Flying Laois take Offaly apart in one sided derby clash

OFFALY'S worse fears materialised as they were the recipients of a very heavy, ugly beating by neighbours Laois in the Leinster Minor Hurling Championship preliminary quarter-final at Portlaoise on Saturday evening.

Leinster Minor Hurling Championship preliminary quarter-final

Laois 7-23

Offaly 0-13

The suspicion that this would be a bridge too far for Offaly proved to be very well founded but it was much worse than feared as Laois ripped them asunder and had the game in the bag when they led by 5-13 to 0-8 at half time.

Laois had the wind advantage in the first half but that doesn't explain the huge chasm between the teams. Offaly operated a sweeper system with centre back Oisin Carroll the loose man in defence. As often happens in these cases, the Laois spare man, full back Tony Mahony cleaned up, cutting out a large volume of ball and delivering pinpoint clearances.

Oisin Carroll did reasonably well in the role asked of him but too often Laois were able to bypass him and open up the Offaly defence. The Offaly management obviously knew about the threat of the Laois attack and they really destroyed the visiting defence. All six forwards had scored from play by the 33^rd minute with Daniel Jones, Tom Og Phelan, Eoin Delaney and Conor Headen inflicting fatal damage.

Jones got 3-1 in the first half and we knew the writing was on the wall from his first goal in the fifth minute when Philip Larkin stood back, he nipped out in front and his shot was almost saved by James Carroll but just crept across the line. That gave Laois a 1-2 to 0-1 lead and Offaly battled hard for a few minutes before the game quickly slipped out of their reach.

The defence came up against a very slick, sharp attack but were too loose and didn't work hard enough. The goals just came way too easily with Jones getting his second in the eight minute to make it 2-2 to 0-3. Laois looked like they would get in for a goal almost every time they attacked and they left a couple of goals behind them in the first half,

You had to feel sorry for goalkeeper James Carroll who regularly saw players running in on him but managed to remain alert and focused. It was 2-7 to 0-4 when Dan Downey got Laois' third goal in the 17^th minute, Jones completed his hat trick in the 21^st minute and Tom Og Phelan added to the first half tale of woe with a fifth in the 29^th minute.

Offaly's problems were not in defence alone as raiders frequently attacked from defence and midfield. Scores were scarce as they only managed three points from play in the first half and it was the 29^th minute when Macdara Mitchell ended Odhran Fletcher's lone scoring streak.

There were times when Laois were close to taking the you know what with players flicking the ball over the head of opponents and running onto take the return themselves. It was that sort of evening for Offaly and it didn't get much better in the second half.

With a twenty point interval lead, Laois simply couldn't lose this one and they outscored Offaly by 2-10 to 0-5 in the second half. Conor Headen got their sixth goal just a minute after the restart and their seventh from the brilliant Eoin Delaney with six minutes left really summed up Offaly's day. Delaney was on his own with three defenders and the goalkeeper in close to him when a ball dropped in from out on the wing. He was able to get out in front to win the ball with alarming ease, make space and fire to the net.

It was a further reflection of Offaly's display that they couldn't manufacture and never looked like getting a consolation goal, despite dispensing with the sweeper and pushing more players forward as Laois remained utterly dominant.

Platitudes about Offaly's display are pointless and would mean absolutely nothing. The scoreline says it all and it was an accurate reflection of the teams. Suffice to say that that the despondency about the prospects of this team all year were well founded, it would be most unhelpful for people to put the boot into them and full marks to the players and management who worked hard at trying to improve things and did not go out to suffer a beating like this.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Tony Mahony (Laois): It would be very easy to go with Eoin Delaney, Daniel Jones, who was called ashore after 39 minutes, or a Laois forward but my choice is Tony Mahony. He gave them a powerful platform as a spare man at the back in the first half and while it was easy to prosper in this role, his reading of the game and astute distribution caught the eye. He continued to defend well when marking a man in the second half as Laois turned in an excellent all round display.

THE SCORERS

Laois: Eoin Delaney 1-7, Daniel Jones 3-1, Tom Og Phelan 1-6 (4f), Conor Headen 1-3, Dan Downey 1-0, Matt Cunningham 0-2, Tony Mahony, Daniel Whelan, LJ Cuddy, Oisin Gilligan 0-1 each.

Offaly: Odhran Fletcher 0-10 (8f), Sean Finlay, Macdara Mitchell and Edward Carty 0-1 each.

THE TEAMS

OFFALY: James Carroll (Birr); Sean Finlay (Tullamore), Jason Donoghue (Tullamore), Philip Larkin (Coolderry); Jack O'Donoghue (Kilcormac-Killoughey), Oisin Carroll (Kilcormac/Killoughey), Eamon Maher (Ferbane); Darragh Phelan (Ballyskenach-Killavilla), Sean Walshe (Coolderry); Jack Dunican (Kilcormac-Killoughey), Adam Martin (Tullamore), Macdara Mitchell (Kilcormac/Killoughey); Aaron Screeney (Kilcormac/Killoughey), Odhran Fletcher (Kilcormac/Killoughey), Ruari Woods (Belmont). Subs – Barry Bennett (Birr) for Larkin (15m), Harry O'Sullivan (Carrig-Riverstwon) for Phelan (HT), Fiachra Carroll (Kilcormac-Killoughey) for Martin (HT), Edward Carty (Birr) for Woods (38m), Callum Connolly (Coolderry) for Walshe (38m).

LAOIS: Odhran Cuddy; Liam O'Keeffe, Tony Mahony, Eoin Holland; Donnacha Carroll, Kyle Handcock, Callum Jones; Dan Downey, Aaron Fitzpatrick; Conor Headen, Daniel Whelan, Matt Cunningham; Eoin Delaney, Tom Og Phelan, Daniel Jones. Subs – Oisin Gilligan for Callum Jones (39m), LJ Cuddy for Daniel Jones (39m), Frank McGovern for Fitzpatrick (39m), CJ Brennan for Headen (48m), Conor McDonagh for Phelan (53m), Luke Hynes for Holland (57m).

Referee – Richard Holland.

REFEREE WATCH

Richard Holland was not a factor in the result at all and he was an anonymous figure. As often happens in a one sided game like this, there were times when he didn't do Offaly any harm but it wasn't enough to frustrate Laois.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Daniel Jones' first goal in the fifth minute told both Offaly and Laois a lot and the outcome was a foregone conclusion from early.

VENUE WATCH

The O'Moore Park pitch looked good with the sunshine helping and the fixture was well hosted.

WHAT'S NEXT

Laois go into the quarter-final against a tier 1 team.

STATISTICS

Wides: Offaly – 10 (6 in first half); Laois – 10 (3 in first half).

Yellow cards: 0

Red cards: 0