Purcell on the double to help Laois over the line
LAOIS 2-21 OFFALY 0-24
Laois made a winning start to the Joe McDonagh Cup following a dramatic finish against Offaly in O’Moore Park.
Willie Maher’s charges fell behind in the first half and were five points in arrears by half-time.
That deficit grew to six with 50 minutes played but two late goals from Paddy Purcell and an excellent cameo by veteran Stephen Maher saw Laois over the line.
The sides shared four points in the opening four minutes but after that, Offaly scored three in a row from Eoghan Cahill, Brian Duignan and Charlie Mitchell to open up a lead.
That became 0-16 to 0-11 by halftime and was 0-21 to 0-15 with 52 minutes played.
But then it all changed. Mitchell got in for a goal chance but Enda Rowland stopped him and Laois launched a counter-attack.
Aaron Dunphy, Podge Delaney and David Dooley were involved before Purcell swept a shot to the corner of the net and it was game on.
The sides traded points after that before Maher and Aidan Corby hit two in a row to cut the gap to one after 62 minutes.
Maher then levelled the match for the first time since the fourth minute before Jer Quinlan gave Laois the lead as the game entered three minutes of injury-time.
It looked like Leon Fox had snatched a draw for Offaly but
Laois won it with the final attack.
Willie Dunphy’s shot dropped short but fellow sub Mark Dowling did well to keep the ball alive and force the sliotar back out to Purcell, who found the bottom corner.
SCORERS – Laois: P Purcell 2-1; A Dunphy 0-5 (3f); A Corby, S Maher (2f, 65) 0-4 each; J Quinlan 0-3; T Cuddy 0-2; L O’Connell, J Lennon 0-1 each Offaly: A Screeney 0-8 (4f); B Duignan 0-4 (2f); S Bourke, K Sampson, E Cahill (1f, 1m) D Bourke 0-2 each; D Ravenhill, C King, C Mitchell, L Fox 0-1 each. LAOIS: E Rowland; I Shanahan, R Mullaney, D Conway; L O’Connell, P Delaney, T Cuddy; A Corby, P Purcell; J Lennon, A Dunphy, D Dooley; J Quinlan, M Phelan, T Keyes. Subs: S Maher for Lennon (h-t), W Dunphy for Phelan (43), M Dowling for Keyes (45), F Fennell for Corby (69). OFFALY: M Troy; B Conneely, C Burke, C King; K Sampson, C Kiely, S Bourke; J Sampson, D Nally; D Bourke, C Mitchell, D Nally; D Ravenhill, B Duignan, E Cahill. Subs: A Screeney for Cahill (19, inj), D King for Ravenhill (22, inj), L Fox for Kelly (54), J Clancy for D Bourke (66), O Kelly for Duignan (69) REF: C Cunning (Antrim)