Late Offaly surge knocks Laois minor footballers out of Leinster Championship

John Larkin’s Laois minor footballers have bowed out of this year’s Electric Ireland Leinster Championship after  three-point defeat to Offaly in Faithful Fields on Tuesday evening.

Offaly came into the game knowing that only a win would see them progress. The sides were level in the 56th minute, but Offaly got the crucial scores late on to secure their victory.

Offaly 1-15

Laois 2-9

On home soil, Offaly flew out of the blocks kicking into a strong wind, and had five points on the board after six minutes. Dylan Dunne opened the scoring after a minute before Offaly goalkeeper Jack Ryan came forward to slot over a two-point free while Eamon Maher and Tony Furey opened their accounts in The Faithful Field for the Faithful County.

Sean Rowan got Laois’ scoring underway as he kicked a great score off his right boot from the left-hand side. Patrick Duffy replied down the other end for the home side. Offaly led by five points with 10 minutes on the clock, but Laois would reduce that to two in the next attack. The goal came from a great ball in from Portlaoise’s Mark O’Connor, and he found fellow Townie David Timmons, who blasted the ball past Ryan in the Offaly goal.

Ruairi Woods became Offaly’s sixth different scorer for their seventh point. Laois took over for the next few minutes, but couldn’t add to the scoreboard as they kicked six wides. One of those wides came after a great goal for Bobby Rowan. Offaly goalkeeper Ryan played the ball straight to Sean Michael Ward, and he played in Bobby Rowan, but his shot hit the side netting. Laois did manage to cut the gap in the 22nd minute when Cian O’Sullivan raised a white flag from a free.

Offaly’s next two score came in unfortunate circumstances as Sean Powders took a kick-out off Conor Dunne, but slipped on his way which allowed Cian McNamee to fist the ball over. Tony Furey, having scored a point earlier in the game, raised a green flag for Offaly after an effort from McNamee bounced in the square, hit the crossbar and landed in front of Furey to tap home.

Laois’ response to Offaly’s goal was incredible as they went from being six points down with four minutes of the half left, to only go into the dressing rooms behind by two. Ultan Dunne scored two points, one from a free before midfielder Joe Larkin split the posts with Laois’ first two-pointer. Offaly led 1-8 to 1-6 at the break.

Offaly started the second-half in similar fashion to the first as they got the first three points. Two of those points came at the one time as Tony Furey slotted over a two-pointer. He followed that up soon after with a point from play. Sean Rowan pointed two frees for Laois in reply while Ruairi Woods pointed to put Offaly four points up.

Ultan Dunne was a constant threat for Laois in the air and it worked in the 46th minute when he won a high ball and passed it off to Timmons, who got raised his second green flag of the contest. Eight minutes went by before the next score, and it was a free from Sean Rowan that went over the bar to level the sides.

However, Offaly got on top again and started to win the aerial battle, which under the new rules is so important. Darragh Stewart pointed from the bench before the Offaly goalkeeper came forward to just about put over a two-point free to seal Offaly’s place in the preliminary quarter-finals. For Laois, they drop into the third tier All-Ireland competition