Forde floors Laois after leaving Tipp in driving seat
LAOIS keeper Enda Rowland fired 1-3 but it wasn’t enough as a Jason Forde-inspired Tipperary emerged as winners in O’Moore Park on Saturday evening.
In atrocious conditions with driving rain and a swirling wind throughout, the visitors proved too good for their hosts in what was an entertaining game in the circumstances.
Laois played the final 25 minutes with 14 men following the dismissal of Paddy Purcell but did battle on to the end – outscoring their opponents by a point during the period.
And they will rue a first half that saw them miss two goal chances and hit eight wides in comparison to Tipperary’s four.
The opening 15 minutes were evenly contested with Stephen Maher landing four points for Laois – including three fantastic efforts from play.
Forde was accurate from frees and play for the visitors while Jake Morris and Mark Kehoe also pointed to leave them 0-5 to 0-4 ahead at this point.
Laois then had a great goal chance when Maher played a diagonal ball to Jack Kelly but his low shot was saved by Tipperary keeper Brian Hogan.
And after that Laois seemed to lose their way in front of goal.
They saw another great goal chance come and go in that period too when Paddy Purcell was the architect for Willie Dunphy who once again found Hogan too good and then fluffed his lines on the rebound.
Tipperary edged on through a brace of Forde frees before they were awarded a penalty in the 23rd minute.
Morris broke through and was fouled but Enda Rowland pulled off a wonderful save to flick Forde’s shot over the bar.
However, Tipp weren’t rattled by that miss as Kehoe, Morris and
Cathal Barrett all pointed before the break.
Laois did grab late scores through Maher and keeper Rowland to leave it 0-11 to 0-7 at half-time.
Tipp raced out of the traps when play resumed with four points in the opening three minutes – two from Forde and one each via Morris and Kehoe.
Laois responded with a brace of Maher frees but any chance they had evaporated in the 45th minute when they were reduced to 14 men.
Purcell was imvolved ion an offthe-ball incident with Craig Morgan but referee Sean Cleere initially sent off Ben Conroy.
The Slieve Bloom man protested his innocence and the referee consulted with the linesman before rescinding his red card and brandishing it to Purcell instead.
Incredibly, though, Laois would have the deficit back to just three points with 50 minutes on the clock. A 65 from keeper Rowland dropped short but was misjudged by the Tipperary defence and ended up in the net.
Sub James Keyes added a point and Laois had now recovered to leave it 0-16 to 1-10. Tipperary came again though and Laois keeper Rowland had to be smart to save from Denis Maher as Forde and Kehoe added points.
James Keyes landed a second from distance though and the score read 0-19 to 1-11 with ten minutes to go.
Keyes scored again before the end but Laois needed goals and
Tipperary, who brought on Ronan Maher and Seamus Callanan near the end, were in no mood to give their opponents a lifeline.
Rowland landed a 65 and then tried for a goal with the final play from a 14-metre free but that was blocked over.
The full-time whistle sounded shortly after as Tipperary left O’Moore Park with the two points.
LAOIS: E Rowland; F Flanagan (P Dunne 56), S Downey, D Hartnett; P Delaney, L O’Connell, R Mullaney; F C-Fennell (A Corby 69), J Kelly; P Purcell, J Lennon (J Keyes 49), R King (C Comerford 53); B Conroy, W Dunphy (J Walshe 49), S Maher.
SCORERS: Stephen Maher 0-8 (5f), Enda Rowland 1-3 (1-1 65, 2fs), James Keyes 0-3
TIPPERARY: B Hogan; C Barrett, J Quigley, C Morgan; D Quirke, S Kennedy, B Heffernan (R Maher 67); A Flynn (P Cadell 65), M Breen; D McCormack, J Forde, G Browne; M Kehoe (S Callanan 69), D Maher (P Flynn), J Morris (C Stakelum 46).
SCORERS: Jason Forde 0-11 (6fs, 1 pen), M Kehoe 0-4, J Morris 0-3, M Breen 0-2, Cathal Barrett 0-1.
REfEREE: Sean Cleere (Kilkenny).