A good first half fails to spur Garden on

at Greystones A good first half, a not so good second half. Wicklow led by a point at half-time but an early 2-01 blitz in the first five minutes of the second half gave Laois a six-point lead that they never relinquished.

There were positives, and the score line flatters Laois a little bit. Seanie Furlong made a welcome return to the Wicklow starting team and though he was often double or triple marked he took his goal well and kicked a couple of difficult frees in the second half.

The defence were strong in the first half, keeping Laois out around the 45 much of the time and frustrating their attack. Stephen Kelly played as a sweeper until his substitution and the extra man back limited space for Laois while the midfield and half forward line helped out too.

The tackling was good in the opening period and Wicklow turned over a lot of ball but their shooting was quite poor when they got forward and they amassed eight first half wides.

They were also comprehensively beaten around midfield. Mark Jackson tried a number of different kick out options but time after time it was caught or won by a Laois player.

Ambrose Doran got the first score of the game within 90 seconds with a brilliant point on his left foot from a tough angle but then Wicklow have a very good spell and played the better football. They invited Laois before turning over possession and attacking in numbers. They created three scoring opportunities but couldn’t hit the target – Furlong, Mark Jackson with a free and John McGrath the guilty trio. Furlong also had a goal chance saved by Laois’ Eoghan Keogh.

The ball moved down the other end of the field following McGrath’s wide and Brendan Kennedy was a little too enthusiastic going for a ball fouling Gary Walsh in the process to give Laois an easy second. Kennedy however more than made amends for that by getting forward to kick Wicklow’s opening score a minute later.

The goal threat that materialised in the second half was always there though for Laois and Mark Jackson pulled off the first of two very good saves in the first half in the twelfth minute.

Stephen Kelly and Ciaran Hyland uncharacteristically jumped for the same ball and gifted it to Paul Kingston with only Jackson to beat, which he couldn’t. A real let off for Wicklow as Walsh kicked the 45 wide.

Ruairi O’Connor had a very good game for Laois and gave Ross O’Brien a tough time, especially in the first half. He kicked Laois’ third point when he carved through the Wicklow defence and tapped the ball over the bar. Laois had begun to take control of the game but Furlong’s goal came

at just the right time to stop their momentum.

Laois tried to play the ball out of their defence but were intercepted and the ball was quickly played to McGrath. He drew the last defender and Furlong made no mistake against Keogh in the goal. It was 1-01 to 3 points after 15 minutes.

Both teams kicked a wide each before David Boothman added Wicklow’s second but Laois replied with three unanswered points, Doran and O’Connor doing the damage to retake the lead.

That was followed with another period of good Wicklow play, between the 20th and 30th minute Wicklow scored two points and kicked four wides to Laois’ single wide.

The defence was efficient in limiting the Laois attack but many of the wides were long distance, high risk desperation efforts.

Following the last wide Wicklow were once again reminded of the Laois threat as Jackson pulled off another point blank save to deny Jamie Farrell.

Gary Walsh converted 45 and the game was level, seven points to 1-04 coming close to the half time break.

Wicklow finished the half with a free from Furlong when Rory Finn was pushed in the back after taking a shot and the free was awarded on the 14 metre line.

All of the positives in the first half were quickly wiped out in the second half.

The Laois midfield easily won the throw in, again, and moved the ball around the 65 for a couple of passes before launching it into the square. Ruairi O’Connor won it and Mark Jackson was beaten. Doran followed with a point and then, just like Wicklow’s goal, Laois intercepted a poor pass inside the Wicklow 45 and Gary Walsh almost burst the netting.

Forty minutes on the clock and Laois led by 2-08 to 1-05. John McGrath had an easy free to peg a point back but pulled his shot wide. He had a poor game and kicked five wides. He will be unlikely to play as badly again.

The teams converted five placed balls between them in the next 10 minutes, Wicklow with three of those points.

As Furlong kicked the last free to reduce the deficit to five a Wicklow defender lay prone on the pitch. After consulting with his umpire the referee sent off Ambrose Doran for the off the ball incident.

Five points down with an extra man and 20 minutes to play a couple of Wicklow points could have made for an exciting finish but they never came. Wickow squandered a couple of chances whereas Laois didn’t and scored seven points to comfortably win the match.

Darren Hayden was sent off near the end when the teams engaged in a melee following a tough challenge on one of the Wicklow players.

It wasn’t entirely clear what he did but the referee and his linesmen saw something to warrant the red card.

There were positives in the performance but not enough.

Against lower level opposition Wicklow won’t concede too much, unfortunately finding the scores could prove difficult.

Scorers – Laois: Ruairi O’Connor (3f) 1-06; Gary Walsh (0-02 45) 1-04; Ambrose Doran 0-03; Sean Ramsbottom 0-02; Jamie Farrell, Ross Munnelly 0-01 each.

Wicklow: Seanie Furlong (3f) 1-03; Mark Jackson (1f), Paddy Byrne, Anthony McLaughlin, David Boothman, Brendan Kennedy 0-01 each.

Wicklow: Mark Jackson; Ciaran Hyland, Ross O’Brien, Brendan Kennedy; Darren Hayden, Jamie Snell, John Crowe; David Boothman, Anthony McLaughlin; Rory Finn, Stephen Kelly, Mark Kenny; Paddy Byrne, Seanie Furlong, John McGrath. Subs: Eoin Murtagh for Stephen Kelly (47 mins); Martin Cullen for John Crowe (57 mins); Conor Ffrench for Mark Kenny (58 mins); Mark Fitzsimons for Anthony McLaughlin (65).

Laois: Eoghan Keogh; Ciaran Lennon, Kieran Lillis, Gareth Dillon; Darren Strong, Alan Farrell, Colm Begley; Kevin Meaney, Donie Kingston; Jamie Farrell, Ambrose Doran, Matthew Campion; Ruairi O’Connor, Gary Walsh, Paul Kingston. Subs: Cormac Murphy for Matthew Campion (10 mins); Ross Munnelly for Jamie Farrell, Stephen Attride for Gareth Dillon (both HT); Sean Ramsbottom for Donie Kingston (46 mins); Jamie Farrell for Kevin Meaney 66).

Referee: James King (Dublin)