Laois head for relegation playoff after third defeat on the trot

Laois have concluded their Division two regular league campaign with three defeats from three after Kildare came to Portlaoise on Sunday and comfortably left with the win. The defeat means Laois will now have to play in relegation playoff in two weeks time with the loser being relegated to Division three for 2022

Laois 1-8

Kildare 2-18

Kildare were by far the better team on the day and never looked like not getting the job done. Scoring power was the big difference between the sides with the Kildare men also showing how they could mix their game up between playing the ball through the hands but also firing in direct ball when it was the right thing to do.

Laois were not as direct and often over played the hand pass strategy and ran into trouble as they tried to build up the field.

Laois were dealt a number of body blows before the game was even thrown in with Donie Kingston, Trevor Collins and Colm Begley all ruled out through injury following from last weeks defeat to Cork.

Despite that, they did manage to get the opening score of the game through Evan O'Carroll but Kildare weren't long getting into their groove and they rattled off the next four scores to take a 0-4 to 0-1 lead after 11 minutes.

Jimmy Hyland and Kevin Feely kicked the pick of those scores and Laois were under pressure early on.

O'Carroll got his second score of the game but a super team score from the Kildare men saw Fergal Conway finish off the move by splitting the posts to make it 0-6 to 0-2 after 21 minutes.

Laois to their credit were keeping in touch and were hanging on to the Kildare coat tails. Gary Walsh slotted a brace of frees while at the other end, Captain Kieran Lillis made a dramatic last ditch clearance off the goal line to deny Kildare a goal.

Kildare did eventually get the goal they had been threatening as Darragh Kirwan and Kevin Feely combined for the later to la the ball up at the back post for Luke Flynn to palm to the net five minutes before half time.

That proved to be the last score of the half and it was a killer blow. Laois were staying in touch but a goal that close to half time sucked was a killer blow as Kildare led 1-7 to 0-4 at the break.

Laois started the second half well with two Gary Walsh points but Kildare all but put the game to bed in the 42nd minute when Kevin Flynn raided up from wing back, took a return pass from Darragh Kirwan and slipped it low past Niall Corbet and to the net to make it 2-9 to 0-6.

Two minutes later and Laois had a goal back as Gary Walsh capatilised on a wayward Kevin Flynn pass to fire to the net. Eoin Lowry added a fine score soon after and now Laois were back with a fighting chance at 2-9 to 1-7 with 25 minutes to go.

That chance soon dwindled away as three Kildare points in the space of five minutes, two of which from substitute Aaron Masterson, put them 2-12 to 1-7 ahead with 15 minutes to go.

Both sides emptied their benches in the closing quarter but Kildare were still managing to tag on extra scores with subs Shane O'Sullivan (two) and Conor Hartley both on target as the game petered out to a close.

LAOIS

Scorers: Gary Walsh 1-5 (0-4f), Evan O'Carroll 0-2, Eoin Lowry 0-1

Team: Niall Corbet; Robbie Pigott, Mark Timmons; Gareth Dillon; Seamus Lacey, Patrick O'Sullivan Alan Farrell; Kieran Lillis, John O'Loughlin; Brian Byrne, Eoin Lowry, Daniel O'Reilly; Paul Kingston, Gary Walsh, Evan O'Carroll. Subs: Benny Carroll for Danny O'Reilly (HT), Mark Barry for Paul Kingston (50), Eoin Buggie for Patrick O'Sullivan (54), Finbarr Crowley for Mark Timmons (58) Brian Daly for Brian Byrne (58), Sean Byrne for John O'Loughlin (64), Ross Munnelly for Gary Walsh (64m)

KILDARE

Scorers:Neil Flynn (0-3f) and Jimmy Hyland (0-1f and 0-1M) 0-4 each, Kevin Flynn 1-1, Luke Flynn 1-0, Shane O'Sullivan 0-3, Aaron Masterson 0-2, Kevin Feely, Brian McLoughlin, Fergal Conway and Conor Hartley 0-1 each.

Team: Mark Donnellan; Mick O'Grady, Mark Dempsey, David Hyland; Kevin Flynn, Eoin Doyle, Ryan Houlihan; Kevin Feely, Luke Flynn; Neil Flynn, Fergal Conway, Paul Cribben; Jimmy Hyland, Darragh Kirwan, Brian McLoughlin. Subs: Aaron Masterson for Kevin Feely (HT), Shane O'Sullivan for Brian McLoughlin (48). Alex Beirne for Darragh Kirwan (52), Paddy Brophy for Neil Flynn (59), Shea Ryan for Ryan Houlihan (67), Conor Hartley for Paul Cribben (67m)