Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
LAKE SUNK BY LAOIS..
0-27
LAOIS have retained their National Hurling League Division One status after a pulsating three-point win over a Westmeath side who had Aaron Craig sent off with five minutes to go in the opening half.
PJ Scully starred with 17 points as the home side battled back from being six down with 16 minutes to play to edge a thriller.
The first-half was a frantic affair. Laois went into an early 0-4 to 0-1 lead with Charles Dwyer to the fore but Westmeth roared back into the game with Niall O’Brien and Killian Doyle pulling the strings and it was Doyl’s third point on 15 minutes that put Westmeath into a 0-6 to 0-5 lead.
Westmeath went on to hit eight successive scores in a real purple patch and Laois looked in real trouble trailing 0-14 to 0-6 with nine minutes left in the half.
A Ross King goal brought them back into the game and when Westmeath wing back Aaron Craig was sent off five minutes before the break, the Laois tails were up.
Ciaran Doyle grabbed the last score of the half for Westmeath as they went in leading 0-18 to 1-9.
Laois made early headway into the lead at the start of the second half with three points on the spin but with Niall O’Brien in sensational form for Westmeath, they began to find their feet again and were back dictacting the game and led by six points with 16 minutes to play.
Laois came out with men possessed after the water break and went on a scoring rampge firing over the next seven scores, five of which from PJ Scully as they suddenly moved into a 1-22 to 0-24 lead with seven minutes to go.
Westmeath got it back level but it looked as if Laois had the game wrapped up with two late Jack Kelly points before an injury time penalty for Westmeath had the crowd on edge. Derek McNicholas blazed the penalty over the bar while Scully landed his 17th point of the game to close out the scoring.
LAOIS: E Rowland; D Hartnett, M Whelan, S Downey; P Delaney, C McEvoy, F C Fennell; J Keyes, J Kelly 0-2; P Purcell 0-1, C Dwyer 0-3, C Collier; W Dunphy 0-2, PJ Scully 0-17 (10f & 0-4 ‘65), R King 1-2. Subs: A Dunphy for C Collier (27), J Ryan for M Whelan (ht), C Comerford for J Keyes (58), E Gaughan for A Dunphy (70), J Lennon for P Purcell (70+4)
WESTMEATH: