Clare 1-25 Laois 1-15:After losing away to Galway a week ago in their opening game, Clare collected their first league points, when they easily overcame Laois by 10 points at Scariff yesterday.
Played in the home town of team manager Mike McNamara, this game was dominated by the hosts, apart for a short spell in the opening half, when Laois took the lead during a purple patch. Overly dependent on free-taker James Young for scores, the visitors succumbed to a powerful Clare scoring flurry late in the half, and were left to play catch up for the entire second period.
Clare got off to a flying start with two early points from centre-forward Fergal Lynch, but found themselves on the wrong side of a 0-4 to 0-3 score-line by the 12th minute. Young added a point from a 45-metre free to put two between them, before Clare reasserted themselves and outscored their opponents by 10 points to one over the last quarter hour.
They led by 0-14 to 0-7 at the break and the performance of Colin Lynch at midfield, the entire half-back line and Mark Flaherty and Tony Carmody up front meant that Laois were on the back foot once they relinquished the lead.
As the second-half unfolded, the home side furthered the lead with two Flaherty points and when the young Killanena clubman rattled the net with an unstoppable shot in the 52nd minute, the game was up for the visitors.
Flaherty's goal gave Clare a 1-19 to 0-9 cushion, but Laois, with an never-say-die attitude, got a goal of their own moments later. James Young delivered a 20-metre free past the Clare defence on the goal-line but it was no more than a consolation score.
Though it's early days yet, Clare appear to have unearthed a scoring forward in Mark Flaherty. Yesterday the corner-forward tallied 1-12 and in Salthill the previous Sunday he scored 3-8.
CLARE: P Brennan; T Keogh, D Clancy, F Lohan; J McInerney, C Plunkett, P Donlon; C Lynch (0-3), B O'Connell; T Carmody (0-3), F Lynch (0-3), J Clancy; N Gilligan, B Nugent (0-2), M Flaherty (1-12, 0-8 frees, 0-2 65s). Subs: P Vaughan for McInerney (29 mins), G Arthur for J Clancy (52 mins), M Murphy (0-1) for F Lynch (57 mins), C Lafferty (0-1) for Carmody (65 mins).
LAOIS: P Mullaney; J Walsh, M Whelan, J A Delaney; C Coonan, J Phelan, C Dunne; J Fitzpatrick, D McGill; W Hyland (0-1), J Young (1-10, 1-6 frees, 0-2 frees), Z Keenan (0-2); J Brophy (0-1), T Fitzgerald (0-1), N Holmes. Subs: J Dooley for McGill (half-time), S Hanlon for Brophy (48 mins), B McEvoy for Holmes (48 mins).
Referee: M Haverty (Galway).
