Galway 1-27
Laois 2-15

John Fallon reports from Pearse Stadium 

JOE CANNING AND Cathal Mannion led the way as Galway got their Division 1B campaign off to a winning start at Pearse Stadium.

Laois never looked like delivering a win for new manager Eddie Brennan as they were chasing the game from the outset.

Having opted to play against the wind in the opening half, Laois found themselves 0-9 to 0-2 adrift at the end of the opening quarter.

Cathal Mannion, revelling in his new midfield role, landed three excellent points from play and his brother Padraic also got in on the scoring act as Galway made good use of the wind.

PJ Scully responded with a couple of frees for Laois but these were cancelled by Jack Coyne and Canning.

Then a well-worked move saw Brian Concannon set Davey Glennon up for a goal after 25 minutes which pushed Galway 1-12 to 0-4 in front.

The sides exchanged points three times before the break with Canning hitting two more frees in a first-half haul of 0-6, while debutant Sean Bleahene also hit the target as three more Scully frees kept Laois in touch.

Laois, trailing by 1-15 to 0-7 at the break, needed a big start to the second-half with the wind but Canning pointed two frees from distance in the opening four minutes.

Glennon and Canning again found the range after Scully had pointed a free for Laois but then the failure of the Galway rearguard to deal with a sideline saw John Lennon pounce to dispatch the ball to the net and make it 1-19 to 1-8 after 45 minutes.

Galway responded with a couple of points from Thomas Monaghan but Laois never gave up and closed the gap with a string of points from Mark Kavanagh and Jack Kelly, while Lennon got in for his second goal in the closing stages but Galway were never threatened.

Scorers for Galway: Joe Canning 0-10 (0-8f, 0-1 65), Davy Glennon 1-2, Cathal Mannion 0-4, Thomas Monaghan 0-2, Sean Loftus 0-2, Sean Bleahene 0-2, Aidan Harte 0-1, Padraic Mannion 0-1, Jack Coyne 0-1, Tadhg Haran 0-1 (0-1f), Brian Concannon 0-1.

Scorers for Laois: John Lennon 2-0, PJ Scully 0-6 (0-6f), Mark Kavanagh 0-4 (0-4f), Jack Kelly 0-2, Paddy Purcell 0-1, Aaron Dunphy 0-1, Cha Dwyer 0-1.

GALWAY

1 Fergal Flannery (Padraig Pearses)

2 Jack Grealish (Gort)
3 Ronan Burke (Turloughmore)
4 Sean Linnane (Turloughmore)

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5 Kevin Hussey (Turloughmore)
6 Padraic Mannion (Ahascragh-Fohenagh)
7 Aidan Harte (Gort)

8 Cathal Mannion (Ahascragh-Fohenagh)
9 Sean Loftus (Turloughmore)

12 Sean Bleahene (Ahascragh-Fohenagh)
11 Joe Canning (Portumna)
10 Jack Coyne (Castlegar)

13 Thomas Monaghan (Craughwell)
14 Brian Concannon (Killimordaly)
15 Davy Glennon (Mullagh)

Substitutes:
22 Ronan O’Meara (Portumna) for Coyne (57), 17 Jack Fitzpatrick (Killimordaly) for Harte (58), 19 Sean Kilduff (Clarinbridge) for Canning (60), 18 Shane Bannon (Clarinbridge) for Grealish (64), 24 Tadhg Haran (Liam Mellows) for Monaghan (68).

LAOIS

1 Enda Rowland (St Lazerian’s Abbeyleix)

4 Donncha Hartnett (Mountmellick)
3 Matthew Whelan (Borris-in-Ossory Kilcotton)
2 Joe Phelan (Camross)

5 Jack Kelly (Rathdowney Errill)
6 Ryan Mullaney (Castletown)
7 Padraig Delaney (The Harps)

8 Conor Phelan (Castletown)
9 PJ Scully (Borris-in-Ossory Kilcotton)

10 Eanna Lyons (Ballyfin)
11 Mark Kavanagh (Rathdowney Errill)
12 Paddy Purcell (Rathdowney Errill)

13 John Lennon (Rosenallis)
14 Aaron Dunphy (Borris-in-Ossory Kilcotton)
15 Stephen Maher (Clough Ballacolla)

Substitutes:
23 Sean Downey (Ballinakill) for Delaney (42), 24 Neil Foyle (Borris-in-Ossory Kilcotton) for Maher (51), 21 Cha Dwyer (Ballinakill) for Scully (58), 25 Aaron Bergin (Portlaoise) for Lyons (61), 20 Jake Cranny (St Lazerian’s Abbeyleix) for Phelan (68).

Referee: Johnny Murphy (Limerick).

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