In the quarter-finals of the Leinster Senior Football Championship, Offaly outperformed Laois with a score of 2-13 to 1-8. This high-octane Saturday evening match in Portlaoise marked Offaly’s initial victory over Laois in the Championship since 1978.
Undeniably, Offaly was the superior team throughout the encounter. However, the turning point occurred when Laois’ James Kelly got a red card in the 20th minute, which Offaly capitalised on, further advancing their supremacy in the game. Despite a 10-minute spell near half time which favoured Laois, the game mostly saw Offaly controlling the play.
The halftime scoreboard read Laois 1-5, Offaly 0-8, a result that left the home team more relieved than satisfied. Offaly had dominated the first half and their performance rightly deserved a lead of three or four points. Offaly’s Jack Bryant and Eoin Carroll both squandered clear goal opportunities, while Laois’ Shaun Fitzpatrick exploited his chance to score in the 28th minute, rallying Laois back into the match.
The game was shifting in Offaly’s favour, leading 0-6 to 0-2, when Kelly of Laois was commanded off the field. Laois were having a hard time finding their footing again. Offaly started off robustly, securing four points before Laois could even register a point from a free kick by Evan O’Carroll in the eighth minute. The first half wrapped up with a point from Fitzpatrick, followed by points from Eoin Buggie and a free kick by Killian Roche levelling the score.
Evan O’Carroll scored a free kick at the start of the second half, leading Laois for the first time in the match. However, that proved to be the highlight of their night. The team from Offaly managed to shift up a gear, completely overwhelming their opponents.
Using his work ethic, Dylan Hyland contributed two frees while Keith O’Neill netted a goal on the 41st minute, having intercepted a short kickout from Killian Roche. This brought the score to 1-10 against Laois’ 1-6, a score that more accurately depicted the course of the game. Offaly subsequently went for the kill.
Their second goal came just three minutes later. Eoin Carroll took possession of the ball at the midfield while Laois was advancing. Jordan Hayes seized his opportunity, breaking clear from the pursuing opponents to score an excellent goal. Both O’Neill and Hyland put more points on the scoreboard, catapulting their team to a comfortable lead of 2-13 against 1-6, all in what felt like a split second.
They secured the match professionally from this point. They held a strong defence while simultaneously landing quick counterattacks. The match could have ended with an even greater score disparity as late goal opportunities from Rory Egan and Peter Cunningham were missed.
The Offaly team composition was I Duffy; D Dempsey, D Hogan, L Pearson (0-1); C Egan, P Cunningham, J Furlong; E Carroll, J McEvoy; D Hyland (0-5, four frees), R McNamee (0-1), J Hayes (1-0); J Bryant (0-3, two frees), N Poland, K O’Neill (1-3). Subs – C Flynn substituted for Bryant (49m), C Farrell for Hyland, inj. (57m), J O’Brien for McEvoy (61m), R Egan for McNamee (63m), D McDaid for Pearson (64m).
In Laois’ match, K. Roche scored 0-2, both from frees, and was aided by B. Dempsey, S. Lacey, and J. Kelly in the defence. E. Buggie also helped, contributing 0-1. The line-up also included M. Timmons, J. Lacey, K. Lillis, D. Larkin, K. Swayne, E. Lowry, and S. Fitzpatrick, who brought in 1-0. M. Barry made a contribution of 0-2, with both scores coming from frees, with E. O’Carroll adding 0-3, two from frees, and P. Kingston rounding out the team. Changes were made to the team throughout the match, with C. Heffernan replacing an injured Larkin after 10 minutes. D. O’Reilly came on for Lillis and D. Kavanagh substituted for Dempsey after the 50-minute mark, followed by N. Dunne replacing Kingston after 55 minutes and S. Fingleton taking over from Timmons after 64 minutes. The match was overseen by referee J. Henry of Mayo.