Laois brush aside Meath to confirm promotion back to Division 1B

LAOIS 0-28 

MEATH 0-11 

PROMOTION back to Division 1B is secured for the Laois hurlers after they comfortably dismissed the Meath challenge in Laois Hire O'Moore Park on Sunday afternoon.

As it turned out it was a top of the table clash with Laois top of the division coming into the game and Meath sitting in second spot, though in somewhat of a false position after playing the weaker counties to this point.

Sunday was a landing back down to earth for the other form team in the division as Laois dominated the play from start to finish and only for their own wastefulness in front of the posts, it could have been an even bigger victory.

Laois still have a game left to play when they travel to London in a fortnight and with the loss of Aidan Corby and Tomas Keyes to injuries on Sunday, having the final already in the bag before that fixture is no harm.

Corby was very impressive for the 43 minutes he was on the field after not originally being named to start, he dominated the midfield and slotted four excellent points from play.

Cillian Dunne impressed in the forwards with four scores while Stephen Maher sprung off the bench to hit four of his own.

Despite striking four wides in the opening five minutes Laois held the lead early on with a free from Tomas Keyes and a good score from Aidan Corby cancelling out Darren O'Higgins's strike for the visitors in the first minute.

Tom Shine impressed for the Royals and he levelled things with a free before Laois hit the visitors with four points in quick succession, opening with two excellent scores from Cillian Dunne and Aaron Dunphy.

Two further scores from Corby and Tomas Keyes increased the host's advantage to four points and it was all one way traffic into a stiff breeze as Laois hurled into the Abbeyleix end.

Abbeyleix man Eoin Reilly was given the number one jersey for the first time in a decade in the NHL and though he was never called upon to make a save in the first half he was involved in plenty of moves from the back, playing a role in a couple of those four scores.

Shine traded a couple of scores with Tomas and James Keyes towards the midway point of the half before the Laois lead increased further with three more scores on the bounce.

Aidan Corby landed an excellent third point of the half and frees from Keyes and Podge Delaney put six between the sides.

The missed chances for Laois ensured that Meath were still in with a fighting chance by half time with two more frees for Shine leaving just four points between them at the break, 0-11 to 0-7.

Aaron Dunphy opened the second half scoring with an audacious one handed effort and Laois were almost in for a goal moments later when Lee Cleere went on a huge run and found himself one on one with Gavin King but his effort blazed over the bar.

The onslaught continued with points from Corby, Dunne and Tomas Keyes, but worryingly for Laois both Corby and Keyes were forced off through injury just moments later.

Shine struck another brace of frees for Meath but they were really struggling to get anything going from play, whereas Laois had no such issues with points from Dunphy, Martin Phelan, James Keyes, David Dooley and Cillian Dunne all from open play to put twelve between the teams with ten minutes left to play.

After making an effective yet brief cameo against Westmeath, Stephen Maher entered the play on Sunday with thirty minutes left to play and he made a big impression on the half forward line alongside Ryan Mullaney and Martin Phelan.

With both Aaron Dunphy and Mark Dowling both finishing out the game amongst the forwards it gave Laois a whole new dynamic with the bigger size inside.

Laois continued to dominate the scores from play with Maher striking along with fellow entrants Fiachra C Fennell and Martin Phelan.

Maher also took over the placed ball duties and landed a free before striking a 65 after being denied a goal with a brilliant save from King.

Laois saw out the game with excellent scores by Cillian Dunne and Podge Delaney to win out by 17 points.

SCORERS:

Laois: Mossy Keyes 0-5 (0-4fs), Stephen Maher (0-1f, 0-1 65), Aidan Corby 0-4 and Cillian Dunne 0-4 each, Aaron Dunphy 0-3, James Keyes and Podge Delaney (0-1f) 0-2 each, Martin Phelan, Lee Cleere, David Dooley and Fiachra C Fennell 0-1 each.

Meath: Tom Shine 0-9 (0-7fs), Darren O'Higgins 0-2.

LAOIS: Eoin Reilly (Abbeyleix); Ian Shanahan (Ballinakill), Lee Cleere (Clough/Ballacolla), Cody Comerford (The Harps); Ciaran McEvoy (Portlaoise), Padraig Delaney (The Harps), Jordan Walshe (Clough/Ballacolla); David Dooley (Rosenallis), Aidan Corby (Clough/Ballacolla); James Keyes (Colt-Shanahoe), Jack Kelly (Rathdowney/Errill), Ryan Mullaney (Castletown); Cillian Dunne (Clough/Ballacolla), Aaron Dunphy (Borris/Kilcotton), Tomás Keyes (Camross).

Subs: Fiachra C Fennell (Rosenallis) for Walshe (ht), Stephen Maher (Clough/Ballacolla) for Corby (43m, inj), Martin Phelan (Castletown) for T Keyes (48m, inj), Padraic Dunne (The Harps) for Dooley (55m), Mark Dowling (Camross) for J Keyes (62m).

MEATH: Gavin King; Jarlath Ennis, Sean Geraghty, Anthony Healy; Noah Conroy, Daire Shine, Simon Ennis; Lorcan O'Connor, Joey Cole; Darren O'Higgins, Mark Leavy, Eoin Donegan; Tom Shine, Mikey Cole, Lorcan Byrne.

Subs: Damien Healy for Donegan (47m,) Darragh Heffernan for J Cole (47m), Cathal Barron for M Cole (47m), Kyle Donnelly for Leavy (57m), Sean Doyle for Byrne (65m).

Referee: Ciaran O'Regan (Cork)