Laois set to face Down in league semi-final following victory over Kerry

Laois made it four wins from five in Division 2A with an impressive victory over Kerry in Laois Hire O’Moore Park on Saturday afternoon.

The opening game of the Saturday’s double header was a dead-rubber as Laois were already guaranteed a home semi-final this Saturday, whilst Kildare’s victory over Carlow on Friday evening sealed Kerry’s fate of relegation.

LAOIS 4-20

KERRY 1-19

Ross King made his comeback for Laois and marked it with a very impressive performance as he racked up 1-4 from play and added a further three points from play.

Laois were very dangerous in front of goal and Tomas Keyes was the frontrunner has he finished with 2-3 from play, whilst Ryan Mullaney put in a titanic performance at full back.

Three of Laois’ four goals came in the first half as they hurled with the wind advantage, though it took them time to rev up as they had only two points scored by the 15 minute mark.

3-10 in the 20 minutes before half time gave them a comfortable 11 point lead at the break and although Kerry did threaten a resurgence late in the game Laois found another gear towards the end and Keyes put the finishing touches on with his second goal.

Rathdowney-Errill’s King opened the scoring with his first possession for Laois of 2024 and Podge Delaney made use of the wind with a long range effort to double the lead.

Wides began to rack up for the hosts however and Kerry made them pay with four points on the trot through Dan Goggin, Fionan Mackessy and Michael Leane.

King and Goggin traded scores on the 15 minute mark before the former scored the game’s opening goal as his effort went between the legs of goalkeeper Michael Quirke.

That goal opened the floodgates for Laois and they would be in for two more over the next nine minutes. Ian Shanahan went on a marauding run down the right side before cutting inside and handing to James Duggan who hammered it into the top corner.

Aidan Corby was the provider for Tomas Keyes’ first goal when he broke through a number of Kerry backs before passing inside to Keyes in front of the posts and he broke a couple of tackles to find space to get a strike into the net.

Kerry managed a couple of scores from Maurice O’Connor frees but the Laois train was rolling strong and scores from Duggan, Keyes and Ryan Mullaney increased the lead further.

Dan Goggin pointed his third of the game on 30 minutes and he was a constant threat throughout for Kerry, although he hadn’t much help.

Keyes and Stephen Bergin both pointed from tight angles before Aidan Corby and Ian Shanahan both struck after two more quick breaks down field.

Ross King finished the half with a well struck point to put Laois 3-12 to 0-8 ahead at the break, with all of Laois’ scores coming from play and nine different scorers.

Kerry opened the second half with a pair of scores from O’Connor and Gavin Dooley as they now had the wind advantage and they looked more sprightly.

King replied with Laois’ first two points from frees before Kerry landed three back through Maurice and Kyle O’Connor and a Dan Goggin point after a great save by Cathal Dunne.

King and Goggin traded excellent scores, but the tempo of the game began to drop significantly with the heavy ground no doubt playing its part.

Scores from King and John Lennon increased the lead to 12 points before Evan Murphy and Fiachra C Fennell traded monster scores.

Kerry upped the tempo approaching the final 15 minutes and would go on to hit 1-4 to no reply. O’Connor struck a brace of frees to start the run and Fionan Mackessy took over when they were awarded one on the 21 metre line and he blasted it into the net to reduce the gap to seven.

The Laois lead was cut further with scores from Goggin and Leane, with just five points now separating them heading for injury time.

Laois dug deep and found another gear themselves as Tomas Keyes took off on an impressive run before cutting back and slotting over the bar. He gained possession in a similar position moments later, but this time he raced in on goal and fired a bullet into the top corner.

Willie Dunphy had the final say of the game with a well struck point to put Laois 10 points ahead before the referee signalled for the end.

Laois will now face Down in O’Moore Park on Saturday in the semi-final, with the winners travelling to Carlow the following week for the final.