Laois inflict 23-point damaging defeat on hapless Leitrim

Mark Barry of Laois. Pic: Ben Brady/Inpho

Leitrim 0-6 Laois 3-20 

Laois crushed their opponent's challenge when bouncing back to claim a runaway win over well below par Leitrim outfit in Sean O'Heslin Memorial Park in what was an extremely one sided contest.

Laois played very well from start to finish and hardly put a foot wrong over the course of the 70 minutes. The clash was a repeat of last year's Division four final at GAA headquarters where Laois won impressively.

Leitrim fielded only had two starters in Ballinamore from the side that lost to the O'Moore County in Croke Park. Laois, on the other hand, had nine of the side that the won the 2024 Division 4 title.

Leitrim, who are certainly in a rebuilding phase under new boss Steven Poacher, have much work to do and following their defeat by Clare last Sunday, are off to a difficult league start. Meanwhile, Laois manager Justin McNulty will be very happy with his side's almost faultless performance against what admittedly was a poor Leitrim side.

Eight Laois players got on the score sheet – Pa Kirwin, Kevin Swayne, Damon Larkin, Mark Barry, James Kelly, Benny Carroll, Niall Corbett, Jonah Kelly, Simoon Fingleton and Conor Brown. 

Four Leitrim players managed to register scores – Tom Prior, Keith Beirne, Keith Keegan and Darren Cox.

In the opening half Laois were certainly firing on all cylinders. The O'Moore County drew first blood when Ronan Coffey fired over two minutes into the action.

Over the next seven minutes, Laois hit three goals on the trot with Kevin Swayne, Pa Kirwan and Benny Carroll all finding the Leitrim net. The home side were certainly shell shocked by Laois's blistering start.

In the following sixteen minutes Laois continued to rule the roost with Mark Barry shooting five points with three coming from play and two from frees. Damon Larkin and Niall Corbett also added Laois points in that period.

Leitrim opened their account when Tom Prior fired over a 32nd minute point. But over the next three minutes, Laois hit back with two Mark Barry points, one from a placed ball, and one from James Kelly.

Before the break, Leitrim's Tom Prior answered with his second point of the game which left Laois leading by a whopping 3 – 12 to 0 – 2 at the interval. 

The O'Moore men stretched their advantage in the opening eleven minutes of the second half with James Kelly and Mark Barry (free) whipping over a point each.

Keith Beirne opened his account when he answered with a 49th minute Leitrim point. Laois's Pa Kirwan hit the only two point play of the game when he split the Leitrim posts from play on the 52nd minute mark.

Over the next four minutes, Laois' Simon Fingleton and Leitrim's Keith Keegan swapped points at opposite ends. Laois continued in control right up to the end with Conor Brown, Niall Corbett (free) and Damon Larkin whipping over a point each.

Leitrim closed the scoring in game with two Darren Cox points.

Scorers for Leitrim: T Prior and D Cox 0 – 2 each; K Beirne and K Keegan 0 – 1 each.

Scorers for Laois: M Barry 0 – 7 5f; P 1 – 2 2p; B Carroll and K Swayne 1 – 0 each; D Larkin 0 – 3; James Kelly & N Corbett f 0 – 2 each; R Coffey, C Brown, S Fingleton and Jonah Kelly 0 – 1 each.

Laois: K Roche; B Dempsey, S Fingleton, T Collins; P Kirwan, B Byrne, S Lacey, K Swayne, D Larkin; D O'Reilly, M Barry, J Kelly; R Coffey, B Carroll, N Corbett. 

Subs: C Lee for Carroll (33); Jonah Kelly for Barry (43); F Holland for Swayne (46); J Brennan for Coffey (56): C Brown for Roche (59).

Leitrim: D O'Shea; E McLoughlin, K Clancy, S Harkin, E McNamara, M Diffley, J Foley; J Flynn, K Keegan; P Honeyman, C Quinn, R O'Rourke; J Reynolds, K Beirne T Prior. 

Subs: J Rooney for S Harkin (19); D Cox for Reynolds (30); C McHugh for E McLoughlin (37), S McLoughlin for Foley (42); D Feeney for O'Rourke (59).

Referee: F Kelly (Longford).