Offaly 3-22 Laois 2-14
Offaly easily avenged last year’s eight point defeat to Laois at this stage of the Leinster championship when a devastating second half performance swept aside their midland rivals and powered them to a 3-22 to 2-14 victory at O’Connor Park in Tullamore.
A Joe Bergin goal after just 40 seconds kicked off their second-half surge and they piled on the scores from then on, ending the game with 11 different scorers, including three substitutes.
Having restarted at 1-10 apiece, Laois added a mere four points after the break before Willie Dunphy crashed home a consolation goal deep into stoppage time.
It was a performance that nobody really saw coming as Offaly had stuttered and stumbled their way through the round-robin series in Leinster, crashing to a heavy defeat by Westmeath and limping over the line against Carlow before finally discovering flashes of form against Kerry last time out.
Laois too had endured a poor build-up to this fixture, narrowly avoiding relegation to Division 2A of the National Hurling League, however the youthful profile of the team would have suggested that they were ideally poised to thrive in the heavy, warm conditions that prevailed at the home of the Faithful County.
Instead it was Offaly who showed greater hunger and workrate throughout the tie and no statistic will make for happier reading for Eamon Kelly and his management team than the hook/block/tackle count.
That determination and willingness to fight for possession in every line of the field was key as they scrapped their way to an early 0-3 to 0-1 lead, each of their scores coming after hard-earned turnovers secured from placed-ball opportunities for Shane Dooley.
Laois settled into the contest, however, and with Neil Foyle starting to exert himself on the edge of the Offaly square, they edged in front by the 20-minute mark.
It could have been even better for them had James Dempsey not pulled off an unbelievable save to deny Cha Dwyer, but as PJ Scully pointed the resultant ’65, the signs were still good for the visitors.
Instead Laois were made to pay for their profligacy when James Mulrooney goaled for Offaly with the next play of the game and the Faithful men pushed on from there, with Sean Gardiner and Shane Kinsella each adding excellent scores.
They moved into a five-point lead before a five-minute spell shortly before half-time rocked them onto their heels, ignited by two excellent scores from Dwyer, the leading light of the Laois attack.
There was a touch of controversy to Scully’s goal as Offaly looked for a free for a foul on James Dempsey after the custodian produced two magnificent saves to deny Foyle and Stephen Maher, but Johnny Ryan deemed it fair game as Laois piled in on top of Dempsey and Scully was able to poke the ball home.
Shane Dooley’s sixth point of the game levelled it at half-time, but with the breeze set to favour Laois in the second half, what little advantage there was seemed to be with them.
Instead the game turned completely in Offaly’s favour as they completely overwhelmed their opponents in every phase of the game after the break.
Paddy Purcell missed the target with a strike right from the throw-in, but with the next possession Joe Bergin was able to claim a high delivery, turn past his marker and slam the sliothar into the bottom corner.
Laois were rocked, and Offaly duly piled on the scores.
Kevin Connolly and Paddy Murphy struck glorious points from long range and while Stephen Maher finally got Laois off the mark, there was no breaking Offaly’s momentum.
Ten first-half wides hurt Offaly but it was Laois who racked up nine errant shots in the second half as the Faithful gradually pulled away before finally making the victory safe through a Shane Dooley penalty.
Kevin Connolly burst through on goal and then collided with Enda Rowland as he struck for goal and Dooley applied the finish.
Cillian Kiely, Sean Cleary and Liam Langton came off the bench to add points for a rampant Offaly side, while Laois were condemned to the qualifiers long before Dunphy struck a late consolation goal, deep into injury-time.
Offaly: J Dempsey; C McDonald, D Shortt, P Rigney; D King, S Gardiner (0-01), D Mooney; S Ryan (0-01), P Camon; S Kinsella (0-03), J Bergin (1-01), P Murphy (0-01); K Connolly (0-01), J Mulrooney (1-00), S Dooley (1-11, 1-00 pen, 0-09f, 0-02 ‘65s).
Subs: C Kiely (0-01) for Shortt (HT), L Langton (0-01) for Connolly (56), S Cleary (0-01) for Mulrooney (60), J Sampson for Ryan (62), D Kelleher for Mooney (67)
Laois: E Rowland (0-01f); C Healy, D Maher, D Palmer; L Bergin, M Whelan, R Mullaney; P Purcell, J Lennon; C Dwyer (0-05), W Hyland (0-01), S Maher (0-02, 0-01f); C Stapleton, N Foyle (0-02), PJ Scully (1-03, 0-02f, 0-01 ’65).
Subs: B Conroy for Stapleton (44), T Delaney for Mullaney (48), W Dunphy (1-00) for Scully (51), R King for Lennon (58), O Carroll for Delaney (65).
Referee: Johnny Ryan (Tipperary)
