Louth 3-8

Laois 1-9

Ryan Burns bagged 2-3 as Louth sprung a surprise on 14-man Laois at Croke Park to register their first win in Division 3 of the Allianz Football League.

Laois came into the game on the back of a superb first round win away to Down, but were rocked by the concession of three goals inside the opening 15 minutes. Things went from bad to worse for John Sugrue's men when Kieran Lillis received a straight red card in the 20th minute following an off-the-ball incident involving Sam Mulroy, who was issued with a yellow card by Dublin referee Barry Tiernan.

Veteran forward Ross Munnelly scored 1-6 for the O'Mooremen, but they left themselves with too much to do as Louth put the disappointment of last Sunday's loss to a depleted Longford behind them in impressive fashion.

After Munnelly and Burns had traded early points, the Wee County took control with three goals in a devastating seven-minute spell from Burns (two) and Conor Early. Burns' second goal came from a penalty which had been awarded for a foot-block by Stephen Attride.

Despite going down to 14 men, Laois hit back with an injury-time penalty goal from Munnelly after Colm Murphy was fouled to trail by just four points at the interval, 1-6 to 3-4.

Last year's Division 4 champions brought on Donie Kingston and Evan O’Carroll for the second half, but they couldn't take advantage of a black card for Andy McDonnell in the 47th minute (Conor Early was also black-carded late in the first half) as Wayne Kierans' charges stretched their lead to five points thanks to Conal McKeever.

Donie Kingston narrowed the gap from a free, but Louth held on comfortably for the win.

Louth - F Sheeky; F Donohue, E Carolan, D Corcoran; A Williams, B Duffy, J Clutterbuck; T Durnin (0-1), C Early (1-0); C Brannigan (0-1), C Downey, C McKeever (0-1); A McDonnell, S Mulroy (0-2, 1f, 1m), R Burns (2-3, 1-0pen, 0-2f). Subs: J Califf for C Early, D Byrne for R Burns, H Osborne for D Corcoran, E Duffy for A McDonnell, R Moore for C McKeever.

Laois - G Brody; D Seale, M Timmons, A Campion; S Attride, R Piggott, G Dillon; J O’Loughlin, K Lillis; D O’Connor, C Boyle, S Byrne; R Munnelly (1-6, 1-0pen, 0-4f, 0-1m), C Murphy (0-1f), P Kingston. Subs: M Scully for S Byrne, C Begley for M Scully, E O’Carroll for D O’Connor, D Kingston (0-2, 1f) for D Seale, M Barry for R Munnelly, P Cahillane for C Murphy.

Referee - B Tiernan.

Tweet

Most Read Stories