Offaly 1-17 Laois 0-15
A masterful display of score taking from Shane Dooley mixed in with great battling qualities from all around him saw Offaly capture two crucial league points in Tullamore on Sunday.
It was an against the odds win for Offaly who were staring disaster in the face when dual player Joe O’Connor received a straight red card six minutes into the second half. At that stage, the sides were level at 0-10 each and with the wind on their backs, the odds favoured Laois.
Offaly, however, dug deep and a disappointing Laois side, still smarting from their defeat by Kerry in their first game, floundered from here on.
By the midway stage of the second half, Offaly were 0-14 to 0-11 ahead. Impressively fit, they drove their advantage home. Twice Laois got the deficit back to two points but three unanswered points pushed Offaly 0-17 to 0-13 clear with five minutes left.
A brilliantly taken goal from young substitute, Liam Langton clinched it and while Laois got the closing two points, the game was beyond their reach.
Shane Dooley was the key man for Offaly, rattling over twelve points, four of them from play as they gained a measure of revenge for last year’s championship defeat by their neighbours.
Playing with the wind in the first half, the home side took a while to settle as Laois had the better of the early exchanges. Laois led by 0-3 to 0-2 after twelve minutes but Offaly were the better side for the remainder of the half.
Three points had them 0-5 to 0-3 up after nineteen minutes. Laois replied through Stephen Maher but Offaly were winning most of the fifty fifty exchanges and by the 29th minute, they were ahead by double scores, 0-8 to 0-4.
Two frees from goalkeeper Enda Rowland were crucial for Laois and at half time, they were still in the hunt as they trailed by 0-9 to 0-6. But it would be Laois who had the extra gears in them and pushed on for the win despite being down a man.
OFFALY: J Dempsey; N Wynne, C McDonald, S Gardiner; P Camon, D Kelleher, D Shortt; S Ryan, J O'Connor (0-1); S Kinsella (0-1), C Egan (0-1), P Murphy (0-2); S Dooley (0-12, 7f and 1 '65'), J Bergin, J Mulrooney. Subs - J Gorman for Mulrooney (24m), P Guinan for Kelleher (48m), L Langton (1-0) for Gorman (60m), J Sampson for Ryan (71m), S Cleary for Murphy (72m).
LAOIS: E Rowland (0-2, 2f); T Delaney, D Maher, C Healy; L Bergin, N Foyle, R Mullaney; M Whelan, R King (0-2); C Collier, S Maher (0-3), P Purcell; D Palmer, W Dunphy, PJ Scully (0-5, 5f). Subs - B Reddin for Purcell (48m), Z Keenan (0-2, 1 '65') for Dunphy (52m), W Hyland (0-1) for Collier (52m), C Stapleton for Delaney (58m), M Kavanagh for Scully (71m).
Referee - P O’Dwyer (Carlow).
