Gaelic Games

Louth set down marker as Laois put to the sword

Colin Kelly’s side hit the ground running at O’Moore Park

Paraic Smith scored one of Louth’s goals in the Allianz League victory over Laois at O’Moore Park. Photograph: Ciaran Culligan/Inpho
Paraic Smith scored one of Louth’s goals in the Allianz League victory over Laois at O’Moore Park. Photograph: Ciaran Culligan/Inpho
Sat Feb 04 2017 - 21:11

Laois 0-10 Louth 2-16

Promoted Louth got their Division Three campaign off to a flying start at O’Moore Park as they had 12 points to spare against a Laois side that dropped down from Division Two.

A decent crowd saw the visitors dominate in the opening quarter, with Ryan Burns and centre forward Paraic Smith knocking over some fine points before Smith his side's first goal after 12 minutes to put his side in front 1-3 to 0-1.

Laois improved in the second quarter adding four unanswered points to leave the half-time score 1-8 to 0-6 in favour of Colin Kelly’s charges.

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Louth picked up where they left off with points by Anthony Williams and Bevin Duffy before Andy McDonnell hammered home a second goal to wrap up the points for the visitors. To compound matters Colm Begley was sent off on a second yellow card with 13 minutes remaining.

Laois manager Peter Creedon faces a huge task to lift his charges ahead of a trip to Armagh next weekend. After losing heavily to Dublin in the final of the O'Byrne Cup, Louth made an excellent start in their bid for back-to-back promotions.

LAOIS: G Brody; A Farrell, D Booth, J Kelly; S Attride (0-1), E Buggie, C Begley; K Meaney, D Strong; D Luttrell (0-1), A Doran (0-1), N Donoher; E Lowry, D Kingston (0-5), D Conway.

Subs: G Walsh (0-1) for D Luttrell (H/T), R Munnelly for E Lowry (45 mins), D Reilly for K Meaney (50 mins), K Lillis (0-1) for D Conway (63 mins).

LOUTH: C Lynch; P Rath, P Reilly, K Carr; D Maguire, L Dullaghan, A Williams (0-2); T Durnin (0-1), A McDonnell (1-1); J Stewart, P Smith (1-4), B Duffy (0-2); R Moore (0-1), J McEnaney, R Burns (0-4).

Subs: R Holcroft for R Moore (55 mins), C McKeever for B Duffy (58 mins), S Mulroy for R Burns (60 mins), R Nally (0-1) for P Rath (62 mins),D Crilly for L Dullaghan (65 mins).