Laois make winning start in National football league as quick brace of second half goals does the trick

Laois are off the mark in Division three of the National Football league after a hard fought and dogged win over Louth in Ardree. Conditions were horrendous with driving wind and rain but two goals in two minutes in the third quarter gave Laois the cushion they needed.

It was a tight contest with Louth spurning four glorious goal chances but a more efficient Laois showed character in abundance to get the job done.

LAOIS 3-9

LOUTH 1-10

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION 3, ROUND 1

Louth got the perfect start after just 12 seconds when wing forward Ciaran Downey clipped over the opening score and their lead was doubled a minute later when dangerman Sam Mulroy fired over his opening score from all of 40 metres.

Louth were hunting in packs in the early stages and with a strong wind behind them, the Wee County looked dangerous. Laois badly needed a score to settle them down and it was delivered by Eoin Lowry on five minutes.

That settled the Laois men down and two minutes later, they found the net. A ball in over the top from Eoin Lowry put Gary Walsh in a foot race with the Louth keeper, Walsh got their first and with a cool finish, dispatched low to the corner of the net to make it 1-1 to 0-2 after seven minutes.

Louth were making inroads though and it took an outstanding save from Danny Bolger to a few minutes later to keep Laois ahead.

They fluffed another one before two Sam Mulroy frees brought the sides back on level terms after 16 minutes. Laois went back in front after Eoin Lowry finished off a fine team move before Bolger was once again called into action to deny Jay Hughes a certain goal.

A free from Gary Walsh restored the Laois lead but two more frees from the deadly accurate Sam Mulroy had Louth in the lead by a point as half time loomed.

Mark Barry converted a free to level it up but with the last kick of the half, Mulroy landed his sixth point of the half to edge Louth ahead 0-8 to 1-4 at half time.

Sheehan appoints Joint Captains for Laois footballers

Louth had a few decent attacks early in the second half  but the opening score of the second 35 minutes was a levelling score for Laois as Eoin Lowry kicked his third. Louth were attacking hard despite playing against the wind but Laois were about to get a serious kickstart.

With 47 minutes on the clock Mark Barry dispossessed a short kick out. He fed Gary Walsh who found Sean O'Flynn on his shoulder. Although O'Flynn's first effort was poor, he collected the rebound, rounded the goalkeeper and fired to the net.

Two minutes later and Laois had their third goal when Eoin Lowry fed Gary Walsh and Walsh let fly to the net to make it 3-6 to 0-8. Walsh finished off his afternoon's work with a mark on 53 minutes as Laois held a comfortable eight point lead.

Louth tried hard to get a few scores back  but they were confined to a couple of points before they did get a consolation goal in injury time from Ciaran Byrne.

Laois mixed up their long passing game with a controlled and patient build up and while they will worry about the amount of goal chances they coughed up, getting a win away from home on their first day out is a great start.

LAOIS

Scorers: Gary Walsh 2-2 (0-1 free and 0-1 mark), Eoin Lowry 0-3 (0-1 free), Sean O'Flynn 1-0, Mark Barry 0-3 (0-2 free), Alan Farrell 0-1

Team: Danny Bolger; James Kelly, Trevor Collins, Alex Mohan; Sean O'Flynn, John O'Loughlin, Gareth Dillon; Kieran Lillis, James Finn; Brian Byrne, Eoin Lowry, Paddy O'Sullivan; Mark Barry, Evan O'Carroll, Gary Walsh. Subs: Brian Daly for Kieran Lillis, Ross Munnelly for Gary Walsh and Cormac Murphy for Paddy O'Sullivan (all 58), Alan Farrell for Sean O'Flynn 62), Cathal Fennessy for Brian Byrne (69)

LOUTH

Scorers: Sam Mulroy 0-7 (0-6 frees), Ciaran Downey 0-1, Conor Early 0-1, Bevan Duffy 0-1, Ciaran Byrne 1-0

Team: Martin McEneaney; Dan Corcoran, Donal McKenny, Niall Sharkey; Leonard Grey, Sean Healy, John Clutterbuck; Bevan Duffy, Conor Early; Conall McKeever, Eoghan Callaghan, Ciaran Downey; Jay Hughes, Sam Mulroy, Daire Nally. Subs: Ciaran Byrne for John Clutterbuck (27), Liam Jackson for Jay Hughes (27), Ryan Burns for Daire Nally (ht), Dermoy Campbell for Sean Healy (ht), Conor Grimes for Leonard Grey (45)