O'Moore's the pity for travelling Wicklow side who must now regroup quickly as attention turns to Monday’s Tailteann Cup Round Two draw

Laois 1-23 Wicklow 0-19

Wicklow’s Tailteann Cup campaign began with defeat on Sunday afternoon as Laois claimed a seven-point win at Laois Hire O’Moore Park in Portlaoise.

Despite a much-improved second-half display from the visitors, a dominant opening period from Laois proved decisive as the home side ran out winners and advanced to the winners’ section of the competition. Wicklow now move into the losers’ section ahead of Monday’s Round Two draw.

Laois made full use of the wind in the opening half and could have been out of sight early on, creating several goal chances before finally finding the breakthrough through Evan O’Carroll.

Wicklow briefly led in the early stages thanks to a score from Mark Kenny, but Laois quickly settled with points from Rob Tyrrell, Evan O’Carroll and goalkeeper Matthew Byron helping them edge ahead.

The key spell came midway through the first half when Wicklow went 18 minutes without scoring. During that period, Laois hit 1-8 and completely seized control of the contest.

Their goal arrived after strong work from Ciaran Burke deep in the Laois half sparked a rapid counter-attack involving Rob Tyrrell, Aaron McEvoy, Pa Kirwan and Daragh Galvin before O’Carroll blasted to the net.

Pa Kirwan, O’Carroll and Ronan Coffey all added scores — including two-pointers — as Laois stretched into a commanding lead.

Joe Prendergast eventually ended Wicklow’s scoring drought before goalkeeper Mark Jackson produced one of the moments of the game with an excellent two-point free into the wind. However, Laois keeper Matthew Byron replied with a two-point free of his own to leave the halftime score at 1-15 to 0-6.

Laois continued strongly after the restart, extending their advantage with scores from Kirwan, Cian Nolan, Daragh Galvin and Kevin Swayne.

But aided by the wind, Wicklow finally found momentum and enjoyed their best spell of the game. Mark Jackson converted two more two-point frees as Wicklow rattled off eight scores in succession to reduce the deficit.

Jackson also produced an important save from Galvin, while at the other end Matthew Byron denied Liam O’Neill as both goalkeepers impressed.

Dean Healy and Eoin Murtagh added late two-pointers for Wicklow, but Laois continued to respond through Kevin Swayne and Paul Kingston to close out the victory.

The result means Wicklow must now regroup quickly as attention turns to Monday’s Tailteann Cup Round Two draw.

Teams and Scorers

Wicklow

Mark Jackson (0-5, 4f, 2 two-point frees); Mark Kenny (0-1), Dean Healy (0-2, 1 two-pointer), Eoin Murtagh (0-2, 1 two-pointer), Joe Prendergast (0-1), Eoin Darcy (0-1), Liam O’Neill, Kevin Quinn, Tommy Gill, Darragh Lyons, Alex O’Brien, Andy Maher, Matthew Doyle, Rory Finn, Sean Furlong.

Subs used: Joe Prendergast, others not available.

Laois

Matthew Byron (0-3, 1 two-point free); Evan O’Carroll (1-4), Pa Kirwan (0-4), Ronan Coffey (0-4, 1 two-pointer), Kevin Swayne (0-2), Rob Tyrrell (0-1), Cian Nolan (0-1), Daragh Galvin (0-1), Paul Kingston (0-2 frees).

Referee: Brendan Cawley (Kildare).