The Harps have too much in the tank as they comfortably see off their neighbours

The Harps 3-22 

St Lazarian’s Abbeyleix 0-13 

THE Harps were simply too good for Abbeyleix on Saturday evening in their Laois Shopping SHC Round 2 clash in O'Moore Park as they ran out with an eighteen point victory.

Both sides lost their opening round games, though The Harps looked much more impressive scoring 5-15 in defeat against Camross than Abbeyleix did when they lost out heavily to Borris-Kilcotton.

As a result The Harps came into this evening's contest as big favourites, and justifiably so as it turned out, they were much the better side against their neighbours Abbeyleix and put them to the sword early on, taking a thirteen point lead in at half time with two first half goals from brothers Justin and James Duggan.

Justin Duggan netted again just minutes into the second half which was the final nail in the coffin for the game even with 25 minutes left to play, with The Harps taking a 16 point lead.

As the game progressed Abbeyleix went chasing goals in an attempt to improve their score difference which is vitally important with the new format in place, but their attempts were futile as The Harps increased their own lead with a late flurry of points.

Despite the opening score coming for Abbeyleix through Killian Byrne it was The Harps who made much the better start to the contest as Ciaran Comerford fired over a brace of frees and James Duggan did well to find the net in the fifth minute.

Eoghan Fennelly struck back with a free for The Fung, but The Harps were rampant in the early stages and raised further white flags with a Comerford free, a brilliant double from Eoin Delaney and a wonder score from James Duggan when Delaney flicked the ball high up into the air and Duggan lashed it over on the volley.

It was beginning to look very dour for Abbeyleix early on but to their credit they battled back with three points from Fennelly to cut the gap back to four, though they remained under pressure.

The Harps hit five of the next six points with Mikey Monahan and Justin Duggan both on target from play and Comerford struck a brace of frees from close range while Eoghan Murphy split the posts excellently with a placed ball from midfield.

Fennelly momentarily stopped The Harps' charge, but in was in vein as Justin Duggan had the ball in the net from the next play when his elder brother James found Rian Edwards charging through the middle and he handed it out to the younger Duggan to find the net.

The Harps held a 2-14 to 0-7 lead at half with late points coming from Comerford, James Duggan and Tony Mahony.

After early points traded by centre forwards Comerford and Byrne, Justin Duggan raised his fifth green flag of the championship to put any hopes of an Abbeyleix resurgence to bed early on.

The sides continued to trade points with Eoghan Fennelly and Jack Finlay on the mark for Abbeyleix while The Harps hit back through Podge Delaney and Jack Kennedy from range.

Abbeyleix mustered a point from Fennelly before he had to be taken off and Eoin Reilly took over on the frees, landing one in front of the posts while also executing a brilliant score from play in midfield.

That would be the end of the scoring for Abbeyleix and their evening was summed up when Eoin Reilly saw a penalty late on bounce off the post.

Delaney, Rian Edwards, Comerford and John Brophy saw out the victory with scores for The Harps as they cruised to an eighteen point win.

SCORERS:

The Harps: Ciaran Comerford 0-9 (0-7fs), Justin Duggan 2-1, James Duggan 1-2, Eoin Delaney and Podge Delaney 0-2 each, Tony Mahony, Eoghan Murphy (f), Mikey Monahan, Jack Kennedy, Rian Edwards and John Brophy 0-1 each.

Abbeyleix: Eoghan Fennelly 0-7 (0-6fs), Eoin Reilly (0-1f) and Cormac Byrne 0-2 each, Killian Byrne and Jack Finlay 0-1 each.

THE HARPS: Bobby Murphy; Donal Deegan, Ciaran Flynn, Cody Comerford; Jack Kennedy, Podge Delaney, Eoghan Murphy; Rian Edwards, Padraic Dunne; Tony Mahony, Ciaran Comerford, Mikey Monahan; Justin Duggan, James Duggan, Eoin Delaney.

Subs: Ross Deegan for Delaney (48), Rory Dunne for D Deegan (48m), John Brophy for Mahony (53m).

ST LAZARIAN’S ABBEYLEIX: Enda Rowland; Eli Quinn, Oisin Carroll, Eamon Fitzpatrick; Jack Finlay, Stephen O'Donnell, Ross Coffey; Aaron Carroll, Liam Delaney; Killian Byrne, Cormac Byrne, Eoin Reilly; Sam Quinn, Eoghan Fennelly, Colin Byrne.

Subs: Alan Lynch for Fennelly (40m, inj), Colm Walsh for O'Donnell (48m), Liam O'Keeffe for A Carroll (56m).

Referee: JJ Gorman (Clough/Ballacolla)