Offaly were far more comfortable than the final scoreline suggested at Bord na Móna O’Connor Park in Tullamore this afternoon, as they dominated this Allianz Hurling League Division 1B midlands clash for long stretches.
The foundations for the win were laid in the first half when the Faithful County played into the teeth of a fiercely strong breeze at their home venue, and still reached the interval with a 0-11 to 1-7 advantage.
Defensively Kevin Martin’s side were superb in that period, as evidenced by the statistic that the starting Laois forward line scored just two points between them in that opening period.
Midfielder Paddy Purcell enjoyed yet another profitable outing however as he racked up a personal tally of 1-3 and earned a number of frees into the bargain, but it was only in the latter stages of the contest that the Laois attack started to make any real inroads.
The first four points of the game were shared equally, despite the fact that Eoghan Cahill’s puckouts failed to clear halfway at any stage in the first half, but Laois overcame that when they broke through to fire in the first goal of the game after 13 minutes.
Purcell broke forward to take a pass from Ben Conroy and deliver a stunning finish to the roof of the Offaly net from an incredibly tight angle, but Offaly slowly and methodically set about reducing the deficit, and soon hit the front through points from Shane Dooley, Joe Bergin, Cillian Kiely and livewire midfielder Thomas Geraghty.
Padraig Lawlor came forward from wing back to fire over one point and set up another for Ross King, but Offaly continued to prove that bit more adept in the physical exchanges, and while they dodged a bullet when Purcell fired the ball over the bar from close range when it looked like a second goal was on, they took an 0-11 to 1-7 advantage into half time.
Ross King and Mark Kavanagh pointed to turn the tables immediately after half time, the latter drawing rapturous applause for a wonderful sideline cut from underneath the stand, but Offaly quickly took over and effectively settled the tie by scoring 1-8 over the next fifteen minutes.
Joe Bergin delivered the killer blow when he outjumped his marker to field a long Pat Camon clearance on the 20-metre line and within a split second he had turned and flashed a powerful shot past Enda Rowland.
Bergin added two more superb points to bring his tally up to 1-4 in a man of the match display from the Seir Kieran man, while Shane Dooley showed great accuracy from dead balls as Offaly moved out of sight.
There was a noticeable dip in intensity from the home side in the closing stages of the contest and Laois had a number of chances to score their second goal of the game – and what would have been their second goal of the league competition as a whole – from close range frees, but the Offaly defence held firm.
Offaly: Eoghan Cahill; Tom Spain, Sean Gardiner, Ben Conneely; Pat Camon, David O’Toole (0-01), Paddy Delaney (0-01); Tommy Geraghty (0-02), David King (0-01); Conor Mahon, Cillian Kiely (0-01), Colin Egan; Joe Bergin (1-04), Shane Dooley (0-10, 0-06 frees, 0-01 ’65), Dan Currams (0-01).
Subs: Oisin Kelly for Kiely (51), Damien Egan for C Egan (56), James Gorman for Currams (62), Paddy Rigney for Delaney (68), Dermot Shortt for Geraghty (68)
Laois: Enda Rowland (0-01 free); Leigh Bergin, Lee Cleere, Donncha Hartnett; Padraig Lawlor (0-01), Matthew Whelan, Eric Killeen; Paddy Purcell (1-03), James Ryan; Ben Conroy, Charles Dwyer (0-01), Willie Dunphy (0-02); Ross King (0-05, 0-04 frees), Neil Foyle (0-01), Ciarán Comerford.
Subs: Colm Stapleton for Hartnett (23), Mark Kavanagh (0-02, 0-01 sideline) for Comerford (HT), Conor Quinlan for Killeen (41), Cian Taylor for Dunphy (59), Patrick McKane for Foyle (68)
Referee: Justin Heffernan (Wexford)
