Mahony runs riot as Laois rue lack of discipline
PAURIC Mahony scored 114 as Waterford revelled in the space provided by the sending off of Charlie Palmer to put Laois to the sword in the final quarter.
Laois made it difficult initially but a lack of discipline in their shooting, and in their tackling, hindered them. When Palmer was sent off in the 49th minute, the hosts were finally able to cut loose.
Waterford looked sharper early on but found it hard to break down the Laois defensive structure, which had a sweeper and a number of other players flooding the middle, often leaving Tommy Fitzgerald to fend for himself against two or three Waterford defenders.
The teams were level seven times in a very tight first half, with the majority of scores coming from placed balls, via the sticks of Pauric Mahony and Zane Keenan.
Brian O’Halloran and Tom Devine buzzed around the place for Waterford with the former scoring a wonderful point from a tight angle early on, in response to a wonder score from Laois forward, Willie Hyland.
Laois relied on shooting from long distance with the wind and while Paddy Purcell, Keenan and Hyland utilised the elements well at times, the wides tally quickly totted up and Laois saw six shots go astray in the opening 15 minutes.
It was 0-8 apiece with five minutes left in the opening half but Waterford began to start finding little gaps and Mahony converted frees either side of a fabulous score from Austin Gleeson to make it 0-11 to 0-8 at half time.
The margin was five when Palmer got his marching orders and within seconds, former minor star Shane Bennett was rocketing a shot beyond the excellent Eoin Rowland.
Mahony kept the scoreboard ticking over and was set up by ‘Brick’ Walsh for a 59th minute goal as they put hapless Laois to the sword and a second defeat in two games in Division 1B.
Thomas Connors came on for Mahony and had netted Waterford’s third goal within 20 seconds of his introduction. Waterford: S O’Keeffe, S Fives (P Prendergast 50), B Coughlan, N Connors, T de Búrca, A Gleeson, Philip Mahony, J Barron, Pauric Mahony (T Connors 64), K Moran, M Walsh, B O’Halloran, S Bennett (D Breathnach 59), T Devine (S O’Sullivan 45), M Kearney (J Dillon h-t). Scorers: Pauric Mahony 1-14(9fs); S Bennett 1-1; T Connors 1-0; A Gleeson, D Breathnach 0-2 each; B O’Halloran 0-1, M Walsh 0-1 LaoiS: E Rowland, J A Delaney, C Healy, B Stapleton, J Fitzpatrick, M Whelan, D Palmer, Z Keenan, P Purcell, W Hyland, J Campion (PJ Scully h-t), C Dwyer, S Maher (inj C Stapleton 27, C Dunne 52), T Fitzgerald (J Purcell 65), R King (B Conroy h-t). Scorers: Z Keenan 0-9(fs); W Hyland, R King, P Purcell 0-1 each referee: D Kirwan (Cork)