Laois suffer what may prove to be a significant defeat to Roscommon

Roscommon 4-4 

Laois 0-12 

THE Laois Ladies welcomed Roscommon to Laois Hire O’Moore Park on Sunday afternoon for round five of the National Football League. Both sides were sitting in the middle of the table, with Roscommon one point ahead of the home side.

A win for either side would be one step closer to avoiding relegation territory. Unfortunately for Laois, it was not their day, conceding as many goals as they did points.

For Stephen Duff and his side, this marked their final home game while they have yet to play table toppers Louth and Antrim who are currently sitting in second place, both games will prove a huge mental and physical challenge.

The away side got the scoring underway when Aisling Hanly raised a white flag. Niamh Feeney then followed her pointing their second. It took Laois ten minutes to find their feet, but when they did, they went on to point four in a row. Emily Lacey pointed two frees in the space of a minute to get them going. Fiona Dooley and a free from Katie Donoghue pushed the home side two ahead.

Roscommon then found the roof of Eimear Barry’s net when Caoimhe Lennon skipped through the defence. Lacey pointed her first from play before a second green flag came for the visitors. Rachel Fitzmaurice was brought down in the square and Hanly stepped up to slot the ball past Barry. Laois finished the half well and brought proceedings back level at the break. Lacey pointed two frees while Lauren Kearney set up Eva Galvin for her first point of the contest.

It was a disastrous start to the second half for Laois as their opponents found the back of the net twice in the opening four minutes. Lennon’s dropping shot ended up in the net while Fitzmaurice won the Laois kickout and shot past Barry immediately. Lennon then pointed a free to push her side seven-points ahead.

Lauren Kearney went on a superb run and riffled a shot at goal, but Helena Cummins pulled off a mighty save to deny her. Donoghue then pointed from play and Laois won the resulting kickout but once again Cummins was on hand, this time to stop Mia Branagan raising the green flag.

Lauren Shanagher and Faye McEvoy traded scores while Lacey kicked her second from play, but Laois still trailed by five with only four minutes of normal time on the clock. Lacey only managed one further free as Laois battled hard but could not break through the resilient Roscommon defence.

Laois now face into two difficult away trips firstly to Antrim on Sunday 22 March and Louth the following weekend of the 29 March where their fate will be decided.

SCORERS:

Roscommon: Caoimhe Lennon 2-1 (0-1f), Aisling Hanly 1-1 (1-0 pen), Rachel Fitzmaurice 1-0, Niamh Feeney and Lauren Shanagher 0-1 each.

Laois: Emily Lacey 0-7 (0-5fs), Katie Donoghue 0-2 (0-1f) Eva Galvin, Faye McEvoy, and Fiona Dooley 0-1 each.

ROSCOMMON: Helena Cummins; Aine McGrath, Aine Connaughton, Mia Macken; Saoirse Wynne, Ellen Irwin, Megan McKeon; Abby Curran, Grainne Lohan; Niamh Watson, Lauren Shanagher, Niamh Feeney; Aisling Healy, Roise Lennon, Caoimhe Lennon.

Subs: Rachel Fitzmaurice for Feeney (7m, inj), Ciara Cunningham for R. Lennon (47m), Aisling Feely for Hanly (51m), Rachel Brady for Macken (57m), Macken for McKeon (60m).

LAOIS: Eimear Barry (Shanahoe); Ciara Byrne (Portlaoise), Aishling Saunders (Portlaoise), Sinead Farrelly (St Joseph’s); Mary Cotter (St Conleths), Jenny Murphy (Timahoe), Faye McEvoy (Ballyroan); Fiona Dooley (Portlaoise), Shifra Havill (St Conleth’s); Ciara Crowley (Portlaoise), Lauren Kearney (Sarsfields), Katie Donoghue (Timahoe); Emily Lacey (St Joseph’s), Eva Galvin (St Conleth’s), Laura Marie Maher (Sarsfields).

Subs: Mia Branagan (Graiguecullen) for Maher (8m, inj), Sarah Larkin (Timahoe) for Crowley (25m, inj), Deirdre Phelan (Portlaoise) for Cotter (42m), Ava Shanahan (St Joseph’s) for Barry (45m), Lorna Butler (St Joseph’s) for Kearney (48m).

Referee: Jason Buckley (Dublin)