Firepower wins the day in Laois GAA club championship clash

The opening round of the Laois Shopping Centre Senior Football Championship made a stop in Stradbally on Thursday evening, where an on-song Ballyroan-Abbey side had far too much firepower for Emo.

The two sides have not met in the Championship since 2019, with Ballyroan-Abbey winning by just two points in the most recent fixture between the teams earlier this year in Division 1 of the Laois GAA Football League.

Ballyroan-Abbey's 2024 campaign saw them knocked out at the quarter-finals stage at the hands of eventual champions Portarlington, while Emo dropped down to the SFC 'B' competition where they made it as far as the semi-finals.

Ballyroan-Abbey were in front early thanks to Enda McWey from play and a two-point free from James McWey. They lost the influential Davin McEvoy to an untimely injury, but his replacement Ciaran Byrne made an almost immediate impact, setting up Martin Scully for the game's opening goal just seven minutes in. A score from Aaron McEvoy and another from outside the arc from Diarmuid Whelan had Ballyroan-Abbey on 1-6 after ten minutes with Emo on the board through Darren Strong, Paddy Hosey and Paul Lawlor.

The next ten minutes were less dramatic, with Whelan and Conor McWey on target for Ballyroan-Abbey, while Emo cut the gap slightly with white flags raised through Lawlor, Hosey Padraig Kirwan.

James McWey kicked Ballyroan-Abbey's third two-pointer of the first half before Emo were awarded a penalty five minutes before the break when Niall Gorman was brought down. Up stepped Ross Meredith who made no mistake, bringing Emo back to within four points. Meredith pointed shortly afterwards, but scores from James McWey and Diarmuid left Ballyroan-Abbey up by 1-12 to 1-7 at half-time.

Ballyroan-Abbey made a thunderous start to the second half, with a goal from Shaun Murphy and a point from Enda McWey inside the opening two minutes. They added another four unanswered points after that before raising a third green flag by way of Aaron McEvoy's palmed effort into the net.

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That 2-4 without reply had Ballyroan-Abbey going into the final quarter of the game with a 15-point lead. But Emo showed plenty of resolve in the closing stages, cutting the gap significantly thanks to goals from Darren Strong and Niall Gorman.

Kirwan and Meredith also chipped in with points late on but it was only enough to reduce the full-time deficit to nine points as Ballyroan-Abbey tagged on a couple of late scores of their own.

Final Score

Ballyroan-Abbey 3-19

Emo 3-10

TEAMS AND SCORERS

Ballyroan-Abbey: Diarmuid Whelan 0-6 (one free), James McWey 0-5 (one two-point free), Aaron McEvoy 1-2, Marty Scully 1-1, Sean Murphy 1-0, Enda McWey 0-2, Conor McWey, Conaire Gee and Colm Walsh 0-1 each.

Emo: Ross Meredith 1-2 (1-0 penalty, 0-1 free), Darren Strong 1-1, Paul Lawlor 0-3 (two frees), Niall Gorman 1-0, Padraig Kirwan and Paddy Hosey 0-2 each.

BALLYROAN-ABBEY: Adam Jones; Eamonn Fitzpatrick, Conor Brennan, Danny Brennan; Conor McWey, Aaron McEvoy, Conaire Gee; Killian Byrne, Sean Murphy; Colm Walsh, Marty Scully, James McWey; Davin McEvoy, Diarmuid Whelan, Enda McWey. Subs: Ciaran Byrne for D McEvoy (2, inj), Aaron Carroll for Scully (45), Cathal Doyle for E McWey (47)

EMO: Eoin Butler; Shane Murphy, Liam Crowley, Tom Fennelly; Sean Greene, Darren Strong, Cian Langford; Niall Gorman, Padraig Kirwan; Colm Poole, Ross Meredith, Brian Gorman; Davy Costello, Paul Lawlor, Paddy Hosey. Subs: Nigel Murphy for Poole (27), Jamie O’Connor for B Gorman (HT), James O’Rourke for S Murphy (45)

REFEREE: Seamus Mulhare (The Heath)