Offaly GAA

Joe McDonagh Cup Round 1

LAOIS 2-21 OFFALY 0-24

By Alan Hartnett at Laois Hire O’Moore Park (from gaa.ie website)

A dramatic conclusion to the latest chapter of Laois v Offaly saw the home side reverse the result of last season.

12 months ago in Tullamore, Laois had a big lead at half time but conceded second half goals which allowed Offaly to come from behind and win.

Laois trailed in this game for 50 minutes and Offaly will be left ruing missed chances as their wides allowed Laois to stay in the game for Paddy Purcell to score two late goals.

The sides shared four points in the opening four minutes but after that, Offaly scored three in a row from Eoghan Cahill, Brian Duignan and Charlie Mitchell to open up a lead.

Laois closed the gap to the minimum on three occasions in the first half but could never get level and went in five points down at the break.

Tom Cuddy and Aidan Corby were the most impressive players with the former pointing twice and the latter three times.

But they struggled physically to cope with Offaly, particularly in attack, and also on their own puckout which they lost on more occasions than they’d like.

Offaly had to overcome adversity too as they lost both Eoghan Cahill and Dan Ravenhill to injury – but that didn’t seem to impact them with Adam Screeney coming on and excelling.

The score was 0-11 to 0-10 after 30 minutes but Offaly got the five of the last six scores.

Screeney got three of those with Brian Duignan and Sam Bourke also scoring.

Aidan Corby replied in between for Laois but they headed for the dressing rooms trailing 0-16 to 0-11.

The second half followed the same trajectory as the first and by the 52nd minute, Offaly led 0-21 to 0-15.

But then it all changed. Eimhin Kelly got in for a goal but Enda Rowland stopped him and Laois launched a counter attack.

Aaron Dunphy, Podge Delaney and David Dooley were all involved before Paddy Purcell swept a shot to the corner of the net and it was game on.

The sides traded points after that before Stephen Maher and Aidan Corby hit two in a row to cut the gap to one after 62 minutes.

Stephen Maher then levelled the match for the first time since the fourth minute before Jer Quinlan gave Laois the lead as we entered three minutes of injury time.

It looked like Leon Fox had snatched a draw for Offaly but Laois won it with the final attack.

Willie Dunphy’s shot dropped short but fellow sub Mark Dowling did well to keep the ball alive and force the sliotar back out to Purcell who found the bottom corner.

Offaly went in search of the equalising goal but the Laois backs stood firm and Laois held on.

Scorers for Laois: Paddy Purcell 2-1, Aaron Dunphy 0-5 (three frees), Aidan Corby and Stephen Maher (two frees, one 65) 0-4 each, Jer Quinlan 0-3, Tom Cuddy 0-2, Liam O’Connell and John Lennon 0-1 each

Scorers for Offaly: Adam Screeney 0-8 (four frees), Brian Duignan 0-4 (two frees), Sam Bourke, Killian Sampson, Eoghan Cahill (one free) and Dan Bourke 0-2 each, Dan Ravenhill, Cathal King, Charlie Mitchel and Leon Fox 0-1 each

LAOIS: Enda Rowland; Ian Shanahan, Ryan Mullaney, Diarmaid Conway; Liam O’Connell, Podge Delaney, Tom Cuddy; Aidan Corby, Paddy Purcell; John Lennon, Aaron Dunphy, David Dooley; Jer Quinlan, Martin Phelan, Tomas Keyes. Subs: Stephen Maher for Lennon (ht), Willie Dunphy for Phelan (43), Mark Dowling for Keyes (45), Fiachra C-Fennell for Corby (69)

OFFALY: Mark Troy; Ben Conneely, Ciaran Burke, Cathal King; Killian Sampson, Cillian Kiely, Sam Bourke; Jason Sampson, David Nally; Dan Bourke, Charlie Mitchell, David Nally; Dan Ravenhill, Brian Duignan, Eoghan Cahill. Subs: Adam Screeney for Cahill (19, inj), David King for Ravenhill (22, inj), Leon Fox for Kelly (54), Jack Clancy for D Bourke (66), Oisin Kelly for Duignan (69)

REFEREE: Colum Cunning (Antrim)