Young Offaly team overpowered by high scoring Laois in Celtic Challenge

The weekend started early on Saturday morning, with the U-17 hurlers of Offaly and Laois squaring off in the Celtic Challenge. The young Offaly side were brave and dogged, but came up short against a talented Laois outfit.

U-17 Hurling Celtic Challenge Jerome O'Leary Cup Round 4

Laois 2-20

Offaly 1-11

Having begun their campaign with a heavy defeat at home to Cork City, Offaly got their campaign back on track with a barnstorming victory over Kildare in Round 2. Laois had a similar start with a strong win at home to Kildare, followed by a hammering by Cork City in Round 2.

1-8 from corner forward, Sam Somers helped Laois to an impressive victory at the LOETB Centre of Excellence in Portlaoise. Marc Ryan was superb for Offaly on both placed balls and in open play, contributing nine points to the cause.

The winning of the game was in the opening seven minutes as Laois got off to a remarkable start of seven scores in seven minutes, up 1-6 without reply. Somers slotted a couple of early scores before sending a long ball in to Eoghan Coss who got the game's first goal. Coss had 1-2 to his name in that opening period.

When Offaly finally got themselves into the game it was Ryan leading the charge. He scored five in the first half alone, and produced a brilliant piece of skill in the 18th minute to break through the Laois defence. He picked out Eoin Dunne, who gave Conor Maher no chance in the Laois.

Not to be outdone, Somers went straight up the field and scored 1-1 in less than 90 seconds. His goal was a great strike – low and hard beyond Sebastian Legasse. Laois up 2-11 to 1-7 at half time.

It was a gorgeous day in Portlaoise but the heat was a factor in the second half as both teams were clearly fatigued. Offaly managed only four scores in the second half - all from Ryan. Laois meanwhile, were metronomic in the heat, landing a score, on average, every three minutes, keeping the visitors at arm’s length.

Laois showed their stamina towards the end, scoring five of the last six points of the game to win it by twelve points. The result means that Offaly will play Kerry next Saturday in the John Scott Cup Quarter Final as the Celtic Challenge continues.

SCORERS - Laois: Sam Somers 1-8 (five frees), Eoghan Coss 1-3, Lachlan Curran 0-3, Hugh Whelan (two frees) and Darragh Ryan 0-2 each, Callum Peters and Tommy Goode 0-1 each. Offaly: Marc Ryan 0-9 (seven frees), Eoin Dunne 1-0, Killian Wynne and Patrick Lyons 0-1 each.

The Teams

LAOIS: Conor Maher; Cormac Coleman, Dion O'Connor-Cuddy, Conor Ryan; Mikey Kirwan, Hugh Whelan, Darragh Hughes; Tommy Goode, Rio Lacumbre; Callum Peters, Oisin Moore, Eoghan Coss; Sam Somers, Lachlan Curran, Ross Deegan. Subs: Darragh Ryan for O'Connor-Cuddy (inj) (23), Evan McSpadden for Ryan (HT), Ryan O'Connor for Deegan (37), Tomás Lynch and Ashton Keenan for Hughes and Peters (41), Corey Doheny for Lacumbre (46), Shane O'Sullivan for Maher (57).

OFFALY: Sebastian Legasse; Jack Ryan, James Hennessy, Daniel Healy; Brian Guinan, Paul Canon, Sean Connaughton; Eoin Dunne, Luke Bowe; Cian Costello, Mark Ryan, Andrew Hogan; Patrick Lyons, Mickey Boylan, Killian Wynne. Subs: Eanna O'Neill for Boylan (41), Morgan Glynn for Hennessy (46), Darragh Lawrence and Greg Byrne for Bowe and Hogan (50), Charlie Loughnan and Eanna Hogan for Lyons and Ryan (56).

REFEREE: Robert Phelan.