Disappointment as Laois Minor Footballers beaten by Louth in the Leinster Championship

The Laois Minor footballers have been beaten in the opening game of this year's Electric Ireland Leinster Minor Football Championship by Louth.

The away side kicked with the wind behind them in the first-half and had built up an eight-point lead at the break, a lead which Laois could never eat into.

Louth 1-15

Laois 0-12

Laois played into a strong breeze in the first-half with the wind blowing straight down the field from the Abbeyleix end to The Town end. The wind certainly helped Louth get their first score of the game as a shot from Cian Rooney looped over the head of Laois goalkeeper Conor Dunne. Conal Mannion pointed twice in two minutes to give Louth an early advantage of 1-2 to no score with four minutes on the clock.

Cian O'Sullivan opened the scoring for Laois as they replied well to Louth's early dominance with the next two points after that. O'Sullivan slotted over his second of the contest before Sean Rowan kicked a great score over his head after some chaos in the Louth square. 

Louth to their credit, used the wind to the fullest as they scored six points unanswered, two of them were two-pointers. Connell Kelly pointed a free and 45' while the two-pointers came from Tadhg Devaney and Kelly. The two-pointers came from Louth, firstly winning the Laois kick-out after the Kelly free and then Laois broke the three-back rule with Kelly opting to kick for two points.

O'Sullivan got his second free and his third point overall as Laois had a free brought up for Louth not handing the ball back. Finn Dawson came forward from half-back to kick Laois' final point of the half. Louth ended the first period with the raising of two more white flags courtesy of Kelly and Cillian McQuillian. Louth went into the dressing rooms with a healthy lead, 1-10 to 0-5.

With the wind in their favour for the second half, Laois began to reduce the gap almost immediately as a shot from O'Sullivan was blocked by Rian Hickey, but advantage had been played for a mark called by Ultan Dunne, which was brought back allowing Dunne point his first of the afternoon. O'Sullivan pointed from a placed ball minutes later before Rowan superbly split the posts from a narrow angle. 

The Wee County replied with two scores on the trot from McQuillan and Andrew O'Reilly, pushing them seven points clear entering the final quarter. Rowan pointed a free for Laois while a long ball in from David Timmons found Rowan once more who turned his man and raised a white flag. Kelly pointed for Louth while Dunne went for a two-pointer from a free that caught a deflection on the way over, reducing it to one.

Louth added two more points to their name late on through Kelly twice before Laois' O'Sullivan pointed a free to end the game and see Louth go back up the M7 with a six-point win.

Laois' next game is away to Dublin on Thursday, April 10 before another away game against Offaly on Tuesday, April 15.