Bad day at the office for Offaly as Laois saunter to easy derby win

OFFALY'S worse nightmare emerged in front of their eyes as they were resoundingly beaten by Laois in the first round of the Leinster Senior Football Championship in Tullamore on Saturday.

Leinster Senior Football Championship first round

Laois 3-12

Offaly 0-12

Having lost all seven of their National Football League Division 2 games, this loss should not have been a surprise but the scale of it was certainly a jolt and Offaly were a well beaten side long before the final whistle.

It was a bad day at the office and only for some outstanding saves by goalkeeper Conor Melia, it would have been a whole lot worse. Offaly's defence had a fairly calamitous evening, midfield struggled to get a foothold and the attack did not fare any better.

It was a very dispiriting evening for the home support and there were very few redeeming factors in the defeat. The big one was Conor Melia who had conceded some bad goals late on in the league campaign but came between Offaly and a real humiliation here with some top class saves.

Almost from the throw in, it smelled bad for Offaly and we feared the worse. While they had welcomed back players from injury with Aidan Bracken starting and Kyle Higgins and Jack Bryant coming on as subs, Offaly's energy levels never looked right on the day.

The defence had a particularly horrid time in the first half. Aidan Bracken had no complaints at being taken off at half time but, with the benefit of hindsight, the decision to give him his first game of the year in a high intensity championship derby was an error. That was only one factor as Offaly paid the price for some fairly basic defensive mistakes and Laois inflicted particular harm in the first half.

The writing was on the wall for Offaly as Laois made a flying start with Kevin Swayne's second minute goal after Evan O'Carroll's two point shot came back off the upright giving them a 1-1 to no score lead. Ciaran Burke punched their second goal to the net in the 10^th minute after a Brian Byrne pass for a 2-2 to 0-2 lead and Offaly were chasing the game way too early.

Little went right for them – when Shane Tierney hit the post with a 13^th minute free, the ball dropped invitingly into the danger zone but no one was close enough to take advantage. Rory Egan almost got in on the end of Darragh Flynn's attempt to fist a point later on but unfortunately for Offaly, their attempts at goals were mainly confined to this type of stuff.

Offaly did have a couple of decent spells in each half. They played their best football from the 15thn to 26^th minute as a two point free from Dylan Hyland and points from Jordan Hayes and Keith O'Neill brought the gap back to 2-4 to 0-6. Melia made great saves to deny Kevin Swayne and Evan O'Carroll goals in the 30^th and 34^th minutes. The winners kicked three in a row to lead by 2-7 to 0-6 after 32 minutes and let points from Keith O'Neill and Cormac Egan made the gap 2-7 to 0-8 at half time.

It was still there to be won but the game more or less slipped out of reach in the first five minutes of the second half as Ronan Coffey kicked a point and Simon Fingleton got a goal to make it 3-8 to 0-8. Conor Melia made another fine save, this time from impressive sub Paul Kingston and Offaly had a huge amount of ball for the next fifteen minutes. Laois didn't score from the 39^th to 60^th minutes and Offaly could have got back into it.

They had to get goals, however, but the only half opportunity fell to Diarmuid Egan who went for it but his shot flew too high and over the bar. Dylan Hyland (free) and Harry Plunkett kicked points while Jordan Hayes was just off target with a very scoreable two point attempt. That would have made it a four point game and Offaly would have had a chance but their heads really dropped after that. Melia made another save to deny Pa Kirwan but Laois had weathered the storm and reopened a nine point gap with points from Kirwan, Kingston and O'Carroll.

Marcas Dalton and Kingston (free) exchanged late points and Offaly have a fairly big challenge to get things anyway back on track for the Tailteann Cup.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Evan O'Carroll (Laois): Evan O'Carroll had a brilliant first half for Laois, kicking three points. He wasn't as prominent in the second half but still kicked a point and was very good on the ball. He was a real match winner for Laois.

