Sport

Laois pay penalty for miss

Laois will regret bitterly a 42nd minute penalty miss by Ian Fitzgerald at Newcastle

Mon Mar 01 1999 - 00:00

Laois will regret bitterly a 42nd minute penalty miss by Ian Fitzgerald at Newcastle. With Down just 0-6 to 0-3 in front, the visitors had a chance they scarcely deserved to tie the scores when referee Jim Curran awarded the hotly-disputed penalty for a foul on Greg Ramsbottom.

But Fitzgerald's penalty kick sliced wide of goal and after that Laois never really looked like bridging the gap, although they cut it back to 0-6 to 0-4 when David Sweeney pointed with 10 minutes to go.

However Down responded forcefully. A long ball from midfielder Brian Burns unhinged the Laois defence, and, though Fergal Byron saved bravely at the feet of Lloyd Parr, Gregory Deegan followed up to force the ball over the line. Shane Mulholland waltzed through for a clinching point almost immediately.

Down had been in complete control for the opening 20 minutes, but on a day when ball control was extremely difficult, too many scoring chances were frittered away. They led by 0-4 to nil by 20th minute, their scores having come from Lloyd Parr, Ciaran McCabe, Brian Burns and Shane Mulholland, but looked liable to regret those early misses when Mick Lawlor and Ian Fitzgerald left only two points between the sides at half-time.

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Down again applied pressure at the start of the second half, the highlight a delightful move in the 35th minute finished by Shane Ward to leave them 0-6 to 0-3 clear.

But dogged Laois made them wait till late in the hour before they could be sure of victory.

DOWN: M McVeigh; F Caulfield, C Byrne, P Matthews; D Flynn, M Magill, P Higgins; B Burns (0-1), S Poland; G Deegan (1-0), S Mulholland (0-2), J McCartan; D McCartan, C McCabe (0-2), L Parr (0-1). Subs: S Ward (0- 1) for D McCartan (30 mins); C Deegan for G Deegan (52 mins).

LAOIS: F Bryan; E Delaney, D Rooney, C Parkinson; P Conway, M Lawlor (0-1), R McEvoy; T Maher, J Kealy; I Fitzgerald (0-3), L Keenan, D Sweeney (0-1); G Ramsbottom, D Delaney, C Conway. Subs: M Rooney for T Maher (34 mins); B O'Reilly for M Lawlor (53 mins); M Slevin for E Delaney (58 mins).

Referee: J Curran, Tyrone.