Laois footballers cruise to big league win over future championship opponents

Laois picked up their second win in the National Football league on Sunday afternoon after they eased past Wicklow in Aughrim. With the sides set to meet in the opening round of the Leinster championship next month, Laois laid down a big marker against a Wicklow side who weren't at the races at all.

Now on five points and games against Limerick and Longford to come, promotion from Division three is still a live option for Billy Sheehan's men.

LAOIS 1-17

WICKLOW 0-8

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION 3

Laois played against the strong breeze in the opening half and it was tough stuff. After two early wides, the home side kicked themselves into the lead with Alan Dillon floating over a score on five minutes.

With Wicklow dropping big numbers back when they were without the ball, Laois had to be patient in their attacks. They got off the mark in the ninth minute with Kieran Lillis curling a lovely left footed effort between the posts. That score was probably three minutes in the making though as Laois waited to get into a scoring opportunity.

Despite playing against the wind, Laois had the better of the early stages and with plenty of possession, Billy Sheehan's men took the lead on 15 minutes after Gary Walsh managed to navigate a free over the bar after Dylan Kavanagh had charged up from wing back and won a free.

Wicklow were struggling to get past the Laois half back line and Laois made hay with two scores in quick succession. Mark Barry fed Evan O'Carroll for his first point of the day on 17 minutes and a minute later, Gary Walsh landed his second free of the day after Brian Byrne was fouled.

Leading 0-4 to 0-1, Laois then had a big goal chance as Evan O'Carroll cut in along the end line but his squared pass was just missed by Mark Barry and a goal chance slipped by.

With 22 minutes on the clock, Kieran Lillis played an excellent ball to Alan Farrell and the Ballylinan judged his shot to perfection and the white flag was raised to put them into a 0-5 to 0-1 lead.

Laois were keeping the pressure on what must be said - a pedestrian Wicklow. A flowing move in the 24th minute saw Paddy O'Sullivan get on the end of it and clip it over from a tight angle to push Laois five points in front and cruising against the wind.

Mark Jackson kicked a free for Wicklow in the 26th minute, their first score in 21 minutes but Laois answered straight back with the roving Mark Barry involved, the ball was eventually fed into Evan O'Carroll who shrugged off his man and kicked his second of the day.

Alan Dillon was the one Wicklow forward making any head way and he landed a free in the 29th minute while keeper Mark Jackson nailed a '45' to make it 0-7 to 0-4 with 31 minutes on the clock.

Wicklow were now making more of their wind advantage and wing back Eoin Murtagh raided up the field to knock over Wicklow's fifth score with two minutes left to half time.

Wicklow made a bright start to the second half and a free from Alan Dillon in the 40th minute narrowed the gap to the minimum. The Laois reply was instant with Gary Walsh kicking his third of the day and his first from play after his shot almost deceived Mark Jackson but clipped the crossbar and went over the bar to make it 0-8 to 0-6.

With 44 minutes on the clock, Laois grabbed a slice of luck. After Gary Walsh was fouled about 50 metres from goals, Danny Bolger stood over the free. Taking aim for a point, the ball fizzed off his boot low and hard and Wicklow keeper Mark Jackson only managing to parry the effort. Evan O'Carroll was on hand and picked up the loose ball and fired to the net.

A minute later and Gary Walsh added another free and now Laois led 1-9 to 0-6 with 10 minutes gone in the second half.

Laois were now rampant and with Dylan Kavanagh causing havoc raiding up the left wing, Laois continued to make hay. Gary Walsh added another brace of scores, the latter of those a magnificent curling effort from a tight angle to make it 1-11 to 0-6 after 51 minutes.

Sean O'Flynn burst through the middle to add another as the Wicklow resistance began to fall. Gary Walsh continued to soar and while Wicklow did get a brace of scores back, Ross Munnelly tapped over a close range free to make it 1-14 to 0-8 with 10 minutes to go.

Evan Lowry added a free before Alex Mohan was called into action to make a big block on JP Hurley when the Wicklow man was about to pull the trigger. 

Late frees from Danny Bolger and Mark Barry closed out the scoring as Laois cruised home by 12 points.

LAOIS

Scorers: Gary Walsh 0-7 (0-5 frees), Evan O'Carroll 1-2, Danny Bolger (free), Alan Farrell, Kieran Lillis, Sean O'Flynn, Eoin Lowry (free), Paddy O'Sullivan, Mark Barry (free) and Ross Munnelly (free) 0-1 each.

Team: Danny Bolger; Diarmuid Bennett, Trevor Collins, Alex Mohan; Alan Farrell, John O'Loughlin, Dylan Kavanagh; Kieran Lillis, Sean O'Flynn; Brian Byrne, Eoin Lowry, Patrick O'Sullivan; Mark Barry, Evan O'Carroll, Gary Walsh. Subs: Cormac Murphy for Paddy O'Sullivan (ht), Danny O'Reilly for Brian Byrne (53), Shane Bolger for Diarmuid Bennett (56) , Ross Munnelly for Evan O'Carroll (56), James Finn for Kieran Lillis (58)

WICKLOW

Scorers: Alan Dillon 0-3 (0-2f), Mark Jackson 0-2 frees, Eoin Darcy (free), Eoin Murtagh and Darragh Fitzgerald 0-1 each.

Team: Mark Jackson; Jamie Snell, Patrick O'Keane, Nicky Devereux; Eoin Murtagh, Zach Cullen, Fintan O'Shea; Dean Healy, Padraig O'Toole; JP Hurley, Eoin Darcy, Darragh Fitzgerald; Alan Dillon, Rory Stokes, Kevin Quinn. Subs: Mark Kenny for Rory Stokes (ht), Malachy Stone for Fintan O'Shea (49), Andy Maher for Nicky Devereux (53), Oisin Cullen for Darragh Fitzgerald (56), Aaran Murphy for Alan Dillon (57)

Referee: Cormac Reilly (Meath)