Gearoid Hegarty and Shane Dowling do the damage as Limerick run riot

Limerick 6-33 Laois 1-19: Limerick ran riot in O’Moore Park on Saturday night, as they hammered Laois by 27 points.

Gearoid Hegarty was the star of the show for the visitors, hitting 2-6 from play, while Shane Dowling added another 1-8 in his first start of the season.

Saturday night’s fare started at a frantic pace, with both teams sharing six points in five minutes, with Hegarty for Limerick and Aaron Dunphy for Laois getting two apiece.

The impressive Hegarty set up Kyle Hayes for the opening goal as Limerick came forward in waves.

Points from Cha Dwyer and Aaron Dunphy had Laois trailing by four points 1-7 to 0-6 after 18 minutes.

ut eventually the relentless Limerick pressure would tell and goals began to flow with Shane Dowling and Kyle Hayes finding the net to help Limerick lead 3-14 to 0-10 by the break.

The opening stages of the second half were evenly contested, and Laois gave themselves a glimmer of hope when Neil Foyle was fouled for a penalty which goalkeeper Enda Rowland converted.

Limerick hit back in ruthless fashion. Colin Ryan and Gearoid Hegarty fired to the net in quick succession, and the rest of the game became a procession towards a Limerick victory.

Laois rarely threatened after that, and Hegarty got Limerick’s sixth goal with five minutes left.

Scorers for Limerick:

S Dowling 1-8 (6f), G Hegarty 2-6, K Hayes 2-2, P Casey 0-4, R Lynch 0-4 (2f), C Ryan 1-1, W O’Donoghue 0-3, J Ryan 0-2, D Hannon, D Morrissey, P Ryan 0-1 each.

Scorers for Laois:

R King 0-6 (4f, 65), C Dwyer 0-5 (1 sl), A Dunphy 0-4, E Rowland 1-0 pen, B Conroy 0-2f, N Foyle, W Dunphy 0-1 each.

LAOIS:

E Rowland; C Healy, L Bergin, D Palmer; S Downey, P Purcell, R Mullaney; C Taylor, B Conroy; A Dunphy, C Dwyer, P Whelan; W Dunphy, N Foyle, R King.

Subs:

A Corby for Whelan (49), E Killeen for Mullaney (57), E Doyle for Downey (59), S Bergin for Conroy (65), P Keating for Taylor (70).

LIMERICK:

B Hennessy; S Cahill, R English, S Finn; S Hickey, D Hannon, D Morrissey; D O’Donovan, W O’Donoghue; S Dowling, G Hegarty, J Ryan; K O’Brien, K Hayes, C Ryan.

Subs:

D Byrnes for Hannon (24, inj), T Condon for Finn (41, inj), P Casey for O’Brien (47), R Lynch for Dowling (47), P Ryan for O’Donovan (50)

Referee:

Brian Gavin (Offaly)