Defeat for Limerick minor footballers who fall short against Laois:

Defeat for Limerick minor footballers who fall short against Laois:

By Joel Slattery Limerick Leader Sport

THE Limerick minor footballers have fallen at the first hurdle in their Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Tier 3 Football Championship campaign – losing 3-13 to 1-14 against Laois on Saturday.

Over a month since they exited the Munster Championship, the ‘Treaty’ travelled to Laois Hire O’Moore Park with the confidence that they played some good football in the provincial competition.

And, despite a bright first half where they were much the better team, a disastrous start to the second half put them on the backfoot.

Limerick started brightly and were on the board after just 30 seconds. Jamie McAuliffe kicked over after good work from Eoin Hogan created the space.

Hogan and Pierse Griffin both kicked good points from play as the visitors led 0-5 to 0-2 after 13 minutes of what was a low-key encounter at a sparsely populated Portlaoise venue.

A pair of Ollie Stokes scores before a Charlie McCarthy free and Rory O’Dwyer effort stretched the lead to seven inside 20 minutes as Garrett Noonan’s side were by far the superior side in the opening exchanges.

However, against the run of play, Laois hit back.

David Timmons finished low and hard after running 50 yards untouched. This halved the deficit with less than five minutes to go until the interval. Michael Brennan rounded off the first half scoring as, despite playing the better football, the Shannonsiders only led 0-9 to 1-4 at the change of ends.

Laois nearly had a second goal in the first minute of the second half – Eoghan Harris’ effort crashed of the post. Seconds later, Tom Lawlor’s goal-bound effort was well saved by Dean Ryan.

Sean Maree got his side off the mark in the half before Lawlor turned the game on its head.

He kicked a wonderful two-pointer before rattling a super goal to give the home side 2-7 to 0-9.

A McCarthy free got Limerick’s first score of the second half after 42 minutes – by which point Laois had added 1-5 to their first half tally.

Limerick stuck with it – points from Stokes and Hogan ensured they didn’t fall too far behind.

They reduced the gap to just two when Cian Barry – less than a minute after coming in scored a ball – smashing the ball in from the inside of the post from close range.

However, up again came Laois and when Darragh Brennan got his side’s third goal two minutes from time, Limerick’s championship hopes were shot.

Laois: Tom Lawlor 1-3 (1 x 2pt); David Timmons 1-2; Darragh Brennan 1-1; Sean Maree 0-3; Cian Murphy 0-2 (1 x 2pt); Michael Brennan, Mikey Regan 0-1 each.

Limerick: Charlie McCarthy (2pt f, 1f), Ollie Stokes (1f) 0-4 each; Cian Barry 1-0; Eoin Hogan 0-2; Jame McAuliffe, Pierse Griffin, Rory O’Dwyer, Tom Gavin (f) 0-1 each.

TEAMS
LAOIS: Mark Dowling; Nisun Balogun, Dan Downey, Darragh Brennan; Dale Heffernan, Cian Murphy, Will McGrath; Cillin Hoey, Will Craig; Tom Lawler, Sean Maree, Eoghan Harris; Michael Brennan, David Timmons, Ethan Neilon.

Subs: Mikey Hand for Ethan Neilon (36 mins); Tadhg Hughes for Sean Maree (temporary, 42-45 mins); Tadhg Hughes for Eoghan Harris (48 mins); Mikey Regan for Will McGrath (53 mins); Senan O’Brien for Sean Maree (55 mins); Billy Byrne for David Timmons (59 mins)

LIMERICK:
Dean Ryan; Luke McDermott, Aaron Murphy, Ronan Conneely; Rory O’Dwyer, Eoghan Murnane, Conor O’Dwyer; Cillian Murphy, Jamie McAuliffe; Eoin Hogan, Jack Moynihan, Ollie Stokes; Charlie McCarthy, Sean O’Flynn, Pierse Griffin.

Subs: Kevin McNamara for Jack Moynihan (43 mins); Miguel Azzopardi for Conor O’Dwyer (48 mins); Tom Gavin for Pierse Griffin (48 mins); Cian Barry for Charlie McCarthy (52 mins); Dara Doyle for Aaron Murphy (60 mins).

REFEREE: Eamon O’Connor (Offaly).