Dublin made hard work of grinding down Laois to lift the O’Byrne Cup in Carlow yesterday afternoon
Dublin 1-13
Laois 0-11
Netwatch Cullen Park, Carlow
Sean Bugler’s fourth minute three pointer and a strong showing in the second half saw Dessie Farrell’s Senior Footballers claim a victory over Laois yesterday to secure the O’Byrne Cup. Hopefully that won’t be the last piece od silverware the boys in blue will hold aloft in 2022.
A battling Dublin tackled Laois with 14 men for the majority of the game, losing John Small to a red card late in the opening half. But with a good combination of new and experienced panel members, the dubs got the tie across the line at Netwatch Cullen Park.
Laois came into the game after a penalty shootout win over Kildare as recently as Wednesday and started most of the same team in their fifth game in 15 days. And the men from the O’Moore County enjoyed plenty of play in the opening half with Evan O’Carroll causing problems for the Dublin defence.
Small was sent down the tunnel after an altercation with O’Carroll off the ball, with O’Carroll missing the end of the half with a blood injury.
Late points from Ross McGarry and Cormac Costello helped the Dubs to a 1-05 to 0-06 lead at the break.
Scores from O’Carroll and Mark Barry early in the second half levelled things up for Laois but they couldn’t get their noses in front. Dublin had plenty in the tank and points from Fenton, Aaron Byrne, Costello, McGarry and youngster Lee Gannon saw them secure the victory.
Dublin Scorers:
Sean Bugler 1-00
Brian Fenton 0-02
Cormac Costello 0-02 (1f)
Aaron Byrne 0-02
Ciaran Kilkenny 0-02
Ross McGarry 0-02
Harry Ladd 0-01
Lee Gannon 0-01 (mark)
Tom Lahiff 0-01
Laois Scorers:
Mark Barry 0-04 (3f)
Evan O’Carroll 0-03
Sean Moore 0-02 (2f)
Danny Bolger 0-01 (1 ’45)
Gary Walsh 0-01
Dublin:
Michael Shiel
Lee Gannon
David Byrne
Eoin Murchan
Tom Lahiff
John Small
Kieran Kennedy
Brian Fenton
Cameron McCormack
Sean Bugler
Ciaran Kilkenny
Ross McGarry
Cormac Costello
Harry Ladd
Aaron Byrne
Dublin Substitutes:
Niall Scully for Ladd (HT)
Lorcan O’Dell for McCormack (52)
Warren Egan for McGarry (58)
Laois:
Danny Bolger
James Kelly
Trevor Collins
Alex Mohan
Sean O’Flynn
John O’Loughlin
Cathal Fennessy
James Finn
Kieran Lillis
Brian Byrne
Eoin Lowry
Cormac Murphy
Mark Barry
Sean Moore
Evan O’Carroll
Laois Substitutes:
Gary Walsh for O’Carroll (30, blood, reversed HT)
Danny O’Reilly for Murphy (49)
Dylan Kavanagh for O’Flynn (54)
Gary Walsh for Moore (56)
Brian Daly for Finn (60)
Cian Doyle for Fennessy (68)
Dylan Doyle for Byrne (68)
Podge Dunne for Lillis (68)