Duggan hits five past Kerry as Laois close in on Joe McDonagh final

Laois solidified their spot atop the Joe McDonagh Cup table and have one foot in the final after a dominant victory over Kerry in Laois Hire O’Moore Park on Sunday afternoon.

In a remarkable performance, James Duggan finished with a tally of 5-2, becoming the first Laois player since 1939 to score five goals in one game, and all his goals came before the half-time whistle.

Laois 5-28

Kerry 1-21

As a result, Laois were out of sight by the break, and the result was all but guaranteed as the teams emerged for the second half, and Kerry put up more of a fight to the hosts, with Shane Nolan in particular being outstanding for the Kingdom.

While Duggan will no doubt take the headlines, there were many excellent performances across the field for Laois with Ryan Mullaney, Fiachra C Fennell and David Dooley all putting in a huge amount of work around the middle of the field while also combining for eight points from play.

Louis Dee pulled off some excellent saves throughout the game, and only for his heroics between the sticks to deny Ben Conroy, Aidan Corby and Duggan, things could have been much worse for Kerry.

It took just ten seconds for Laois to get off the mark when the aforementioned Dooley slotted over the bar straight from the throw-in in and Duggan quickly followed with his opening goal when he did brilliantly to flick a long ball from Mullaney over the head of Dee.

Kerry reacted well initially with four points in a row, three coming from Shane Nolan after Kevin Goulding got their opener from range. The spell quickly halted with a free for Mossy Keyes, kickstarting a run of 2-9 for the hosts, with the Camross man adding a further two scores along with a C Fennell brace, two from Duggan and a fine score by Dooley.

Duggan’s second goal came in the 25th minute when Mullaney found Conroy with a pass and Conroy advanced on goal before a scramble for possession ensued, and Duggan was on hand to boot it into the net. The trio combined again moments later when Mullaney produced an excellent block down on the left wing and fired the ball up the line to Conroy, whose shot was saved by Dee, but Duggan was on the spot to finish from point-blank range and complete his hat-trick early on.

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The man from The Harps wasn’t finished there, however, and after a brief interlude where Kerry pointed via Dan Casey, Shane Nolan and Luke Crowley, Duggan was in for his fourth and fifth goals. His knack for being in the right position came to the fore in both efforts, and his fifth came after a great run and selfless pass from Mossy Keyes in the 32nd minute.

Keyes added a point to his tally from a free before Dooley and Nolan traded scores to bring the first half to a close, and Laois led 5-12 to 0-9.

Nolan opened the second half scoring with a point before Laois rallied with four in succession from Keyes, Dooley and Aaron Dunphy. The tempo level began to drop on both sides as the half progressed and the sides traded points with Nolan, Oisin Maunsell and Rory Mahony combining for five points, matching efforts from Podge Delaney, Mark Dowling, Aaron Dunphy and Fiachra C Fennell.

Laois continued to push for goals, but Louis Dee stood strong between the sticks to deny Aidan Corby from close range, and James Duggan came agonisingly close to his sixth goal when he just mistimed his effort as the ball bobbled its way into his path.

Willie Dunphy and Aaron Dunphy added further scores for the hosts while Kerry half-backs Ronan Walsh and Darragh Shanahan each got on the scoresheet with long-range efforts. There were late scores for Laois as Ryan Mullaney bombed one over from distance and Paddy Purcell marked his 50th SHC appearance for Laois with a point, but Kerry had the final say when Killian Hayes danced past a couple of backs and fired into the Laois net with the final puck of the game.