Wexford outstay Laois with dominant second half performance

Dioralyte Walsh Cup Round 1 

Wexford 1-20 

Laois 0-17 

ONCE again Rathdowney played host as the Laois senior hurlers got their campaign up and running for the year with the visit of Wexford for Round 1 of the Walsh Cup.

Conditions in Rathdowney were akin to the arctic circle as a beautifully sunny blue sky contrasted the bitterly cold conditions on the sideline and underfoot, which led to an extensive pitch inspection from referee Conor Daly before he eventually deemed the ground playable and the game took place as scheduled.

Ultimately Wexford saw out the game the stronger of the two and came away with a six point victory which did flatter them in the end as Tommy Fitzerald's Laois side were much the better side for long periods of the game, particularly in the first half where they dominated and went in at half time kicking themselves for only being two points in front.

The Yellow Bellies were missing a host of star names and will be for the year with sharpshooter Rory O'Connor opting out alongside Charlie McGuckin and Eoin Ryan, and there was no sign of the likes of Lee Chin, Cathal Dunbar or Conor McDonald in Rathdowney either.

Wexford kicked up a couple of gears in the second half however with much more menacing attacks which led to frees that Simon Roche would point in his sleep and a well taken goal from Ciaran Regan early in the half gave them a great launchpad early to apply the pressure.

There's plenty of positives to take from the game for Fitzgerald and co however and not least the performance of the returning Jack Kelly and the new entrant Cillian Dunne in the forwards who were both electric.

Dunne was close to winning a penalty early on as he was fouled just outside the box and Aaron Dunphy slotted the free, the first of three in a row to find his range in the opening minutes.

The first from play came via Dunne with a well taken score and despite a reply from Ross Banville the hosts were on the charge as Dunphy struck a fourth before Kelly got his name on the sheet.

Niall Murphy and Banville each struck for the visitors to reduce the gap to two with 20 minutes played before a free from Dunphy and a score from Keyes off the back of an excellent team move started by Ryan Mullaney in defence.

Laois began to rack up wides late in the half and Dunne came agonisingly close to hitting the net as he was denied by Mark Fanning, and Wexford punished the misses with three scores in succession via Roche and Mike Kelly.

A free from Dunphy made it 0-9 to 0-7 at the break, but Laois should have been further in front.

The second half started at a lightening pace with the sides trading a brace of scores in the opening minutes, with Kelly and Eoin Gaughan both on target from play for the hosts and Dunphy added a free in the aftermath to make it three.

Unfortunately for Laois the lead dissipated in the blink of an eye after a dazzling move down the right wing by Mike Kelly and Sean Rowley before the latter played it inside to Ciaran Regan to find the net from close range.

Niall Murphy, Banville and Roche all pointed straight after, and Laois had a chance to hit the net themselves as Kelly and Phelan were both denied on the line.

Kelly and Phelan made amends for their misses with two excellent points and Dunphy levelled with a free with ten minutes left to play but Wexford were on the up and went on to hit four in a row in reply.

A trio of frees from Roche and one from Banville put Keith Rossiter's side into a commanding lead in the latter stages.

One final free from Dunphy proved to be little but consolation as Roche, Wickham and Matthew Joyce combined for a further four points in the closing stages to see out the win.

Up next for Laois is the Shield Quarter Final against Carlow, which is due to take place in Stradbally on Thursday evening.

SCORERS:

Wexford: Simon Roche 0-10 (fs), Ross Banville 0-4 (0-3fs), Ciaran Regan 1-0, Eamon Wickham 0-2, Kevin Foley, Niall Murphy, Mike Kelly and Matthew Joyce 0-1 each.

Laois: Aaron Dunphy 0-10 (0-9fs, 0-1 65), Jack Kelly 0-3, Martin Phelan, James Keyes, Eoin Gaughan and Cillian Dunne 0-1 each.

WEXFORD: Mark Fanning; David Clarke, Eoin Whelan, Simon Donohue; Eamon Wickham, Brian Quigley, Niall Murphy; Sean Rowley, Richie Lawlor; Ross Banville, Simon Roche, Mike Kelly; Ciaran Regan, Edward Dunbar, Kevin Foley.

Subs: Carley for Donohue (26m), Tomas Kinsella for Dunbar (43m), Diarmuid Fenlon for Quigley (46m), Matthew Joyce for Regan (50m), Darragh Farrell for Kelly (60m).

LAOIS: Cathal Dunne (Clough/Ballacolla); Donnchadh Hartnett (Rosenallis), Ciaran McEvoy (Portlaoise), Lee Cleere (Clough/Ballacolla); Ryan Mullaney (Castletown), Podge Delaney (The Harps), Fiachra C-Fennell (Rosenallis); Eoin Gaughan (Camross), David Dooley (Rosenallis); Martin Phelan (Castletown), Aaron Dunphy (Borris/Kilcotton), Jack Kelly (Rathdowney/Errill); Cillian Dunne (Clough/Ballacolla), James Keyes (Colt/Shanahoe), Cormac Byrne (Abbeyleix). Subs: Padraig Rafter for Gaughan (52m), Joe Pearson for Hartnett (42m), Colin Byrne for Cormac Byrne (46m), Fionn Holland for Keyes (48m), Aidan Corby for Phelan (58m).

Referee: Conor Daly (Kildare)