Rhode ease past Stradbally

Rhode (Offaly) 1-6 Stradbally (Laois) 0-6

Stradbally crucially lost midfielder Darragh Mulhall with a shoulder injury after four minutes, and Alan McNamee and Pascal Kellaghan had early Rhode scores before Colm Kelly opened the Laois champions’ account on 16 minutes. Rhode’s response was decisive and Niall McNamee beat keeper Darren Maher.

Rhode led 1-3 to 0-3 at the break.

They stretched their lead thanks to a long range Joe Kilmurray point, but this was cancelled out by Gary Kavanagh.

The only addition to the scoreline were Rhode points by Niall McNamee and a David Hope free, offset at the other end by a brace of pointed frees by Colm Kelly.

RHODE: C Masterson; M Cassidy, S Sullivan, B Darby; J Kilmurray (0-1), D Bannon, E Byrne; R Malone, A McNamee; M Cole, P Sullivan, D Kellaghan; P Kellaghan (0-1), D Hope (0-1), N McNamee (1-3). Subs. G Hickey for P Sullivan, N Darby for D Kellaghan.

STRADBALLY: D Maher; D Dunne, P Begley, S Lawlor; J Kavanagh, E Delaney, C Begley; D McEvoy, D Mulhall; P Langton, G Kavanagh (0-1), J Donahoe; D Murphy, C Kelly (0-5), J Kavanagh. Subs. B Mortimer for Mulhall, C Brady for Dunne, D Delaney for Donahoe, D Beale for Murphy.

Referee: P Fox (Westmeath).