LOOKING BACK – The day when nothing went right for Laois in Tralee - Homepage

Sun, 11 May, 2025 - 08:43

Pat Delaney

Kerry 3-20

Laois 0-19

SEVEN years ago Laois and Kerry clashed in Austin Stack Park, Tralee in the second round of the new competition. A week previous Kerry had travelled to Netwatch Cullen Park and, despite a good performance, went home empty handed.

On the same day Laois hurlers made their debut in the same competition in O’Moore Park, their opponents were Westmeath. At full time the men in the Maroon jerseys led 2-21 to 1-21.

Losing the first round put fierce pressure on both teams going into round two. Meath had also suffered a heavy defeat to Antrim in Pairc Tailteann.

If losing round one was bad, then travelling to the Kingdom and losing was even worse in what was a cruel day for Laois hurling The first glitch came when full back Leigh Bergin who had picked up an illness had replaced after ten minutes by Colm Stapleton. Next to go was Clough/Ballacolla defender Lee Cleere when he picked up a groin injury.

Could it get any worse? Yes it could.

When a loud roar came from the Kerry dug out, the referee went to investigate. Kerry forward Jack Goulding lay on the ground and after consulting with the umpires, the referee issued Laois defender Padraig Lalor with a red card. By the end of the first quarter Laois had lost their entire full back line, and were down to 14 men.

Kerry had opened the scoring with a well taken goal by Jack Goulding before he was floored. Points for Laois followed by Cha Dwyer and Paddy Purcell. Further points were traded and at the end of the opening quarter, only the goal separated the teams, 1-6 to 0-6.

Ross King was leading the Laois attack in 2018 and scored eight points against Kerry Photo: Denis Byrne

The second quarter saw the Kingdom add a brace of goals from Brendan O’Leary and Shane Nolan, at the break Laois trailed by ten points.

Manager Eamon Kelly was at a loss as to how it had all gone so badly wrong. On the resumption Laois looked hungry and Ross King picked off points to narrow the gap. Slieve Bloom man Ben Conroy was causing problems every time the ball went his way and in a five minute spell he fired over three long distance points. Stephen Maher and Ross King added further points s Kerry were guilty of poor shooting.

Laois fought hard to avoid a second loss with points following from Cian Taylor, Ben Conroy and Ross King. Kerry responded with Conway and O’Connor to secure a ten point victory.

The journey back from Tralee was long and already talks were of a new manager and with a long journey across the border to Corrigan Park the following week.

Post Script - A year later, back in Tralee, Laois reversed the roles under Eddie Brennan winning 5-17 to 1-21.

KERRY: Martin Stackpoole; Tom Murnane, Bryan Murphy (0-1), John Buckley; Sean Weir (0-2), Mikey Boyle, Daniel Collins; Brandon Barrett (0-1), Brendan O’Leary (1-0); Daithi Griffin (0-1), Barry O’Mahony (0-1), Shane Conway (0-9); Jack Goulding (1-1), Shane Nolan (1-2), Padraig Boyle.

Subs: James O’Connor for Murnane, Daniel O’Carroll for S Nolan, Tomas O’Connor for D Griffin, Maurice O’Connor for Goulding, Jason Diggins for S Weir.

B Enda Rowland; Padraig Lalor, Leigh Bergin, Lee Cleere; Ryan Mullaney, Matthew Whelan, Eric Killeen; Pat Purcell (0-1), Cian Taylor (0-1); Cha Dwyer (0-1), Ben Conroy (0-5), Willie Dunphy (0-1); Ross King (0-8), Stephen Maher (0-1), PJ Scully (0-1).

Subs: Colm Stapleton for Bergin, James Ryan for Cleere, Joe Phelan for Mullaney, Mark Kavanagh for Killeen, Mark Dowling for Scully.

BDavid Hughes (Carlow)