Sport

Galway made to work hard for their points

Galway 2-17 Laois 2-13: Galway had a harder than expected victory over Laois at Portlaoise yesterday.

Mon Mar 28 2005 - 01:00

Galway 2-17 Laois 2-13: Galway had a harder than expected victory over Laois at Portlaoise yesterday.

They got off to a great start after Ger Farragher had scored two points in the opening five minutes but the home side replied with three in a row from James Young.

Then in the space of two and a half minutes both sides scored a goal, the first coming to Laois after nine and a half minutes from Damian Culleton.

Then from the puck-out Galway's Farragher scored from close range. The Westerners then had points from Farragher and Damian Hayes to lead 1-6 to 1-4 after 25 minutes.

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Midway through the opening half, Laois lost defender Michael McEvoy through a yellow card and then just before half-time they were dealt a further blow when Damian Culleton limped off.

In the closing 10 minutes of the half Farragher added three further Galway points, Richie Murray added another and two frees from James Young left the half-time score Galway 1-10 Laois 1-5.

The second-half produced some excellent hurling which saw Laois starting brightly.

They had three early points, two from Young and one from play by Kenneth Coonan to narrow the gap at the end of the first quarter.

Galway introduced substitute Niall Healy and with his first touch he scored a goal.

Laois responded with points from Young and then a marvellous goal from full forward Mark Rooney, followed by a point from substitute Joe Phelan to narrow the margin to a single point with 10 minutes remaining.

However, that was as good as it got for the Laois side and in the closing five minutes Galway pulled way as substitute Kevin Hayes, his brother Damian, and Ritchie Murray added three points.

Laois now face a relegation battle with Down and Antrim, while Galway progress to the next phase of the league.

GALWAY: L Donoghue; D Joyce, T Óg Regan, F Moore; D Hardiman, L Hodgins, O Canning; D Collins, D Tierney; A Smith, D Forde (0-1), A -Callanan (0-1); D Hayes (0-3), G Farragher (1-8), R Murray (0-2). Subs: K Hayes (0-1) for A Callanan, N Healy (1-0) for A Smith, D Hayes for D Collins, A Kearns for R Murray (0-1), C Coen for Regan.

LAOIS: T Mullaney; B Campion, P Cuddy, M McEvoy; J Fitzpatrick, S Dwyer, P Mahon; J Young (0-11), James Walsh; C Coonan (0-1), J Rowney, L Tynan; E Jackman, M Rooney (1-0), D Culleton (1-0). Subs: C Brophy for Culleton, J Phelan (0-1) for Brophy, A Delaney for Tynan, John Walsh for Jackman.

YELLOW CARDS: Laois: M McEvoy (18 mins).

Referee: John McDonnell (Tipperary)