Wexford prove far superior and put Laois to sword in O'Byrne Cup opener

Laois footballers opened their 2022 campaign in disappointing fashion on Saturday as Wexford cruised to victory in the opening round of the O'Byrne Cup.

The result was probably beyond doubt by half time with the Model County leading 3-8 to 0-6 with three goals really killing Laois in the opening quarter.

LAOIS 0-13

WEXFORD 6-10

O'Byrne Cup 1st Round

It was poor stuff from Laois. It was the first competitive game of the year so the panic button won't be hit yet. While results are not the big picture in the pre-season competition, the 15 point defeat is far from ideal for Billy Sheehan and his new management team who now face into games against Meath and Wicklow in the next seven days.

With only 26 players available to due to Covid and injury, Laois were hampered  by a lack of options but there can be no arguments over the defeat with Wexford a far slicker outfit.

Laois struggled when the Wexford men ran at them through the centre with power and pace and as the scoreline suggests, the Model County knew where the net was.

Brian Daly did kick the opening score of the game, an excellent effort with the outside of the boot but it wasn't long before Wexford got into the groove. Ben Brosnan and Eoghan Nolan in the Wexford full forward line were in fine form it was that double act that got their opening goals of the game on five and 10 minutes to leave the score 2-0 to 0-2 after 10 minutes.

The pair both kicked a point each before Nolan grabbed his second goal just before the water break. Sean Moore did have a glorious chance to get a goal back for Laois but his close range effort blazed over the bar to leave the score 3-3 to 0-3 at the water break.

The Wexford men then picked up where they left off and four points on the spin had them cruising towards half time with Brosnan, once again in the thick of the score getting.

Mark Barry did manage to grab a couple of points before  half time. He took a good mark on 27 minutes to kick over and with the last kick of the half, he doubled his tally with another effort to  leave it 3-8 to 0-6 at half time.

Laois made nine subs at half time including the evergreen Ross Munnelly and to their credit, they never threw in the towel and kept pushing for some positives to take into Wednesday nights game.

They were finding it hard to cope though and after Kevin O'Grady clipped over a point, Ben Brosnan got in for his second goal after coming back on from being in the sin bin. Tom Byrne followed that up with the first of his two goals and by the time Laois kicked their first point of the second  half from a Gary Walsh free, Wexford  had opened up a 5-9 to 0-7 lead.

The final 15 minutes or so saw Laois play their best football of the game but Wexford were still picking off the scores also. Cathal Fennessy kicked a super score for Laois while Gary Walsh added a free before the home side got in for their sixth goal and a second for wing forward Tom Byrne.

Despite the result being sown up, Laois kept plugging away and kicked the last three scores of the game with Ross Munnelly grabbing two and Gary Walsh adding his fourth free of the half to bring proceedings to an end.

LAOIS

Scorers: Gary Walsh 0-4 frees, Ross Munnelly (0-1 free) and Mark Barry (0-1 mark) 0-2 each, James Finn, Brian Daly, Sean Moore and Cathal Fennessy 0-1 each.

Team: Niall Corbet, Adam Campion, Trevor Collins, Conal Brennan; Sean O'Flynn, John O'Loughlin, Brian Byrne; Brian Daly, James Finn; Dylan Kavanagh, Dylan Doyle, Paddy O'Sullivan; Sean Moore, Evan O'Carroll, Mark Barry. Subs: Alex Mohan for Adam Campion, Collins Ugochukwu for Conal Brennan, Liam Senior for Dylan Kavanagh, James Kelly for Trevor Collins, Podge Dunne for James Finn, Ross Munnelly for Mark Barry, Cathal Fennessy for Sean O'Flynn, Gareth Dillon for John O'Loughlin, Gary Walsh for Evan O'Carroll (all half time), Joey Shelly for Dylan Doyle (52).

WEXFORD

Scorers: Ben Brosnan 2-3, Eoghan Nolan and Tom Byrne 2-1 each, Kevin O'Grady 0-2 (0-1 free), Conor Kehoe, Darragh Lyons and Dean O'Toole 0-1 each.

Team: Darragh Brooks; Liam O'Connor, Eoin Porter, Robbie Barron; Dylan Furlong, Naomhan Rossiter, Paidi Hughes; Liam Coleman, Darragh Lyons; Alan Tobin, Dean O'Toole, Tom Byrne; Kevin O'Grady, Eoghan Nolan, Ben Brosnan.

Referee: Kieran Harris