Clare avalanche overcomes Laois

Clare 7-19 Laois 2-15

An avalanche of scoring at the Gaelic Grounds saw Clare emerge victorious over a lacklustre Laois side, with the twin-pronged attack of Niall Gilligan and Tony Griffin grabbing six goals and 11 points between them.

These sides' only previous championship meeting was back in 1914 when they shared six goals but they went better in this qualifier curtain raiser.

Clare who were a changed side from the one which went out so meekily to Waterford in the Munster championship.

Laois skipper David Cuddy did however open the scoring in the second minute, in what was their fourth outing of the summer.

The Banner men clicked into gear with Gilligan finding his range with the first two points of a 4-03 unanswered run.

Indeed Clare were 4-03 to 0-01 to the good by the seventeenth minute as Ballyea forward Griffin cracked home past Kevin Galvin on 12, 13 and 16 minutes.

James Young rattled over three successive frees for Laois before the half hour, but with Gilligan (0-03), Seanie McMahon, Frank Lohan and Gerry Quinn all pointing before referee Michael Haverty's half time whistle - it was 4-09 to 1-04 for Anthony Daly's charges at the break.

The elusive runs of Tommy Fitzgerald had given Laois hope with a late injury time goal in the first half, latching onto a Damien Culleton pass, and the Portlaoise wingman added a second goal from a long through ball on 45 minutes.

Great as it was, it meant nothing to the game as Clare had begun the second half with as much steely determination as the first.

Gilligan picked up his second goal three minutes in, substitute Tony Carmody notched Clare's sixth on 43 minutes and a run of three points to two saw Clare 6-12 to 2-11 in front with twenty minutes remaining.

Gilligan and Griffin racked up their tallies for fun in the closing stages with Cuddy scoring three solid points and James Young also hitting a hat trick of second-half scores from placed balls.

Laois managed eight points in the final ten minutes, but Griffin's fourth goal from close range on 67 minutes sent the blue and gold happily into the next round.

Scorers:

Clare: N Gilligan 2-10 (6f), T Griffin 4-01, T Carmody 1-00, D Forde 0-03, B Murphy 0-02, F Lohan, G Quinn, S McMahon ('65) 0-01 each.

Laois: T Fitzgerald 2-01, J Young 0-06 (6f), D Cuddy 0-04, R Jones, C Cuddy, J Dunne, P Mahon 0-01 each.