Antrim produce stunning comeback to shock Laois

Antrim produced a magnificent comeback victory at O’Moore Park to knock Laois out of the All-Ireland championship by 2-15 to 1-16 and record the first win of the year for any Division Four team against higher tier opposition.

A heavy fall of snow looked more likely than an Antrim victory at half time as Laois led by 1-9 to 0-5, while the visiting Ulster county had been rocked by the decision of manager Frank Fitzsimons to remove Kevin McGourty, CJ McGourty and Connor Burke from his starting line-up in response to their decision to play for St Galls in a hurling league tie on Friday night.

The Ulster side shot five wides in the opening 10 minutes and were level at 0-1 apiece after failing to make their dominance count on the scoreboard.

Laois were far more clinical when they got the upper hand however, and with Donie Kingston causing his direct opponent Justin Crozier all sorts of problems on the edge of the square, they soon built up a comfortable five point lead.

Ross Munnelly and John O’Loughlin added their names to the scoresheet before Laois put real distance between the sides in the space of just 30 seconds.

Darren Strong came forward to kick a stunning score to energise the home support and from the resultant kickout, teenager Evan O’Carroll leapt highest and claimed the ball, before breaking two tackles and laying off to Paul Kingston.

The younger Kingston brother drove straight at goal and blasted the ball past Chris Kerr, pushing the lead out to nine points.

The Saffrons looked to respond in kind and a powerful run from Conor Murray left the Lámh Dearg player with a clear sight on goal, but his well-directed strike was parried by Graham Brody and then hacked over the bar by Ryan Murray on the rebound.

The sides shared the opening two points at the start of the second half before Munnelly was handed the chance to wrap up the game for Laois from the penalty spot.

Neil Delargy was deemed to have pulled back Brendan Quigley as the midfielder advanced on goal but Chris Kerr came up trumps for his side to parry Munnelly’s kick, his second spot kick miss in seven days.

Ryan Murray was very much the star of the show for the Antrim side and he produced a stunning second half display, kicking a string of points to bring the gap back to just one.

Laois looked to have weathered the storm and while they never really rediscovered the urgency they showed in their Leinster championship meetings with Kildare, they looked to have done enough when Donie Kingston struck his seventh of the day to make it 1-16 to 1-12 in their favour.

The real drama was yet to come however and after Antrim halved the gap, Murray was yet again to prove their match-winner as he won a vital breaking ball and laid the ball off to Tony Scullion, who burst through to the 20m line.

The ball was worked to Dermot McAleese, who picked out the corner of the net with a minute to play.

Laois enjoyed a sustained spell of possession as they attempted to work an equalising score, but Antrim held their discipline and after John O’Loughlin was turned over in the tackle, they were able to break down the field and pop over an insurance score through Patrick McBride.    

Antrim: C Kerr (0-1f); N Delargy, J Crozier, D Lynch; P McAleer, C Kerr (0-1f); N Delargy, J Crozier, D Lynch; P McAleer, J Laverty, T Scullion; O Gallagher (0-1), B Hasson (0-1); M Armstrong, C Murray, M Sweeney; R Murray (1-5), M Pollock (0-5, 4f), P McBride (0-2).

Subs: D McAleese (1-0) for McAleer (29), J Dowling for Armstrong (ht), R McGrady for Gallagher (63).

Laois: G Brody; S Attride, M Timmons, G Hanrahan; D Strong (0-2), D O’Connor, C Boyle; B Quigley, J O’Loughlin (0-1); N Donoher (0-1), R Munnelly (0-4, 2f), C Begley; E O’Carroll (0-1), D Kingston (0-7, 1f), P Kingston (1-0).  

Subs: R Kehoe for Attride (48), B Sheehan for O’Carroll (62), C Meredith for Munnelly (63), J Finn for P Kingston (68).

Ref: D O’Mahoney (Tipperary).