14-man Laois come up short against Clare in a wind-swept thriller in Ennis

Laois have suffered their second defeat in this year's Allianz Football League Division 3 after Clare beat them in Ennis on Sunday.

Laois played for 50 minutes with 14 men after captain Brian Byrne was shown a straight red card.

The Laois senior footballers travelled to Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg, Ennis, on Sunday afternoon to face Clare, fresh from their first win in this year's Allianz Division 3 campaign against Sligo last weekend.

Laois started with the same starting 15 that got the better of Sligo in Round 3 and the advantage of a strong wind blowing straight down the field for the first 35 minutes.

Clare dominated possession in the early stages, but couldn't get a handle on the strong wind blowing into their faces. Three minutes went by before the first white flag was raised as Evan O'Carroll split the posts for Justin McNulty's side. Eoin Cleary got the home side off the mark with two points in a row as they led after seven minutes.

Laois would need some two pointers in the first half considering the wind that was blowing in Ennis and their first orange flag arrived courtesy of Laois captain Brian Byrne. Cleary got his and Clare's third point to level the sides after quarter of an hour.

A big goal chance fell Laois' way soon after when Daragh Galvin won the ball from a Clare defender and played Rioghan Murphy through on goals, but the Portarlington forward missed the target. O'Carroll and Cleary traded points before O'Carroll pointed a free to push Laois ahead, 0-5 to 0-4. 

Laois were dealt a big blow in the 22nd minute as captain Brian Byrne was shown a straight red card by referee James Molloy for something off the ball with Ikem Ugwueru. Laois were then guilty of handing Clare scores against the breeze as they didn't have three players in the Clare half and it allowed Mark McInerney point over the resulting free. It was McInerney again who put Clare two points up before Laois hit four points in a row courtesy of an O'Carroll (free) and Murphy along with a two-pointer from Killian Roche. 

Clare ended the half with two points of their own from McInerney and Cleary as 14-man Laois led 0-9 to 0-8 at the break.

The second half almost began with a Clare goal as a 45' from Stephen Ryan dropped short and almost ended up in the Laois net off Rob Tyrrell, who recovered well to clear it off the line. Murphy got Laois' first point of the second period before Clare captain Dermot Coughlan replied with a point. Then came Laois' first goal as Jake Darcy played the ball to Evan O'Carroll and he stuck the ball into the top corner of Ryan's net.

Clare, now with the wind, scored their first two-pointer as Aaron Griffin split the posts from outside the arc. Clare would go three points up as Cleary got four points, two of them coming from a two-point free after Laois only had two players in the Clare half, while Griffin also added to his tally.

Roche came forward to reduce the lead to one again as he kicked a superb two-point free into the breeze and between the posts. Cormac Murray put Clare two up before Clare were also reduced to 14-men albeit just for 10 minutes as referee James Molloy showed a black card to Cillian Brennan and awarded Laois a penalty. Evan O'Carroll stepped up, but saw Ryan saved his spot kick onto the post.

The black card seemed to ignite something in Laois as they soon led after Ciaran Burke and Darren Brennan came off the bench to score, while Paddy O'Sullivan tapped the ball into the Clare net after good build-up play between O'Carroll, Paul Kingston and himself. Clare's first point in 11 minutes came from a Griffin free as Laois led 2-14 to 0-18 when Cillian Brennan returned to the field.

Cormac Murray levelled the sides once again as he came on and raised an orange flag before Griffin followed that with a two-pointer of his own to put Clare two up with five minutes before the hooter would sound. O'Carroll tapped over a free to cut the deficit and was then given the chance to level the game in the 69th minute, but his effort went to the left and wide.

Clare ended up having enough time to kick an insurance point from Clear before Jamie Stack won the resulting kick-out off O'Sullivan to make it a three-point win for Clare.

Laois will face Westmeath at home next weekend in Portlaoise on Saturday evening from 6pm.

FULL TIME

Laois 2-15

Clare 0-24 

SCORERS – Laois: Evan O’Carroll 1-5 (0-3 frees), Killian Roche 0-4 (two two-point frees), Paddy O’Sullivan 1-0, Brian Byrne (two pointer) and Rioghan Murphy (one free) 0-2 each, Darren Brennan and Ciaran Burke 0-1 each. Clare: Eoin Cleary 0-10 (one two point free, two frees), Aaron Griffin 0-6 (two two pointers, one free), Cormac Murray (two pointer) and Mark McInerney (one free) 0-3 each, Jamie Stack and Dermot Coughlan 0-1 each

LAOIS: Killian Roche (Killeshin); Ben Dempsey (Portlaoise), Trevor Collins (Graiguecullen), Jack Lacey (St Joseph's); Paddy O’Sullivan (Portarlington), Simon Fingleton (Park-Ratheniska), Kevin Swayne (Portlaoise); Rob Tyrrell (Courtwood), Conor Heffernan (Killeshin); Mikie Dempsey (St Joseph's), Brian Byrne (Captain, Graiguecullen), Josh Hogan (Portlaoise); Rioghan Murphy (Portarlington), Daragh Galvin (Portarlington), Evan O’Carroll (Crettyard). Subs: Darren Brennan (Portlaoise) for Hogan and Jake Darcy (Annanough) for Lacey (Both HT), Ciaran Burke (Crettyard) for Dempsey (45 mins), Ronan Coffey (Portarlington) for Galvin (49 mins), Paul Kingston (Arles-Killeen) for Tyrrell (59 mins)

CLARE: Stephen Ryan; Alan Sweeney, Ronan Lanigan, Manus Doherty; Dermot Coughlan, Ikem Ugwueru, Cillian Brennan; Brian McNamara, Josh Vaughan; Daniel Walsh, Aaron Griffin, Brendy Rouine; Eoin Cleary, Mark McInerney, Conor Meaney. Subs: Cormac Murrary for McInerney (45 mins), Shane Griffin for Walsh (49 mins), Jamie Stack for Vaughan (62 mins)

Referee: James Molloy (Galway)