Page 39 - INTO THE WEST - March-April 2018

Late Leitrim goal blast can’t stop Laois victory
LEITRIM ............3-10 TLAOIS ...............3-16
By JOHN CONNOLLY Leitrim Observer
dispatched the ball to the corner of the net. Walsh and O’Carroll extended the lead.
Brendan Gallagher scored a fine effort on 13 minutes but Laois struck for a third goal, a thrilling break seeing Laois cut their way through for an easy Gary Walsh goal. Laois led by 14 points, Walsh adding another from a free.
HrEATEnEd with humiliation midway through the second half, Leitrim foot- ballers show real mettle to hit three
But darragh rooney punched the ball to the Laois net after a mistake from Graham Brody. Walsh put over a free but then ryan O’rourke won a penalty.
second half goals in a game that left fans as frustrated and bewildered as both teams in Pairc Sean Mac diarmada.
darragh rooney stepped up and although Brody got his
hand to the ball, there
was too much power as
Laois got off to a blistering start with Evan O’Carroll firing over just 30 seconds and Gary Walsh scoring two frees inside four minutes. Leitrim halted the Laois avalanche temporar- ily with a Keith Beirne free.
it ended up in the net for
Leitrim’s second goal. Keith Beirne fired over a good point but sub ross Munnelly hit back.
But Trevor Collins in complete isolation strode through unopposed to fire a great low shot to the bottom left corner of the Leitrim net. Paul Kingston fired over a point on nine minutes before Keith Beirne put over a free on 12 minutes. Lowry and Beirne swapped points while another Beirne free got the gap down to four.
Leitrim then hit a third goal in just six minutes, Jack Heslin’s pass found ryan O’rourke and when Keith Beirne fired over, a 15 point gap was now down to just six.
Gary Walsh and Kingston would fire over good points to leave Laois 1-7 to 0-4 in front. And Beirne struck missed a penalty but made amends by converting a free to leave Leitrim five in arrears at the break.
Munnelly pounced on a poor kickout to point when Laois could have gone for a goal but it was a huge score and despite darragh rooney and Keith Beirne landing injury time points, Laois securing their six point win. SCORERS – Leitrim: Keith Beirne 0-8, 4f, Darragh Rooney 2-1, 1 pen; Ryan O'Rourke 1-0; Brendan Gallagher 0-1
LAOIS: Gary Walsh 1-8, 6f; Eoin Lowry 1-1, 1 pen; Evan O'Carroll 0-3; Trevor Collins 1-0; Paul Kingston and Ross Munnelly 0-2 each.
LEITRIM: Diarmuid McKiernan; James Mitchell, Michael McWeeney, Matthew Murphy; Keith Keegan, Donal Wrynn, Oisin Madden; Dean McGovern, Colm Moreton; Conor Gaffney, Ryan O'Rourke, Brendan Gallagher; Aidan Flynn, Keith Beirne, James Rooney.
LAOIS: Graham Brody; David Holland, Shane Nerney, Ruadhri C Fennell; Trevor Collins, Colm Begley, Graham Brody; John O'Loughlin, Danny O'Reilly; Alan Farrell, Paul Kingston, Brian
Glynn; Eoin Lowry, Gary Walsh, Evan
O'Carroll.
REFEREE: Barry Judge (Sligo).
Laois didn’t have too long to wait for a second goal as, six minutes into the half, they won a penatly. And Lowry confidently
Laois steadied themselves with an Evan O’Carroll point but Leitrim almost broke through for a fourth goal but Brody redeemed his earlier mistake with a fine save.
gling Leitrim
SCORERS – Carlow: J Murphy 2-0, 1-0 pen., B Murphy 0-5, P Broderick 0-4, 0-3f, D Foley (f) and D O'Brien 0-1 each.
Leitrim: K Beirne 0-2f, N Plunkett, D Moran, D Rooney 0-1 each.
CARLOW: R Molloy; D Moran S Redmond, C Lawlor; J Morrissey, D St Ledger, C Moran; B Murphy, S Murphy; S Gannon, D Foley, E Ruth; P Broderick, D O'Brien, J Murphy. Subs: M Rennick for Moran (h-t); K Nolan for Morrissey (54); J Kennedy for Foley (57); B Kavanagh for J Murphy (60), L Walker for Gannon (67).
LEITRIM: D McKiernan; S Quinn, M McWeeney, M Murphy; O Madden, K Keegan, D McGovern; D Wrynn, C Moreton; C Gaffney, R O'Rourke, B Gallagher; D Moran, K Beirne, D Rooney. Subs: N Plunkett for McGovern (injured) (17); J Heslin for Gaffney (h-t); E ward for Moreton (h-t); N McGovern for Moran (50); D Carberry for Gallagher (54); A Flynn for Carberry (injured) 59.
REFEREE: A Kissane (Waterford).
CLEARENCE: Leitrim’s Niall McGovern moves out of defence ahead of Carlow’s John Murphy in their NFL Division 4 tie.
Photo: Barry Cregg/SPORTSFILE
ALLIANZ NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
DIVISION 4 ROUND 2
GOAL: Leitrim forward Darragh Rooney almost helped his side to an unlikely comeback win against Laois.
Photo: David Maher/SPORTSFILE
DIVISION 4 ROUND 3
INTO THE WEST – Page 39