Conor Melia was a contender as his saves kept Offaly somewhat alive into the last ten minutes while his kickouts were reasonable. Apart from that, there isn't much to say about Offaly. Shane O'Toole-Greene was diligent in defence as he tracked honestly and tackled effectively. He was one of Offaly's better players on the day while Diarmuid Egan also tried his heart out in defence – he made a couple of mistakes but attacked well and was one of the home players who performed well on on the day.

Jordan Hayes moved well in the first half in particular but his dependency on his left foot was a problem as Laois knew that and were able to deny him shooting opportunities for the most part. Offaly never got going in attack. Dylan Hyland and Keith O'Neill had their moments but their attacking play was frustrating to watch as they recycled a lot of ball and struggled to break the line.

THE SCORERS

Laois: Evan O'Carroll 0-5, Kevin Swayne, Ciaran Burke and Simon Fingleton 1-0 each, Ronan Coffey and Paul Kingston (1f) 0-2 each, Pa Kirwan, Rioghan Murphy and Robert Tyrrell 0-1 each.

Offaly: Dylan Hyland 0-5 (1 x 2pf, 1f), Keith O'Neill 0-2, Cormac Egan, Jordan Hayes, Diarmuid Egan, Marcas Dalton, Harry Plunkett 0-1 each,

THE TEAMS

OFFALY: Conor Melia (Bracknagh); Shane O'Toole-Greene (Shamrocks), David Dempsey (Ballycommon), Aidan Bracken (Ballycommon); Cormac Egan (Tullamore), Diarmuid Egan (Tullamore), Lee Pearson (Edenderry); Jack McEvoy (Clonbullogue), Jordan Hayes (Edenderry); Daire McDaid (Tullamore), Keith O'Neill (Clonbullogue), Rory Egan (Edenderry); Dylan Hyland (Raheen), Shane Tierney (Daingean), Darragh Flynn (Ferbane). Subs – Marcas Dalton (Clara) for Bracken (HT), Harry Plunkett (Tullamore) for Tierney (42m), Jack Bryant (Shamrocks) for Flynn (42m), Kyle Higgins (Ferbane) for McDaid (52m), Conor Dunican (Ferbane) for Cormac Egan, inj. (67m),

LAOIS: Killian Roche; Jack Lacey, Trevor Collins, Alex Mohan; Patrick O'Sullivan, Simon Fingleton, Brian Byrne; Ciaran Burke, Conor Heffernan; Kevin Swayne, Ronan Coffey, Riogan Murphy; Darragh Galvin, Robert Tyrrell, Evan O'Carroll. Subs – Paul Kingston for Galvin (HT), Pa Kirwan for Coffey (55m), Aaron McEvoy for O'Sullivan (60m), Niall Corbett for Swayne (60m), Mikie Dempsey for Tyrrell (61m).

Referee – Paul Faloon, Down.

REFEREE WATCH

Paul Faloon had a reasonable game, though the Laois fans were rightly annoyed when he failed to give sub Paul Kingston a penalty early in the second half after he appeared to have been fouled twice by Lee Pearson. Laois corner back Jack Lacey also deserved a yellow card for a hard tackle that stopped Cormac Egan in full flow.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Laois' goal scoring ability won the day and their third goal from Simon Fingleton in the 39^th minute opened up a big nine point gap.

VENUE WATCH

The downside of the split season is counties playing big championship matches in winter conditions and this is far from ideal. Between the cold and wet weather and fuel protests, it had an adverse impact on the crowd here. Offaly hosted the fixture well and without issues.

WHAT'S NEXT

Laois go to Newbridge to play Kildare next Saturday while it is the Tailteann Cup for Offaly.

STATISTICS

Wides: Offaly – 6 (1 in first half); Laois – 4 (2 in first half).

Yellow cards: Offaly – 3 (Jack Bryant, Dylan Hyland, Jack McEvoy); Laois – 1 (Conor Heffernan).

Black cards: 0

Red cards: 0