The Saints cruise into the senior football semi-final 

Laois Shopping Centre Senior Football Championship Rd 3 

St Joseph’s 3-16 

Courtwood 0-9 

A ruthless attacking performance from St Joseph’s saw them cruise to victory over Courtwood on Sunday afternoon and advance to the quarter-finals as they attempt to defend their Laois Senior Football Championship crown.

Courtwood will now drop into the ‘B’ Senior Championship where they will battle it out for the John Conway Cup and they will take on Stradbally in the quarter-final.

St Joseph’s have a huge clash ahead of them in their quarter-final having been drawn against Portlaoise, a game which will see one of the favourites for the championship going out prematurely.

They suffered a slow start on Sunday and trailed by two after 10 minutes while failing to register a score until the 11th, but a goal quickly followed and Mick Dempsey’s charges never looked back from there.

Courtwood’s Matthew Byron opened the scoring in the second minute with a well struck free from the 45 metre line against the stiff breeze and Niall Dunne added another from a free three minutes later.

Courtwood were unlucky not to hit the net when Dylan Keane was denied by a great save down low from Enda Butler in a one-on-one situation.

The county champions got off the mark in the 11th minute when Brian Daly was fouled and Eoghan O’Flaherty slotted the free between the sticks before Keogh’s goal put them into the lead a minute later.

A diagonal ball from Kelly found its way into Daly and he handed inside to Keogh who finished excellently and the complexion of the game suddenly changed dramatically.

Josh O’Brien increased the lead with an excellent point under pressure from 30 metres and Daly quickly added another after some excellent fielding to take a mark.

After 16 scoreless minutes Alan Kinsella became Courtwood’s third scorer from a free, but it was all one way traffic for the remainder of the half as St Joseph’s would kick five points in a row.

James Kelly got the first of the half with an audacious effort and Jack Lacey followed after some very patient build up. O’Brien got his second of the game after doing very well to catch with his back to goal and turn to flick it over the bar before corner-back Aidan Brennan found himself high up the field and he slotted from the left wing to increase the lead to seven.

The final score of the half came from a drilled effort from Matty Campion to make it 1-8 to 0-3 at half time and the Saints were cruising.

Now with the wind at their backs, Courtwood started the second half strongly with a Cian Doyle point after a driving run up field. Niall Dunne followed with another on 35 minutes after an excellent pass inside by Rob Tyrrell.

Keogh responded with a point for St Joseph’s, but Courtwood continued to apply the pressure with a free from Alan Kinsella followed by one from play from the full forward Ryan Little, after an excellent kickout by Matthew Byron.

The revival was dealt a major hit in the 42nd minute when O’Brien’s third point was followed by St Joseph’s second goal from the fist of Matty Campion as he connected with a perfectly weighted pass from Dan Hickey.

Courtwood replied with another Kinsella free, but by the midway point in the second half you could say the game was over and done with as Daly responded with a well taken score from outside the 45.

Eoghan O’Flaherty assisted Mick Keogh for his second point of the half and Dylan Doyle added another in the 51st minute with his very first touch of the ball after being introduced to the play.

Courtwood’s final score came by way of another Kinsella free in the 53rd minute, before St Joseph’s upped the ante late on and went for the jugular.

O’Flaherty followed up a converted free with a score from play directly from the resulting kickout. Brian Daly was almost in for a goal but his audacious attempt at a chip just floated over the bar for a point.

Daly would get his goal a minute later however when O’Brien saw a shot blocked and the ball landed into the lap of O’Flaherty who passed to Daly to put the icing on the cake with their third goal with the final kick.

SCORERS:

St Joseph’s: Brian Daly 1-3 (0-1 mark), Mick Keogh 1-2, Matty Campion 1-1, Eoghan O’Flaherty (0-2fs) and Josh O’Brien 0-3 each, Aidan Brennan, James Kelly, Jack Lacey and Dylan Doyle 0-1 each.

Courtwood: Alan Kinsella 0-5 (0-4fs), Niall Dunne 0-2 (0-1f), Matthew Byron and Cian Doyle 0-1 each.

ST JOSEPH’S: Enda Butler; Conor Kealy, Adam Campion, Aidan Brennan; Tom Dunne, Danny Hickey, James Kelly; Gearoid Lynch, Jack Lacey; Oisin Hooney, Matty Campion, Mick Keogh; Eoghan O’Flaherty, Brian Daly, Josh O’Brien, Subs: Ian Shanahan for Kealy (46m), Dylan Doyle for M Campion (47m, inj), Seamus Farrelly for Keogh (52m).

COURTWOOD: Matthew Byron; Adam O’Halloran, Sean O’Flynn, Robbie Flynn; Colm Wilson, Dan Boland, Nathan Little; Niall Dunne, Rob Tyrrell; Paul O’Flynn, Cian Doyle, Ryan Little; Niall Donoher, Dylan Keane, Alan Kinsella.

Subs: Jake Doyle for Boland (39m), Barry Donnelly for P O’Flynn (39m), Eoghan Slattery for N Little (44m), Mark O’Halloran for Wilson (47m).

Referee: Maurice Deegan (Stradbally)