Impressive Offaly let their football do the talking in long awaited win over 14 man Laois

PLAYING with great flair, keeping it safe but attacking with pace and intent, Offaly sauntered to a much more comfortable than expected win when they sent Laois packing in the Leinster Senior Football Chanmpionship at O'Moore Park on Saturday evening- it was Offaly's first Leinster championship win over Laois since 2002 and first in Portlaoise since 1978.

Leinster Senior Football Championship quarter-final

Offaly 2-13

Laois 1-8

It was a very professional display by Offaly who unleashed the shackles and the final score of 2-13 to 1-8 was an accurate reflection of their superiority. In fact, this could have been a real annihilation as Offaly could very easily have scored four more goals. Jack Bryant blasted over with the goals at his mercy almost straight from the throw in, Eoin Carroll had a snap shot saved later in the half and Rory Egan and Peter Cunningham spurned late chances at a stage when Offaly had the game in the bag.

A meeting against All-Ireland champions Dublin or Meath is Offaly's reward and they will relish the challenge of that. Offaly played some excellent football on the day. They were defensively brilliant with the raiding Lee Pearson and Cormac Egan leading the charge and Declan Hogan flawless. Eoin Carroll and Jack McEvoy put in great shifts at midfield and the attack played really well.

Keith O'Neill was brilliant, scoring 1-3 while Jack Bryant had a very good first half and the others also justified their place.

The comprehensive nature of Offaly's win both delighted and surprised supporters, many of whom travelled to Portlaoise fearing the worse. As things transpired, the theory that Laois were a very mediocre side and it would take a horror show from Offaly to lose proved to be well founded.

A defining moment of this game was the sending off of Laois defender James Kelly in the 20^th minute. Kelly did let the elbow back after being fouled by Dylan Hyland and once Offaly got on top in the second half, the numerical disadvantage killed Laois and they just couldn't break down the Offaly defence.

Hyland got a 10^th minute yellow card himself, after fouling twice, and supporters feared the worse as he has had more than his share of disciplinary issues in the past year. The Raheen man showed great bravery to continue to work his socks off, put in the hard yards and tackle, even though he knew the consequences for a mistimed tackle. He did thread on thin ice once or twice, fouling twice more but just stayed the right side of the line and when his evening ended early in the 57^th minute, it was because of injury – a man with powerful Laois connections, Hyland contributed powerfully to Offaly's win, nailing his frees and getting a fine point from play.

It was very unusual to see Offaly untroubled in a football game in the closing quarter and they were never in danger of losing here once they opened daylight in the second half.

In fact, they should have been in complete control at half time, instead of level, 0-8 to 1-5. Offaly had been clearly the better team for most of the first half and played most of the football. They came storming out of the blocks with Jack Bryant pointing with that quick goal chance, getting too much height from five metres. They kicked the opening four points before Evan O'Carroll opened Laois' account with an eight minute free.

Offaly continued to play very steady, composed football. With Cormac Egan sensational in defence, they broke very well up the field and regularly opened up Laois. They were 0-6 to 0-2 up when Kelly saw red and Keith O'Neill's first point in the 21^st minute put them five clear. They were in complete control but Laois did well to get back into it after this. Shaun Fitzpatrick got a 28^th minute goal after Ian Duffy made a great save from his first shot to make it 1-3 to 0-7.

The very honest Ruari McNamee replied immediately for Offaly but two points levelled it up at half time and Laois were certainly the happier to be in that position.

Evan O'Carroll put them ahead from a free two minutes into the second half and briefly, it looked like it could be one of those days for Offaly. Instead they found another gear and Laois had no answer. Almost in the blink of an eye, the game was out of reach for them. Hyland tapped over two frees and Keith O'Neill got a 41^st minute goal after intercepting a disastrous short kickout from Killian Roche.

Three minutes later, Offaly made it 2-10 to 1-6 with a fantastic breakaway goal. Eoin Carroll superbly turned the ball over in midfield and with Laois having pushed men forward, they were wide open at the back. Ruari McNamee quickly transferred in over the top to Jordan Hayes and the Edenderry man showed great composure as he raced into space and drove a low shot to the net. It was an excellent piece of play from a man who had been short of his best until then – and it got his juices flowing as he finished the game with all guns blazing.

Keith O'Neill (two) and Dylan Hyland (free) added points for a 10 point lead and it would have taken a bibical collapse for Offaly to lose from here. Having coughed up a nine point lead when losing to Clare in the league, supporters were still anxious but they closed the game out with huge efficiency on this occasion. They dragged men back, brought on defensive players for attackers and played it very safe to ensure Laois couldn't threaten the goals.

They still let the ball do the work, attacking well and two sensational balls in from Cathal Flynn almost created two late goals as Offaly won pulling up.

