Laois lined out for the fifth time of the year on Sunday, though for the first time in Laois Hire O’Moore Park as they welcomed Derry to town for Round 2 of the National Hurling League.
While Tommy Fitzgerald’s men came away from the game with a ten-point winning margin, it wasn’t as thrilling a performance as many predicted after Derry’s big loss at home to Kerry in their opener coupled with the ease that Laois brushed past Mayo.
The northern side played a very defensive brand of hurling with just one man, Shea Cassidy, left on the inside forward line for most of the game and as a result it turned out to be a dour contest.
Derry's defensiveness coupled with this being Laois's fifth competitive game in just 29 days was a bad combination for the spectators as it was just flat for the most part, even when Derry went down to fourteen men after a red card for Thomas Brady they still managed to pack the defence and middle of the field.
Laois overran Derry in the opening minutes which only increased the visitors' tendency to tighten up and essentially stop Laois from hurling as much as they possibly could and the hosts struggled to break through the lines of defence at times, in fact the Derry 'keeper didn't have a save to make throughout the whole game which will be a disappointment for management given how prolific Laois were in front of goal against Mayo.
The Laois half-forward line of Jack Kelly, Aaron Dunphy and Martin Phelan were arguably the top performers as they combined for twenty of Laois's scores and all put in a huge amount of work when not in possession, leading to scoring chances. Ryan Mullaney and Cody Comerford both stood out at the back, though for much of the game Derry had little to offer in the forward department bar the excellence of Cassidy at full forward who was a real menace.
Laois made a brilliant start to the contest with five points in as many minutes after James Keyes continued his form from last week with the opening point, soon followed with an Aaron Dunphy free. Dunphy slotted his second free after a point from David Dooley off the back of a trademark run through the middle and before Jack Kelly slotted his first of four points before half-time.
Derry packed out the backline and made life as difficult as possible for the Laois forwards who were threatening but the final passes before a shot at goal were consistently intercepted by Cormac O'Doherty who was the acting sweeper and very proficient in the role.
The visitors began to push a bit further forward after the opening 10 minutes and it paid dividends for them with points from Conor Coyle, Deaghlan Foley and their dangerman inside, Shea Cassidy. Laois did fire back with a great score on the wing by Martin Phelan followed by a brace from Jack Kelly before disaster struck for the Derry men when midfielder Thomas Brady was red carded after an off the ball altercation with David Dooley in which he pulled the Laois captain's faceguard.
Cassidy added to his tally however with a brace from play and a free before half time but Laois replied through Kelly, James Keyes and two frees from Dunphy to hold a seven point lead at half-time. Derry appeared for the second half down a man but with a decent wind now behind them, though Laois drew first blood with a great point from Martin Phelan and he added his third of the game after an initial reply from a Cassidy free.
Phelan was again instrumental in a score for Kelly with top class workrate in the Derry half as scores were becoming hard to come by. Cassidy slotted another free for Derry but Aaron Dunphy his a purple patch midway through the half and pointed four times in six minutes, two from frees and two from play both assisted by Kelly.
Derry refused to throw in the towel however and hit five of the next six scores with Cassidy on target from three frees on either wing around the half way line and Deaghlan Foley striking twice from play. The final minutes of the game approached and Laois tagged on a few points to bulk up the scoreline with Dunphy slotting three more placed balls while Dooley pointed from play and Cody Comerford landed the final score of the game from halfway.
After a hectic four weeks Laois now have a three week gap until they face Kerry at home in Round 3 on the weekend of February 21.
FINAL SCORE
SCORERS - Laois: Aaron Dunphy 0-12 (nine frees, one 65) Jack Kelly 0-5, Martin Phelan 0-3, David Dooley and James Keyes 0-2 each, Cody Comerford 0-1. Derry: Shea Cassidy 0-9 (seven frees), Deaghlan Foley 0-3, Conor Coyle 0-2, Cormac O'Doherty 0-1 (free).
LAOIS: Eoin Fleming (Borris-Kilcotton); Ian Shanahan (Ballinakill), Ciaran McEvoy (Portlaoise), Cody Comerford (The Harps); Fiachra C-Fennell (Rosenallis), Lee Cleere (Clough-Ballacolla), Ryan Mullaney (Castletown); David Dooley (Rosenallis), Eoin Gaughan (Camross); Martin Phelan (Castletown), Jack Kelly (Rathdowney-Errill), Aaron Dunphy (Borris-Kilcotton); Cillian Dunne (Clough-Ballacolla), James Keyes (Colt-Shanahoe), Tomas Keyes (Camross). Subs: Eoghan Murphy (The Harps) for Cleere (18, inj), Mark Dowling (Camross) for T Keyes (ht), Fionn Holland for Gaughan (54), Cormac Byrne for J Keyes (60), Eoghan Cuddy for Phelan (68)
DERRY: Eoin Mulholland; Patrick Turner; Joseph Mulholland, Cathair McGilligan; Conor Coyle, Meehaul McGrath, Eamon Cassidy; Ryan McGill, Thomas Brady; Michael Lynch, Deaghlan Foley, Darragh McGilligan; Cormac O'Doherty, Shea Cassidy, Sean Quinn. Subs: Aimon Duffin for Lynch (51), Eoin Scullion for E Cassidy (55), Conor McGurk for J Mulholland and Ruairi Biggs for D McGilligan (both 64), Jamie Lee McGlade for Quinn (68)
REFEREE: Matthew Farrell (Roscommon)
