Laois Schools seal final place with victory over Dublin South Schools

Laois Schools are through to the final of the Senior ‘A’ after an exciting win over Dublin South Schools in Abbeyleix on Saturday afternoon. 

Damien Carter and Declan Qualter took charge of the Laois side and before the game even started they had somewhat of a challenge to bear – the two U-20 county finals that took place between Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. 

LAOIS SCHOOLS 3-17 

DUBLIN SOUTH SCHOOLS 1-18 

Eli Quinn, Stephen O’Donnell, Eoghan Murphy and Cormac Byrne all played the full 60 minutes for Laois just 18 hours after contesting the U-20 ‘A’ final between The Harps and Abbeyleix. 

The U-20 ‘B’ being on Saturday afternoon at 3pm involving Ballinakill-Ballypickas and Castletown meant that Ben O’Mara, Ryan Peters and Ray Goode were unavailable for selection. 

After putting in a man of the match worthy performance for The Harps on Friday evening at centre back, Murphy did so again for Laois from centre forward as he scored 1-7, whilst Cormac Byrne was equally as dangerous at full finishing with 1-3. 

The duo combined for the opening scores for Laois, but they were matched by the Dublin side. Shane Connolly and Ruairi Kavanagh both opened their accounts to put Laois two ahead. 

Dublin South fired back with three in a row from Tomas Moore, Conor Brennan and Calum Graham to take the lead before a long free towards the square from Murphy found Byrne and he buried it into the net. 

Paul O’Connor and Dylan Bannon struck back for Dublin with a point each before an excellent score from Evan Cassin off his hurl on the right wing. 

Murphy and Kavanagh traded scores with the visitors as the game started to heat up and the quality of both teams shone through. 

Byrne and Murphy each raised a white flag before Byrne did brilliantly to win possession on the 21 and hand off to Murphy who was tearing in on goal and the latter executed a lovely finish for a goal. 

Dublin South snuck a point back but they were dealt a huge blow on the stroke of half time when Cormac Hogan pinged a long pass to Shane Connolly and he only had one thing on his mind as he bore down on goal and rattled the net to make it 3-9 to 0-11 at half time. 

Dublin South had the better of the early exchanges in the second half when Calum Graham traded scores with Murphy before the visitors knocked over three frees in a row from Dan O’Kelly and Moore. 

Murphy’s hot streak continued when he buried one over the bar from way out on the sideline from play and quickly followed it with a well taken free. 

Ballyragget clubman Sean Brennan was introduced just before half time and made his presence felt with a clever score in front of the posts under intense pressure from the back line. 

After a couple of points were traded Dublin South suddenly gained a glimmer of hope when the ball came in from the left of the posts to  Calum Graham waiting inside unmarked and he finished for a goal to put just four between the teams with five minutes left. 

Not one to back down from a challenge, Eoghan Murphy replied immediately with an excellent score and Clough-Ballacolla’s Cormac Hogan followed with an excellent effort from distance and Cormac Byrne suitably completed Laois’ scoring with a fantastic point.