LEINSTER SENIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
LAOIS 1-15 LOUTH 1-11
FOR 50 minutes Laois lorded proceedings in Parnell Park on Sunday but with time almost up they must have feared that a Leinster semi-final meeting with Kildare might not become a reality. They will now realise that if a Leinster final is to become a reality they must play for 70 minutes and not a second less because Kildare will not be as forgiving as Louth.
Little did Padraig Clancy realise the significance of when he swung his boot at the ball in the sixth minute from 35 metres out wide on the left and it dipped under the cross bar for a fortunate goal. It was that goal that was to prove the cushion when Louth produced a remarkable fight back in the final quarter.
Laois got off to a flyer when Padraig Clancy split the posts inside 40 seconds. Colm Judge equalised for Louth three minutes later, the only time the men in red were to be on level terms.
A minute later Laois got a major stroke of luck. The sort of luck you need to win games. When Clancy found himself in possession out under the stand he launched a kick towards goal, no doubt Donie Kingston was his target. As the ball fell into the danger area the Laois teenager went up with Stuart Reynolds and did enough to upset the Louth custodian and the ball sailed over both the heads and dipped in under the crossbar.
Darren Clarke pulled one back for Louth but Laois responded with a Michael J. Tierney free and he added a sublime point after taking a pass from Brian McCormack, jinking one way and then the other before slotting over.
Clarke and Tierney again swapped points before yet another excellent Laois point. Having won possession in the middle of the field Clancy picked out Peter O’Leary and the O’Dempsey’s went on one of his dazzling runs before passing to John O’Loughlin and the wing back displayed great composure to fist over. Despite Paddy Keenan fisting a point for Louth, Laois were in rampant form. Clancy split the posts with a curling shot off the outside of his boot. John O’Loughlin then rose high to catch, passed to Rooney who in turn found Ross Munnelly and he delivered a great pass to O’Leary to score. With five minutes of the half remaining McCormack worked a one two with O’Leary to point and the captain might have had a goal shortly after but his shot was blocked.
Tierney rounded off the scoring for the half with a converted free and Laois went into the break leading 1-9 to 0-4.
After a very poor opening half Louth were more of a force on the restart but still Laois held the upper hand. Three quick points from O’Leary, Tierney (free) and Clancy were only matched by a point from Clarke. A jinking run from Tierney ended with the corner forward slipping the ball to Munnelly to further extend Laois’ advantage to 11 points. That score came in the 48th minute but Laois were only to score twice more before the end during which time Louth roared back into the game.
Brian White and Shane Lennon narrowed the gap before Louth struck for their goal. A high ball in from the left was broken down to substitute Aaron Hoey and he somehow squeezed his shot through the defenders legs and under Michael Nolan.
Laois, instead of dropping their heads as they might have in the past, reacted positively and appropriately it was the outstanding Rooney who pointed to settle any nerves.
But disappointing Laois were looking fragile down the middle and Louth launched attack after attack down route one. From one such attack Laois were extremely fortunate that Louth were not awarded when Clancy tangled with Pepe Smith as he raced into the danger area. Prior to this Mark Timmons and Cathal Ryan had to be alert to block shots on goal.
But credit to Louth they did not let these setbacks affect them. In a tense final ten minutes they tacked on points through White (2), Clarke and Hoey to leave just three points separating the sides with a minute of normal time remaining.
And as Louth went looking for the goal to level the game Laois broke down field and won a free which Tierney converted and Laois were in the next round.
LAOIS: Michael Nolan; Cathal Ryan, Rory Stapleton, Mark Timmons; Darren Rooney (.-.), Ger Reddin, John O’Loughlin ( Padraig Clancy (.-.), Kevin Meaney; Brendan Quigley, Brian McCormack (.-.), Peter O’Leary (.-.); Michael Tierney (.-., .f), Ross Munnelly (.-.), Donie Kingston. Subs: Peter McNulty for Kingston (..mins), Colm Coss for Munnelly (..mins).
LOUTH: Stuart Reynolds; Padraig Rath, Dessie Finnegan, John O’Brien; Derek Crilly, Mick Fanning, Gerard Hoey; Brian White (.-., .f), Paddy Keenan ( Ray Finnegan, Ronan Carroll, David Reid; Colm Judge ( Shane Lennon (.-.), Darren Clarke (.-., .f). Subs: Adrian Reid for D. Reid (..mins), Aaron Hoey (.-.) for Crilly (..mins), J.P. Rooney for Judge (..mins), Pepe Smith for White (..mins).