates rose to the challenge as while Mark McInerney may have kicked the next two scores to edge Clare in front, Laois answered with the next four points including a two-pointer for Banner native Killian Roche to ensure a 0-9 to 0-8 interval edge for the Leinster side.
Indeed, Justin McNulty’s side remained remarkably resilient against the conditions too as Simon Singleton produced a goal saving block on a Manus Doherty shot on the restart. That defiance would be magnified when only five minutes later, Evan O’Carroll outwitted Clare’s last line to place a perfect shot to the right corner of Stephen Ryan’s net at 1-10 to 0-09.
Clare were sparked into gear by that major as they responded with the next seven points in only six minutes as former captain Eoin Cleary stepped up with five points allied to an Aaron Griffin two-pointer at 0-16 to 1-10.
Killian Roche again gnawed at that advantage with another crucial two point free against his native county but Laois would see a glorious opportunity to put themselves into a match-winning position at the three-quarters mark when earning a penalty.
With Clare’s Cillian Brennan also being blackcarded in the process, numerical parity wasn’t accentuated by a Laois goal as home goalkeeper Stephen Ryan superbly tipped Evan O’Carroll’s penalty off the left post and into the welcome arms of Manus Doherty.
Another major swing occurred entering the final ten minutes when Clare’s Brian McNamara flashed a powerful effort agonisingly wide of the right post at one end while from the kick-out, Patrick O’Sullivan played a one-two with Evan O’Carroll to flick a back post finish to the Clare net to soar 2-14 to 0-17 clear.
Clare would have been forgiven for thinking that it wasn’t going to be their day but the return of Brennan would inspire one final surge that was initiated by two-pointers for Murray and Griffin to finally shade what was a rip-roaring rollercoaster ride.
Clare: Stephen Ryan; Alan Sweeney, Ronan Lanigan, Manus Doherty; Ikem Ugwueru, Connor Meaney, Brendy Rouine; Cillian Brennan; Brian McNamara; Daniel Walsh, Dermot Coughlan (0-01), Josh Vaughan; Eoin Cleary (0-10, 1tpf, 2f), Mark McInerney (0-03, 1f), Aaron Griffin (0-06, 2tp, 1f)
Subs: Cormac Murray (0-03, 1tp) for McInerney (46, inj), Shane Griffin for Walsh (49), Jamie Stack (0-01) for Vaughan (62)
Laois: Killian Roche (0-04, 2tpf); Ben Dempsey, Trevor Collins, Simon Fingleton; Patrick O’Sullivan (1-00), Kevin Swayne, Jack Lacey; Robert Tyrrell, Mikie Dempsey; Josh Hogan, Brian Byrne (0-02, 1tp), Conor Heffernan; Rioghan Murphy (0-02, 1f), Evan O’Carroll (1-05, 3f), Daragh Galvin
Subs: Jake Darcy for Lacey (35), Darren Brennan (0-01) for Hogan (35), Ciaran Burke (0-01) for M. Dempsey (46), Ronan Coffey for Galvin (49), Paul Kingston for Tyrrell (59)
Referee: James Molloy (Galway)
