Kilkenny brush Laois aside to get back to winning ways

Kilkenny 0-34 Laois 1-18

Billy Drennan hit 11 points as Derek Lyng’s Kilkenny easily got the better of Laois in O’Moore Park to get back to winning ways after their heavy defeat to Tipperary in the second round of Division 1B.

The result sees Laois rooted to the bottom of the table ahead of a relegation showdown against Antrim in a fortnight.

Kilkenny made a fast start as Drennan opened the scoring for the visitors before Eoin Cody added another, both inside the first minute. John Donnelly added another before Stephen Maher got Laois on the board with a free from 50 metres out on the left sideline.

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Drennan replied with a free of his own but Laois had the next two scores through Fiachra Fennell and a 65 from Maher. Donnelly and Billy Ryan hit back for The Cats before Tomás Keyes pointed for Laois.

But the visitors hit their stride after a quarter of an hour, scoring seven unanswered points in 10 minutes, including three frees from Drennan. James Keyes did eventually grab one back for Laois in the 25th minute before Drennan and Maher traded frees.

Kilkenny came right back at Laois though, scoring seven more points before half time to lead 0-21 to 0-7.

Laois got their second half off to the best possible start when Martin Phelan raised the game’s first green flag within second of the whistle. Aaron Dunphy added a point before Kilkenny tagged on three more to their tally.

Stephen Maher got the next couple of scores but Kilkenny came back with two of their own. A pair of Laois frees followed from Maher and a long-range effort from Rowland before Drennan helped himself to three quick frees before being replaced by Walter Walsh.

And although Laois battled on, they never looked like closing the gap.

Kilkenny: E Murphy (0-1f); S Murphy, C Delaney, P Walsh (0-1); T Walsh (0-1), R Reid, C Buckley (0-1); P Deegan (0-2), P Mullen (0-2); B Ryan (0-2), J Donnelly (0-3), E Cody (0-4, 2f); B Drennan (0-11,8f) M Keoghan (0-4), G Dunne (0-1). Subs: S Murphy for T Walsh (HT), A Murphy (0-1) for Mullen (46), T Clifford for G Dunne (51), W Walsh for Drennan (56), C Kenny for Donnelly (62)

Laois: E Rowland (0-2f); P Dunne, L O’Connell, D Hartnett; P Delaney, P Purcell (0-1), I Shanahan; F C Fennell (0-1), J Keyes (0-1); R Mullaney (0-1), S Maher (0-10, 8f), J Kelly; R King, M Phelan (1-0), T Keyes (0-1). Subs: P Lalor and A Dunphy (0-1) for Fennell and Dunne (both HT), E Lyons for J Keyes (45), J Duggan for T Keyes (52), D Delaney for King (65)

Referee: T Gleeson (Dublin)