Colm Hulton goal the difference as Carlow knock Laois footballers out of O’Byrne Shield

The Laois footballers have exited the O’Byrne Shield after a 58th minute goal from Carlow’s Colm Hulton gave Laois’ neighbours the victory in Rathvilly GAA on Saturday afternoon.

The O’Moore County scored two goals in the 40th minute to put them ahead by two points, but Carlow’s ability to score two-pointers along with Hulton’s goal proved decisive.

Laois got the first score of the game as goalkeeper Matthew Byron came forward to point a 45. The 45 had come from a two-point effort from Byron that Harry Clarke had touched before it went out.

Carlow took over for the next 15 minutes as they scored six points on the trot. Tadgh Roche got their first score of the contest before Sean Murphy and Paddy McDonnell also raised white flags. Then came the game’s first orange flag as Conor Doyle curled over a two-pointer off his left boot.

Carlow were gifted their sixth point of the game when Laois were guilty of not having three players in the Carlow half, which gave Conor Crowley an easy task of tapping the ball over from in front of the goals.

Laois began to find their feet from here and got back level when they scored 1-2 without reply. The Laois goal came courtesy of Alan Kinsella as he reacted quickest to tap home a rebound that came from a Niall Corbet shot. Debutant Cian Nolan fisted the ball over the black spot with Byron getting an assist. Paul Kingston then tapped over a free as the game was level with 19 minutes played.

Carlow went straight down the field and went three points up when Ross Dunphy slotted the ball past Byron to raise a green flag. McDonnell then got his second of the afternoon as Carlow now led by four. The half ended with Laois getting three points, one from Niall Corbet and a two-point free from Byron. Doyle replied with a point for Carlow as two points separated the sides at half-time, Carlow 1-8 to Laois’ 1-6.

Carlow came out after half-time and increased their lead to four points as Colm Hulton and Mikey Bambrick scored a point each. Portlaoise’s Darren Brennan made a great interception on the line to deny Carlow a certain goal.

Laois, trailing by four points, would soon go two points up as they scored 2 goals inside a minute. The first goal came from the penalty spot as Cian Nolan played a one-two with Aaron McEvoy before goalkeeper Harry Clarke brought him down in the square. Up stepped, Paul Kingston to send Clarke the wrong way from the penalty. The resulting kick-out was won by Laois and Darragh Galvin had a shot, which was blocked, but Kinsella was on hand yet again to get his second goal of the game.

The next four points were traded as Dunphy and Hulton scored for Carlow, while Jake Darcy and Cian Nolan got Laois’ points as Justin McNulty’s side led by two points with five minutes to play. The game would be level with Carlow’s next score as Doyle slotted a two-pointer between the posts. The game-winning score came a minute later when Hulton ghosted through the Laois defence and smashed the ball into the roof of the Laois net to put Carlow three points up. Nolan got a point back for Laois, but Carlow’s Shane Clarke would make it a three-point victory in added time. Laois ended the game with 14 players as Jake Darcy was sent off for an off-the-ball incident with Mikey Bambrick. The Carlow player only got a yellow card, even though Darcy was left with no jersey after it was ripped off him and thrown over the fence.

Laois will have a two-week break before they welcome Limerick to Portlaoise in the opening game of Division 3 on Saturday, January 24.

Full-Time Score

Carlow 2-15

Laois 3-9

SCORERS— Carlow: Colm Hulton 1-2, Conor Doyle 0-5 (two two-pointers), Ross Dunphy 1-1, Paddy McDonnell 0-2, Tadgh Roche, Shane Clarke, Mikey Bambrick, Sean Murphy and Conor Crowley (free) 0-1 each. Laois: Alan Kinsella 2-0, Paul Kingston 1-1 (1-0 pen, 0-1 free), Matthew Byron (one two-point free, 0-1 free) and Cian Nolan 0-3 each, Jake Darcy and Niall Corbet 0-1 each.

LAOIS: Matthew Byron (Courtwood); Eoin Montague (Emo), Dan Boland (Courtwood), Alex Moran (Courtwood); Eoghan Slattery (Courtwood), Liam Knowles (Stradbally), Joey Shelley (Rosenallis); Ciaran Burke (Crettyard), Mikie Dempsey (St Joseph’s); Cian Nolan (Park-Ratheniska), Niall Corbet (Clonaslee St Manman’s), Darren Brennan (Portlaoise); Alan Kinsella (Courtwood), Cathal Lee (Clonaslee St Manman’s), Paul Kingston (Arles-Killeen). SUBS: Aaron McEvoy (Ballyroan-Abbey) for Shelly and Darragh Galvin (Portarlington) for Lee (Both HT), Jake Darcy (Annanough) for Boland and Cian Ryle (Kilcavan) for Kinsella (43 mins), Ben O’Connor (Portlaoise) for Montague (58 mins).

CARLOW: Harry Clarke; Paddy McDonnell, Colin Byrne, Lee Moore; Tadgh Roche, Dara Curran, Padraig Bolger; Adam Burgess, Mark Furey; Ross Dunphy, Conor Doyle, Mikey Bambrick; Colm Hulton, Sean Murphy, Conor Crowley. SUBS: Shane Clarke for Furey (19 mins, inj), Jamie Clarke for Murphy  (33 mins), Cian Cashman for Byrne (41 mins), Liam Gavin for Crowley (53 mins), Evan Corr for Dunphy (60 mins).

Referee: Darragh Byrne (Wicklow)