Gritty 14-man O'Dempsey's hold off Arles-Killeen to reach Laois SFC semi-finals

O'Dempsey's have sealed their spot in this year's Laois Shopping Centre semi-finals after a five-point victory over Arles-Killeen in Laois Hire O'Moore Park on Sunday afternoon.

Having seen Eoghan Fitzpatrick shown a red card in the 37th minute, O'Dempsey's kept their cool and got goals at crucial stages of the game.

O'Dempsey's 2-9

Arles-Killeen 0-10

O'Dempsey's got off to a quick start as they fired over three points in a row, courtesy of Ryan Phelan, a Mark Barry free, soon followed by a Matthew Finlay free. O'Dempsey corner back Eoghan Fitzpatrick was shown a black card in the tenth minute for a blatant trip on Adam Donoghue inside the 21' after Donoghue had put the ball through Fitzpatrick's legs. Paul Kingston pointed a free a few minutes later to get Arles-Killeen going, he followed up by pointing from play soon after.

Tom Kelly was under O'Dempsey's fourth point after a very patient attack on a blanket defence. Colin Dunne pointed for Arles-Killeen before Fitzpatrick was reintroduced to the field of play. Oisin Byrne also added his name to the score sheet to bring the sides level at four points a piece with seven minutes remaining. 

Ben Coen stepped up for O'Dempsey's and curled over a fabulous score from play off his left boot. It was Arles-Killeen that finished the half stronger as Donie Kingston pointed two scores over in a row to ensure his side went in at the break one point in the clear, six points to five.

It didn't take long for Arles-Killeen to increase their advantage as Paul Kingston kicked over a free within a minute after the restart. Matthew Finlay cut the gap back to a single point again with a free from the 45-yard line before Paul Kingston almost had a goal for Shane Roche's side but his effort just went wide with many of their supporters having thought it ended up in the net. Disaster then struck for O'Dempsey's as Eoghan Fitzpatrick was shown a yellow card to go with his black card which meant that they were reduced to 14 men for the remainder of the contest. Paul Kingston pointed from that foul to push them two ahead yet again.

O'Dempsey's to their credit kept plugging away and got their just reward with 41 minutes on the clock. Jack Lennon played a high ball into Dan McCormack and he caught the ball before firing it past Jason Enright from close-range. Three minutes later and O'Dempsey's raised a second green flag, a kick-out from Enright went straight to Mark Barry and he made no mistake with a finish low and hard under Enright's grasp. Oisin Byrne and Matthew Finlay traded frees to maintain a four-point lead for Eoin Kearns' side.

Arles-Killeen never really threatened the O'Dempsey's goal at any stage but managed another point through Conor Keightley. Dan Punch came off the bench to leave four between the teams again in what was essentially an insurance score for the winning side. Matthew Finlay pushed the margin to five in added time to secure their semi-final place.