Wicklow beat champions

Wicklow 1-11 Laois 0-03:  LAOIS SURRENDERED their Leinster under-21 football crown without as much as a whimper at Portlaoise yesterday when they were outplayed by Wicklow. With Mick O'Dwyer returning from an illness that confined him indoors, Wicklow were quick to cheer him up, taking the lead after two minutes.

Then, after Laois drew level, John McGrath regained the lead from a placed ball. The visitors were dealt a blow when Niall Gaffney received a red card for an off-the-ball incident after eight minutes. Wicklow stretched their advantage with points from Darren Hayden and John McGrath. In the closing minutes Ciarán Walsh and Paddy Byrne added two more points to give them a 0-6 to 0-1 lead at the break.

With the extra man and wind advantage Laois still held out hope but an early point from John McGrath put Wicklow in the driving seat, though Laois replied through Conor Meredith.

The turning point came 10 minutes into the half as Laois goalkeeper Darren Maher made a great save, but as he came out his clearance was blocked down and the ball broke for Walsh who struck to the net.

WICKLOW: B Norman; R Keddy, A McLoughlin, P Higgins; S O'Neill, R Finn, R Nolan; N Gaffney, G Murphy; D Fitzgerald, D Hayden (0-1), P Byrne (0-2); S Furlong (0-1), J McGrath (0-5), C Walsh (1-2). Subs: H Mangan for McGrath, S O'Brien for Hayden, S Metcalfe for Furlong.

LAOIS: D Maher; J Murphy, M Delaney, B Meredith; R Ryan, J O'Loughlin, K Smith; C Greene, G Reddin; C Meredith (0-2), Z Tuohy, S O'Leary; S Conroy (0-1), D Flaherty, D Carroll. Subs: K Delaney for Carroll, J Moore for Flaherty, S Shortall for Ryan.

Referee B O'Shea (Dublin).

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times