Louth 1-10 Laois 1-6: "My mind is boggled," said Justin McNulty when he eventually emerged from a Laois dressing room that might just need a new coat of paint this morning. And well was the boggle earned. Before yesterday, Louth were without a championship win over Laois since 1992. Before yesterday, Laois had the makings of a run to the Leinster final stretching out before them. No longer.
Louth routed McNulty’s side here with untrammelled gusto, putting in an afternoon of dynamism that at times looked like a concept alien to their opponents. They were quicker to everything, smarter in possession and in Brian White and Shane Lennon they had the forwards to cash in on the admirable toil out on the pitch.
On top of this, they looked better coached. When the game up for grabs early on, they ran rehearsed plays off their own kick-outs and managed to get a man free each time. Be it Paddy Keenan or Brian Donnelly, Andy McDonnell or Adrian Reid, goalkeeper Neil Gallagher invariably hit a red shirt as he pleased.
It left the Laois midfield bamboozled. It wasn’t so much that they didn’t know what to do, it was that they didn’t imagine they’d have to deal with such complexity. All told, Aidan O’Rourke bested his old Armagh defensive partner with a bit to spare.
"I expected to win the game now to be honest," said O'Rourke. "I knew if we got the bounce of the ball and if things went our way that we could win the game comfortably. I probably believed that in fairness, but I didn't believe that we would catch Laois on a day when they were not themselves and were so far off their game. We definitely benefited from that."
Lack of fight
He had a point when it came to Laois being off their game. There was a glaring lack of fight in the home side's performance. Not only that, they jigged and reeled fairly close to the edge of the disciplinary line at times: any one of four high tackles could have earned a red card before John O'Loughlin saw a second yellow near the end. All told, their half-backs scored more from play than their six forwards. Maybe most damning of all, Laois only kicked five wides the whole afternoon. Dismal stuff.
Louth never let them into the game. The excellent White kicked a free, a 45 and a curling point from play, all inside the first seven minutes. And just in case Laois thought that was the extent of the Louth threat, Lennon got a couple of his own soon after.
Twenty minutes in, Louth were 0-7 to 0-2 ahead; though they had the wind at their backs it was obvious Laois were going to need more than a change of ends to get back into it.
That was even before the Louth goal arrived. In a bid to keep the ball away from the indomitable Keenan, Laois goalkeeper Eoin Culliton played a short one to Pádraig McMahon on 21 minutes. When the Laois defender stumbled over it, Derek Maguire picked his pocket and sprinted for goal.
Maguire took it right to the endline before squaring for Lennon who was borderline in the square before the ball was released. Nonetheless, the goal was given and Louth were 1-7 to 0-2 to the good. Game over in all but name with 50 minutes left on the clock.
Laois did score the opening two points of the second half. Donie Kingston came into matters a bit more at full-forward and ended the day with two fine scores to his name.
But White was impeccable for Louth and his five second-half points – including two wondrous 45s into the wind – were enough to discourage any thoughts of a comeback. Louth have Wexford on the next rung up the ladder. In this mood, they will boggle a few more minds before the summer’s out.
LOUTH: N Gallagher; P Rath, D Finnegan, J Bingham (0-1); J O'Brien, D Crilly, A Reid (0-1); P Keenan (0-1), B Donnelly (0-1); A McDonnell, B White (0-8, 0-3 45, 0-2 frees), C Rafferty; C Byrne, S Lennon (1-3, 0-1 free), D Maguire. Subs: P Smith for Rafferty, 38 mins; K Rogers (0-1) for Byrne, 56 mins; C Judge for Maguire, 65 mins; R Carroll for McDonnell, 67 mins; C McGuinness for Finnegan, 72 mins. Yellow card: Lennon.
LAOIS: E Culliton; M Timmons, D Booth, P O'Leary; D Strong (0-1), J O'Loughlin, P McMahon (1-0); C Boyle, B Quigley; R Munnelly, D Kingston (0-2), C Begley; D O'Connor, G Walsh (0-3, all frees), C Kelly. Subs: C Meredith for O'Connor, half-time; K Meaney for Quigley, 45 mins; P Clancy for Kelly, 48 mins; K Lillis for Strong, 55 mins; P Begley for Timmons, 69 mins. Yellow cards: O'Loughlin (2), Strong, McMahon, Walsh; Red card: O'Loughlin.
Referee: Cormac Reilly (Meath).
