It wasn't exactly the kind of weather for strolling in the park, but Kilkenny made light of the conditions as they sauntered past luckless Laois in their National Hurling League Division 1B encounter at a wet and muddy Nowlan Park yesterday. It was all over as a contest after no more than three minutes of action. In that time, the All-Ireland champions were already 2-1 to no score ahead. And when the visitors were reduced to 14 men in the 49th minute there was a strong rush to the exits. The 2,000 attendance certainly saw fireworks from Kilkenny during a blistering opening as DJ Carey pointed after 90 seconds; then 30 seconds later, Henry Shefflin planted the ball in the net after fine approach work by JP Corcoran and John Hoyne. Soon after that, newcomer Tom Drennan had the ball in the net as poor Laois struggled to find their feet, literally and metaphorically.
The visitors struggled to such an extent it took them 13 minutes to get their first shot on target, with David Cuddy pointing a free after a foul on Seamus Cuddy. Laois were awarded a penalty in the 16th minute after Patrick Phelan was fouled, but Niall Rigney's shot went high over the bar. Meanwhile, Kilkenny continued on their merry and easy-scoring way, with Shefflin, Drennan and Jimmy Coogan causing most damage. At half-time, the winners led by 3-10 to 0-5.
Kilkenny relaxed somewhat during the second half, but even at that the opposition were unable to make much inroads. When Laois did get the ball into the Kilkenny net after 49 minutes the goal was disallowed and when play was called back they had a player dismissed. Des Conroy had actually netted but after disallowing the score, the referee called over Damien Culleton and showed him a red card for felling home defender Dermot Grogan in the lead-up to the score. The game meandered its way to the inevitable conclusion subsequently, but really the exercise was of little value to either side. "No one gets any satisfaction out of beating a team like this," insisted Kilkenny selector Johnny Walsh. "We know we will face a much stiffer test against Waterford next week. However, it is nice to start the year with a win."
KILKENNY: J McGarry; M Kavanagh, N Hickey, D Grogan; P Larkin, E Kennedy, P Barry; C Brennan, DJ Carey (0-2); JP Corcoran (0-1), J Hoyne (0-2), S Grehan (0-1); J Coogan (0-4), T Drennan [R O] (2-1), H Shefflin (1-5). Subs: M Hoyne for Brennan (36 min), S Dowling for Kennedy (48 min), D Lyng for Barry (58 mins).
LAOIS: J Lyons; PJ Peacock, P Cuddy, N Lacey; P Mahon, N Rigney (0-1), R Delaney (0-1); D Cuddy (0-6), J Phelan; F O'Sullivan, C Cuddy (0- 1), E Meagher; D Culleton, S Cuddy, P Phelan. Subs: D Killeen for Lacey (21 min), S Dooley for Peacock (36 mins), D Conroy (0-2) for Meagher (46 mins), A Coffey for P Phelan (53 mins).
Referee: S Roche (Tipperary).
