AN imperious Down railroaded sorry Laois out of Croke Park, blasting eight goals in an explosive display that saw victory as good as confirmed in the opening quarter of an hour. The early runnings of the game were played beneath a tumultuous Dublin sky with thunder crashing and lightning flashing but still the brightest flashes of all were from the men in red jerseys. They darted over the turf, each seeming to move faster than the one before, in a ceaselessly repeating pattern of pace, energy and intensity. This was certainly Down’s most complete attacking performance for many, many years. Laois were, at best, incredibly naive or, more ruthlessly and perhaps more truthfully, incredibly bad.
Every time Down attacked it looked like the ball could end in the Laois net. The O’Moore men were so open at the back, huge gaps appeared everywhere. The ease with which Down were able to repeatedly work clear goal scoring chances boggled the mind. Laois left Odhran Murdock in a 1v1 in the full forward line and Down punished that with lots of early ball fed into the Burren man who performed his role to perfection. That was the route Down took to get to the net in the first instance. Ryan Johnston popped the ball into Murdock who handed it off to the onrushing Liam Kerr, bursting through at unstoppable speed Kerr made no mistake in hitting the target and burying the ball in the net.
Pat Havern followed it with a point from a tight angle, and then he worked a one-two with Daniel Guinness and a sea of green space opened before him to attack and shoot low to the bottom corner. Niall Kane had pointed from a dead ball and Mark Barry got Laois on the move from a mark before goal number three went in. Shealan Johnston tried to curl a shot over the bar but his attempt clipped the post and dropped to Liam Kerr. He seized the rebound and pirouetted to wrong foot the keeper and defender, dribbling the ball back into the left corner. With 14 minutes gone Down led 3-2 – 0-1 and already the bulk of the heavy lifting had been done.
Thereafter it was really a procession of scores. The sixth score was another goal that had pace as its key component. Danny Magill burst through and drove home. Two of Down’s next three points were fisted efforts (from Eugene Branagan and Pat Havern) indicating goals could have been looked for if required while the other white flag was raised for a sliced Ceilum Doherty effort. Eoin Lowry and Killian Roche pointed for Laois who began to look increasingly forlorn as Down cantered through their defence at will. By half time Rory Mason had joined the scoring party while Doherty, Havern, Kerr and Branagan all added a point to their totals. Laois only managed one more score in this time, coming from the boot of Evan O’Carroll though Niall Kane did make a good save with a strong right hand to prevent Paul Kingston bagging a stoppage time goal. If Laois had any hope that Down might take their foot off the pedal in the second half it soon evaporated as Liam Kerr started the second half with a fifth Down goal. Ryan Johnston added a point before Laois kicked three on the spin thanks to Mark Barry (two) and Eoin Lowry. Then Niall Kane bombed a long kickout down Croke Park, Odhran Murdock ran onto it, broke through and worked a one-two with Shealan Johnston then, almost apologetically, stuck the ball in the Laois net. Again Barry had a free for Laois before Down should have had a seventh goal. Paddy McCarthy and Donagh McAleenan combined to set up Eugene Branagan who somehow skied his effort over the bar from inside the six yard box.
Paddy Branagan tagged on a point before Rory Mason entered with another goal. A brilliant palm down from Eugene Branagan was aimed into the path of Danny Magill’s run and he slipped it on to Mason who couldn’t do anything other than rattle the net once more. Mark Barry and Odhran Murdock traded points before a brilliant Paul Kingston effort raised some applause of appreciation from the remaining Laois supporters. Then they did get a chance to cheer. Kevin Swayne pounced on a loose ball in the Down defence to hammer to the net but if anything this just seemed to disturb Down and immediately they went to the other end and scored goal number eight with Danny Magill rifling a belter to the roof of the net. Two minutes later Laois were awarded a penalty which saw Mark Barry dispatch the game’s tenth goal. Barry and Dylan Kavanagh got the last two Laois points either side of an effort at goal from Evan O’Carroll which was unlucky to go wide off the outside of the post. Down finished with a flourish, as scores from Paddy Branagan and Liam Kerr rounded off an emphatic victory.