It was a long awaited championship win over Laois and ensures that Declan Kelly's first season in charge is a success, no matter what happens now. Laois were shockingly poor on the day. Even allowing for playing so long with a man down, they were a country mile off where they needed to be. They only got 1-2 from play with 1-1 from their forward line but credit to Offaly for an extremely solid display and win.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Cormac Egan (Offaly): An extremely tough call between Cormac Egan and Keith O'Neill. You could choose either and defend it fully. O'Neill was outstanding. He scored 1-3, showed some delightful touches on the ball and then won crucial ball when he drifted back to help the defence close up shop late on.

Egan gets my nod by a fraction. He had a magnificent first half as he defended very well, turned over ball and broke at lightening pace. He created a lot of problems for Laois when going up field, even when he didn't get on the ball. He also let the ball do the work, kicking some great passes in over players into space and some of the football played by him, Keith O'Neill and Cathal Flynn was genuinely exciting.

Egan didn't break forward as much in the second half but continued to do his defensive duty, cutting out attacks and closing down players. He has been a revelation since going back wing back, though as he reflected afterwards on the win, he pointed out that all his early football was in defence and it was only as a county minor that he went into attack.

THE SCORERS

Offaly: Keith O'Neill 1-3, Dylan Hyland 0-5 (4f), Jack Bryant 0-3 (2f), Jordan Hayes 1-0, Lee Pearson and Ruari McNamee 0-1 each.

Laois: Evan O'Carroll 0-3 (2f), Shaun Fitzpatrick 1-0, Killian Roche (2f) and Mark Barry (2f) 0-2 each, Eoin Buggie 0-1.

THE TEAMS

OFFALY: Ian Duffy (Walsh Island); David Dempsey (Ballycommon), Declan Hogan (Tullamore), Lee Pearson (Edenderry); Cormac Egan (Tullamore), Peter Cunningham (Bracknagh), John Furlong (Tullamore); Eoin Carroll (Cappincur), Jack McEvoy (Clonbullogue); Dylan Hyland (Raheen), Ruari McNamee (Rhode), Jordan Hayes (Edenderry); Jack Bryant (Shamrocks), Nathan Poland (Erin Rovers), Keith O'Neill (Clonbullogue). Subs – Cathal Flynn (Ferbane) for Bryant (49m), Cian Farrell (Edenderry) for Hyland, inj. (57m), Jack O'Brien (Durrow) for McEvoy (61m), Rory Egan (Edenderry) for McNamee (63m), Daire McDaid (Tullamore) for Pearson (64m),

LAOIS: Killian Roche; Ben Dempsey, Seamus Lacey, James Kelly; Eoin Buggie, Mark Timmons, Jack Lacey; Kieran Lillis, Damon Larkin; Kevin Swayne, Eoin Lowry, Shaun Fitzpatrick; Mark Barry, Evan O'Carroll, Paul Kingston. Subs – Conor Heffernan for Larkin, inj. (10m), Daniel O'Reilly for Lillis (50m), Dylan Kavanagh for Dempsey (50m), Niall Dunne for Kingston (55m), Simon Fingleton for Timmons (64m),

Referee – Jerome Henry (Mayo).

REFEREE WATCH

Jerome Henry had a decent game. Laois were not happy with James Kelly's red card but the elbow did appear to go back on Dylan Hyland, who ensured anxiety for Offaly supporters by picking up a yellow card after ten minutes – Hyland was entitled to yellow, though other players got away with a couple of sloppy fouls without sanction, including Nathan Poland, who worked so hard in his senior championship debut. Henry did give Laois a very soft free at the start of the second half and then brought it in for dissent – there weren't many of those debatable ones and they cancelled out.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Offaly's first goal from Keith O'Neill in the 41^st minute provided the springboard for victory. It was very sloppy by Laois but a 1-10 to 1-6 lead was a much more accurate reflection of the difference between the teams at that stage and they pushed home their advantage. The 20^th minute dismissal of James Kelly also had a huge bearing – they were finding it hard with fifteen at that stage and while they did get back into it after that, they eventually ran out of steam.

VENUE WATCH

There was a nice sized crowd in Portlaoise for this derby and there were no issues. The pitch was good and there was a good atmosphere.

WHAT'S NEXT

Offaly play the winners of Dublin and Meath in the semi-final while Laois go into the Tailteann Cup.

STATISTICS

Wides: Offaly – 4 (2 in first half); Laois – 7 (4 in first half).

Yellow cards: Offaly – 3 (Dylan Hyland, Jack Bryant and Peter Cunningham); Laois – 0.

Black cards: 0.

Red cards: Offaly – 0; Laois – 1 (James Kelly).