Disappointing Down scuttled by hot Laois

Disappointing Down scuttled by hot Laois

IT’S another year in Division 2 for Down who scuppered their outside chance of promotion with defeat to Laois who in the process have retained their second tier status.

Down were poor in the first half and they went in at half-time nine points in arrears. An improved second half performance saw them get within four points of the winners after Laois full back Denis Booth had been sent off.

But Laois held out to grasp the two points that keeps them afloat.

David Conway opened the scoring for the hosts and further points from Donie Kingston, John O’Loughlin and Ross Munnelly put their county into an early four point lead.

All four of these scores were the direct result of Down’s mistakes and they served to dent the confidence of the visitors for the rest of the half.

On eight minutes Conor Maginn finally opened his team’s account when he cantered through the Laois defence to finish with a goal.

A period of 13 minutes then ensued without any action on the scoreboard.

This turgid period was finally extinguished when Donie Kingston fired Laois 0-5 to 1-0 ahead.

A scrappy John O’Loughlin three pointer followed with Conway tagging on another point. Down were really struggling at this juncture and this was compounded when Benny Coulter received a black card for dissent.

Ross Munnelly and Conor Meredith further extended Laois’s advantage, but Donal O’Hare tagged one back for Down against the run of play.

Just before half-time Munnelly struck for his third before a well taken 45’ from Darren Strong put Tomas O’Flatharta’s men into a commanding lead.

Laois opened the second period with the opening score through a Ross Munnelly free. Donal O’Hare struck back for Down before Ambrose Rogers set up Niall Madine for a fine point.

The in form Munnelly added another before Down squandered a goal chance after Donal O’Hare had his shot well saved by Graham Brody after being fed by Madine.

With the wind behind their backs Down rallied and two O’Hare frees, coupled with a sublime Garvey strike, had them back within seven points.

A major incident then brought the game to the life when Denis Booth clumsily upended Donal O’Hare when he was through on goal.

Booth saw red as Aidan Carr carefully dispatched the penalty to leave four points in it.

Midfielder O’Loughlin sent over as Conor Laverty and Darren Conway proceeded to trade scores. Another exchange of frees kept the contest alive and late points from Jerome Johnston and Mark Poland had three in it in injury time.

Niall Madine’s late shot was scrambled to safety as Laois held on for a huge victory which enabled them to keep their tag as a Division 2 team.

Down manager James McCartan was in no doubt that Down’s slow start cost them victory against Laois.

His side’s faint hopes of earning promotion were all but extinguished by half-time when they trailed by 1-1 to 1-10, although they did make a fight of things in the second half.

“You can’t expect to get anything out of a game when, in the first half, we couldn’t win our own primary possession,” the Down manager told the Irish News.

“It was disappointing, we were very poor and I have no excuse for the first half performance. Laois were fighting relegation and our chances of promotion were slim, and maybe that showed a bit in the first half in the attitude of the two teams which is disappointing.

“We’ll try to cling on to the crumbs of comfort that at least the second half we made a bit of a game of it and showed a wee bit of fight.”

Laois: G. Brody, P. McMahon, D. Booth, P. O’Leary, D. Strong (0-1’45), P. Begley, C. Begley, K. Meaney, J. O’Loughlin (1-2), J. Finn, C. Meredith (0-1), B. Sheehan, R. Munnelly (0-6, 1f), D Kingston (0-3, 1f), D. Conway (0-3f). Subs: D. O’Connor for B. Sheehan, R. Kehoe for C. Meredith (BC), E. O’Carroll for J. Finn, MJ Tierney for D. Conway.

Down: B. McVeigh, D. McCartan, B. McArdle, O. Costello, D. Rooney, A. Carr, (1-0 pen), C. Garvey (0-1), P. Turley, A. Rogers, C. Maginn (1-0), M. Poland (0-1f), P. Devlin, D. O’Hare (0-4, 3f), N. Madine (0-1), B. Coulter. Subs: K. McKernan for B. Coulter (BC), C. Laverty (0-1) for P. Turley, R. Boyle for D. Rooney, N. Donnelly for B. McArdle (BC) J. Johnston (0-2, 1f) for D. O’Hare.

Laois 1-16

Down 2-10

NFL DIVISION 2