Camross 4-18 Abbeyleix 0-14 Laois SHC Final
Camross have claimed their 27th Laois SHC title after an emphatic victory over Abbeyleix in O'Moore Park on Sunday afternoon.
David Cuddy's charges laid the foundation for their win in the opening 15 minutes when the star of this year's championship scored a hat-trick.Tomas Keyes was simply unplayable all game and it was the three goals he got in the opening quarter that ultimately secured the win.
This was Abbeyleix's first appearance in a final since 1949 and although they will be extremely disappointed, they are a young side and will be back.
Camross absolutely blew away a miss-firing Abbeyleix in the opening half of the game. The pressure was on from the first minute and when Abbeyleix failed to clear, Tomas Keyes pounced for a goal to give Camross the perfect start.
Abbeyleix got underway with points from Colin Byrne and Liam Delaney but they also had five wides. Down the other end, Camross made them pay. Mark Dowling set up Tomas Keyes for a second goal chance which he duly dispatched.
Points from Tom Cuddy, Eoin Gaughan, Liam Delaney and Andrew Collier all followed. Abbeyleix got a third point through Eoghan Fennelly but the wides continued and they had eight by the midpoint of the half.
Camross only had one and when a surging run from Liam Delaney resulted in him finding Keyes, the classy corner forward picked out the back of the net.That made it 3-05 to 0-03 at the end of the first quarter and things briefly improved for Abbeyleix as Eoghan Fennelly and Liam Doyle pointed.
Keyes and Zane Keenan pointed before Liam Delaney set up Mark Dowling for a chance. He cracked a shot off the underside of the crossbar and it landed over the line - 14 points between them with 27 minutes played.
Fennelly replied with a free for Abbeyleix but they now had 11 wides and Camross led 4-07 to 0-06 at half time. Abbeyleix needed a good start to the second half if they were to have any chance and they did as Eoghan Fennelly pointed twice.
Camross' response was swift as Keyes took his tally to 3-03 and Ciaran Collier pointed his first after 40 minutes. Colin Byrne replied with his second of the game and it was now 4-09 to 0-09 with 20 minutes to play.
Keyes continued to be the chief tormentor though and he landed two more points as Abbeyleix's wide tally grew to 16. Sub Odhran Phelan and Keyes added further points but to be fair to Abbeyleix, they kept plugging away as a brace from Ciaran Byrne left 12 in it with ten minutes to play.
Camross were not about to relent and stepped on the gas again after that. Ciaran Collier swung over his second before being replaced by Dan Delaney who won and then pointed a free.
The excellent Tom Cuddy, whose two goals in the semi final win over Clough-Ballacolla, ultimately led Camross to this stage - then fired over his second.
Ciaran Byrne tried to keep the Abbeyleix resistance going but Keyes took his tally to 3-6 as the game approached injury time. It all petered out from there, as Camross were crowned worthy champions once again
Camross: Tadhg Doran; Darragh Duggan, Cathal Cuddy, Joe Phelan; Tom Cuddy (0-02), Eoin Gaughan (0-01), Eoin Dowling; Dwane Palmer, Rob Tyrrell; Liam Delaney (0-01), Andrew Collier (0-01), Zane Keenan (0-01); Tomas Keyes (3-06), Mark Dowling (1-00), Ciaran Collier (0-02). Subs: Odhran Phelan (0-01) for Tyrrell (38), James Cuddy for A Collier (44), Oisin Bennett (0-01) for Keenan (47), Dan Delaney (0-02) for C Collier (52), Lorcan Burke for E Dowling (55)
Abbeyleix: Enda Rowland; Eamon Fitzpatrick, Oisin Carroll, Ross Coffey; Liam Doyle (0-01), Cillian McEvoy, Lawson Obulor; Shaun Fitzpatrick, Colm Walsh; Aaron Brennan, Liam Delaney (0-01), Fionan Mahony; Ciaran Byrne (0-03), Eoghan Fennelly (0-07), Colin Byrne (0-02). Subs: Mark Cahill for Brennan (44), Sam Quinn and Declan Phelan for E Fitzpatrick and Colin Byrne (both 57)
Referee: Padriag Dunne (Colt)
