Electric Ireland Leinster Minor Football Championship Semi-Final

MEATH 5-18 LAOIS 0-8

By Kevin Egan at O’Moore Park, Portlaoise

A powerful attacking display from Meath proved far too much for Laois to handle at O’Moore Park, as the Royal County burst out of the blocks against their hosts and put them to the sword in spectacular fashion under the searing hot midlands sun.

Two first half goals from Luke Kelly and a third from Bryan McCormack meant that Joe Treanor’s side had effectively secured their Leinster final slot by half time, 3-9 to 0-2 the score at the interval in Portlaoise.

Both managers changed their lineups dramatically from their most recent outing in the round robin stages of this competition, with Meath bringing back in 13 players after resting most of their usual starters against Wicklow. Laois manager Donncha Phelan cut several members of his panel for disciplinary reasons after their final outing against Kildare and that appeared to take a severe toll as the home side was blown out of the water in the early exchanges of this tie and never really got to grips with the pace, power and movement of a very impressive Meath group.

Luke Kelly took advantage of a defensive error to fire in an early goal, and from the next two kickouts, Luke Mitchell and Bryan McCormack added scores that left Laois shell-shocked.

Ross Bolger responded with a free for Laois from the edge of the “D” but Meath barely missed a step and continued to pile on the pressure. While Mitchell, Cian McBride and Kelly failed to hit the target with good chances, the lead was still eased up to double figures by the quarter-hour mark.

Kelly slipped in the second goal after he snapped up the rebound from Matthew Costello’s shot off the crossbar, and by the 25th minute a wonderful team move saw Bryan McCormack fire in a third goal. Kelly was again instrumental, offloading beautifully to Seán Coffey in heavy traffic to set up the move that ended up with McCormack rattling the net from 15 metres out.

Josh Lacey and Damon Larkin were introduced off the bench for Laois at half time and both players made an immediate impact, running at the Meath full back line and showing well for ball. Larkin was hugely unlucky not to slap in a goal when leapt up to volley the ball down towards goal shortly after his introduction, but Meath goalkeeper Seán Brennan – who was singled out for praise by manager Joe Treanor after the game – made a superb save to parry the ball clear, one of four excellent stops made by the Dunderry custodian during the game.

Conor Goode and Seán Greene also got on the scoresheet as Laois kept pace with Meath for the first ten minutes of the second half, but that was to be as good as it got for the home side as Meath dialled up the intensity, led by David Bell at corner forward. Bell collected a pass from Bryan McCormack for his first goal and then showed great awareness to flick a second to the net after good approach play from Brian O’Hanlon, one of several Meath substitutes that put their hand up for inclusion in the Leinster final against the winner of tomorrow’s Kildare vs Wicklow contest at St. Conleth’s Park in Newbridge.

Scorers for Meath: David Bell 2-3, Luke Kelly 2-1, Luke Mitchell 0-6f, Bryan McCormack 1-1, Matthew Costello (1 45) and Brian O’Hanlon 0-2 each, Darragh Swaine, Conor Farrelly and Colin Hawdon 0-1 each.

Scorers for Laois: Josh Lacey 0-2 (1f), Ross Bolger (f), Oisín Byrne (f), Conor Goode, Seán Greene, Damon Larkin, Eamonn Delaney (’45) 0-1 each.

MEATH: Seán Brennan; James O’Hare, Harry O’Higgins, Cathal Hickey; Conor Farrelly, Conor Harford, Seán Coffey; Cian McBride, Adam Reilly; Bryan McCormack, Matthew Costello, Darragh Swaine; David Bell, Luke Kelly, Luke Mitchell.

Subs: Oisín McCloskey for Hickey (43), Brian O’Hanlon for McBride (48, blood), Killian Hogan for Kelly (48), Colin Hawdon for Swaine (50), Adam Treanor for McCormack (57), Luke Newe for O’Higgins (57), Killian Price for Harford (60+1).

LAOIS: Oisín Keogh; Michael Bennett, Cathal Bennett, Ciarán Byrne; Seán Greene, Seán O’Neill, Niall Carey; Ben Conroy, Seán Michael Corcoran; Conor Goode, Rioghan Murphy, Daragh Galvin; Oisín Byrne, Ross Bolger, Mark O’Connell.

Subs: Damon Larkin for Bolger (HT), Josh Lacey for O Byrne (HT), Cathal Doyle for Galvin (HT), Ciarán Burke for Corcoran (48), Eamonn Delaney for Carey (48).

REFEREE: Darragh Sheppard (Dublin).