LAOIS 1-11, WEXFORD 0-14. Penalties: Laois 4, Wexford 3 Report: Brian Lowry, Photos Noel Reddy
Laois played against the strong breeze in the opening half but they were first off the mark. After early missed chances from both sides, Kieran O’Donnell stroked over a free to get the Laois men going. They were 0-2 to 0-0 ahead on eight minuts after Emo’s David Costello split the posts.
Laois had the lions share of possession but unforced errors in the final third of the field were letting them down. They also picked up three yellow cards in the opening 13 minutes with Darren Mulhall, Aodhan Lowry and Cathal Lee all going into the book.
It took Wexford 15 minutes to open their account when full forward Kyle Rankin floated over the bar at the Abbeyleix end. Kieran O’Donnell added another free just before the water break for the Laois men to take a 0-3 to 0-1 lead.
Wexford were level by the 20 minute mark as Cian Hughes and Rankin found their range.
The second quarter was indeed a period to forget for the Laois men. Wexford stole a march on the scoreboard while Kieran O’Donnell was wayward at the other end with a couple of very scoreable frees.
It got worse for Laois in the 30th minute when Laois wing forward Jack Byrne was sent off on a straight red card. Byrne had won a free but retaliated with a Wexford defender and on the advice of the linesman on the stand side, referee Stephen Regan brandished the red card to add to their three yellow cards racked up.
Trailing 0-6 to 0-3 at half time, Laois had it all to do in the second half with 14 men.
Laois were forced into a change at half time with Aodhan Lowry on a yellow card and a ticking, the Laois management hadn’t much choice but to replace him with Conor Fitzpatrick coming on in his place.
The bad luck continued to follow Laois when Wexford corner back Dylan Cooke-Leonard’s shot was given as a score by the umpires at the town end. Linesman Marius Stones, who had the perfect view, appeared to argue to case that it was wide with the referee but the score was given and Wexford went into a 0-7 to 0-3 lead.
Kyle Rankin stretched that lead even further with another free and even with 22 minutes to go, Laois had the look of a beaten docket.
Laois were then reduced to 13 men on 42 minutes when Cathal Lee walked on their second straight red card of the day.
Laois did get themselves back into the game through two Kieran O’Donnell frees and with 15 minutes to go, they trailed 0-8 to 0-5.
Laois gained further ground when Sean Brennan kicked over a super score from distance before Cormac Murphy also landed a rousing score to leave only a point in it at the second half water break – 0-8 to 0-7.
It was now a din dong battle and 13 man Laois had their tails up. It stayed 0-8 to 0-7 until the 59th minute when Cormac Murphy landed his second of the day and the equalising score.
With two minutes of injury time on the clock, substitute Daniel McGrath floated over the bar to give Laois the lead with time almost up.
There was to be more drama though, with Wexford winning a 21m free with 63 minutes on the clock that Kyle Rankin converted to level the game at 0-9 each.
Wexford had a chance to win it with the last kick of the game but Cathal Murphy’s attempt from a mark drifted wide and we were set for extra time.
Laois returned to their full compliment of 15 for extra time with Patrick Whelan and John O’Shea joining the fray.
Kieran O’Donnell kicked Laois in front early doors before adding another free on 76 minutes to give them an 0-11 to 0-9 cushion at half time in extra time.
Laois looked to have put the game to bed in the 84th minute when Conor Fitzpatrick fed Cormac Murphy and the St Joseph’s man made no mistake in finding the net from the tightest of angles to make it 1-11 to 0-10 with six minutes to go.
Wexford added three late points to leave just a point between them before Wexford were awarded the softest of frees that Darby Purcell converted to complete an unlikely comeback for Wexford and force penalties.
WEXFORD Scorers: Kyle Rankin 0-5 (0-4f), Cian Hughes 0-2, Darby Purcell 0-3, Cathal Murphy, Tomas Mythen, Dylan Cooke-Leonard and Eoin Whelan 0-1 each.
Penalties: Tomas Mythen, Cillian Twomey, Eoin Whelan
Team: Eoin Blanchfield; Ruairi Martin, Conor Kelly, Dylan Cooke-Leonard; James Doyle, Cathal Murphy, Andrew Smyth; Sean Hughes, Eoin Whelan; Cian Hughes, Darby Purcell, Michael McGonigle; Ben Rossiter, Kyke Rankin, Daniel Bolger. Subs: Cathal Murphy for Daniel Bolger (ht), Brendan Bolger for Ben Rossiter (45), Tomas Mythen for Sean Hughes (70), Jack Hennessy for Dylan Cooke-Leonard (70), Jack Morris for Klye Rankin (80), Joe Devlin for Cian Hughes (85)
LAOIS
Scorers: Cormac Murphy 1-2, Kieran O’Donnell 0-6 frees, Sean Brennan, David Costello and Daniel McGrath 0-1 each.
Penalties: Conor Brown, Aaron Dorgan, Cormac Murphy, Daniel McGrath,
Team: Conor Brown; Ciaran Culleton, Ryan Quinlan, Darragh Slevin; Killian Byrne, Aaron Dorgan, Cormac Murphy; Sean Brennan, Aodhan Lowry; Darren Mulhall, Jesse McEvoy, Jack Byrne; Cathal Lee, Kieran O’Donnell, David Costello. Subs: Conor Fitzpatrick for Aodhan Lowry (ht), Daniel McGrath for Darren Mulhall (45), Cale Brennan for David Costello (58), Patrick Whelan for Jesse McEvoy (blood), John O’Shea and Patrick Whelan (on at start of extra time to bring back to 15 players), Aodhan Lowry for Sean Brennan (inj 76), Conor Harte for Ryan Quinlan (79), Fergus Langton for Kieran O’Donnell (85)
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