Laois blown out of the water by Wexford in championship opener

Laois are out of the Leinster hurling championship and will now face Antrim in a play off to both advance in the qualifiers and to save their Liam McCarthy skin as the loser of that game will be relegated to the Joe McDonagh cup for 2022.

They were no match for Wexford on Saturday evening at a sunny Nowlan Park as the Model County cut loose over the 70 minutes and emphasising the gulf in class between the two Counties.

WEXFORD 5-31

LAOIS 1-23

Laois battled hard but there was no comparison between the two teams as the superior power and running game of the Wexford men stood extremely evident. 1-23 was a decent score but 5-31 was a massive number to concede as the Wexford forward power flexed their muscles.

Laois were fired up from the start but a couple of early missed frees deprived them of the start they really craved. Kevin Foley and Diarmuid O'Keefe put Wexford into an early lead before Jack Kelly opened the Laois account with a long range effort on six minutes.

Wexford were far slicker in the opening stages and four points on the trot, the pick of those from Rory O'Connor had the Model County cruising at 0-6 to 0-1 after 14 minutes.

PJ Scully recovered from his earlier misses to land a long range free but Wexford got the next three scores before the water break including a second from Kevin Foley to see them go in at the first water break leading 0-9 to 0-2.

Gavin Bailey became the ninth Wexford player to score in the 18th minute as Davy Fitzgerald's men began to turn the screw even further.

The second quarter followed on the same pattern with Wexford really cutting loose. Conor McDonald knocked over three while their score taking distance was a joy to watch. Ross King did have a goal chance saved by Mark Fanning and Cha Dwyer knocked over two lovely scores but the Laois flashes were all to rare compared to the Wexford men as the score read 0-17 to 0-6 late in the first half.

PJ Scully added a point from play and from a '65' but there was no denying the gulf in class on show in Nowlan Park. Just in case there was any doubt about the result, Wexford got in for a goal just before the break. Donnchadh Hartnett's attempted clearance was intercepted by Lee Chin and Chin fed team mate Rory O'Connor who found the net from close range.

Ciaran Collier did add the last point of the half but after a sobering first half of hurling, Wexford led 1-20 to 0-10.

PJ Scully (two) and Paddy Purcell got Laois off to a good start in the second half but any momentum was short lived with Conor McDonald bagging the second Wexford goal on 42 minutes to make it 2-22 to 0-13.

Ross King showed lovely stick work to float over a score before Ciaran Collier added a second to his tally but they were only playing to keep the score down at this stage.

Ross King began to come into his own and landed another score but the Wexford train wasn't pulling up with a point from Rory O'Connor on 50 minutes brought his personal tally to 1-6 and Wexford into a 2-25 to 0-17 lead.

Just minutes after the second water break, Wexford had their third goal with Conor McDonald's low shot too hot to handle for Enda Rowland and the gap was stretched to 3-27 to 0-17.

Lee Chin added their fourth two minutes later but Laois hot straight back as substitute Ciaran Comerford won primary possession 21 metres from goal, turned and sent a rasper to the net.

Laois finished strong to be fair to them with Cha Dwyer and Ciaran Comerford on target but Wexford hit the 30 point mark on 68 minutes with a Paul Morris free bringing up the magic number.

The final point of the day was fired over by Matthew Whelan before the sounding of Thomas Walsh's brought an end to proceedings.

LAOIS

Scorers: PJ Scully 0-8 (0-5f and 0-1 '65'), Ciaran Comerford 1-1, Cha Dwyer 0-4, Paddy Purcell 0-3, Ross King and Ciaran Collier 0-2 each, Lee Cleere, Jack Kelly and Matthew Whelan 0-1 each.

Team: Enda Rowland; Donnchadh Hartnett, Ciaran McEvoy, Sean Downey; Stephen Maher, Ryan Mullaney, Jack Kelly; Fiachra C Fennell, Paddy Purcell; James Ryan, Cha Dwyer, Ross King; PJ Scully, Willie Dunphy, Ciaran Collier. Subs: Eanna Lyons for James Ryan (ht), Lee Cleere for Donnchadh Hartnett (48), Aaron Dunphy for Willie Dunphy (53), Ciaran Comerford for Paddy Purcell (53), Matthew Whelan for Sean Downey (54)

WEXFORD

Scorers: Rory O'Connor 1-7, Conor McDonald 2-4, Lee Chin 1-2 (0-1f), Paul Morris 0-5 (0-1f), David Dunne 1-0, Kevin Foley 0-3, Diarmuid O'Keefe, Mikie Dwyer and Liam Og McGovern 0-2 each, Mark Fanning (free), Gavin Bailey, Shaun Murphy and Cathal Dunbar 0-1 each.

Team: Mark Fanning; Simon Donohoe, Liam Ryan, Shane Reck; Gavin Bailey, Matthew O'Hanlon, Shaun Murphy; Diarmuid O'Keefe, Liam Og McGovern; Rory O'Connor, Lee Chin, Kevin Foley; Mikie Dwyer, Paul Morris, Conor McDonald. Subs: Jack O'Connor for Diarmuid O'Keefe (50), Conal Flood for Simon Donohoe (55), David Dunne for Mikie Dwyer (55), Conor Firman for Gavin Bailey (61), Cathal Dunbar for Lee Chin (67)

Referee: Thomas Walsh (Waterford)

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