Laois secure their divisional status

Laois 2-16 Wexford 0-10:LAOIS SECURED their league status as they handed Wexford a 12-point drubbing at Wexford Park yesterday.

While the Wexford flag did flutter defiantly for a brief second-half spell, with two Darren Foran points keeping them within five points of their opponents with 12 minutes remaining, that was as close as they got as Laois finished impressively.

When Wexford went in trailing 1-3 to 0-5 at the interval, having played with the breeze, it was clear that Jason Ryan’s side faced a huge task if they were to gain their first points of the campaign.

When Donie Kingston crashed home a 29th-minute goal, the writing was on the wall for Wexford. Pádraig McMahon then scored a goal in the 47th minute, leaving his side leading 2-6 to 0-7.

Wexford managed a brief recovery but thereafter it was all downhill as the Laois dominance increased and they were in no way flattered with the 12-point winning margin.

LAOIS: M Nolan; P Begley, C Ryan, R Stapleton; D Rooney, G Reddin, P McMahon (1-2); P Clancy (0-1), K Meaney; B McCormack, B Quigley, B Sheehan (0-2); MJ Tierney (0-6, five frees), R Munnelly (0-2), D Kingston (1-1). Subs: J O’Loughlin for Reddin (inj, 9 mins), P O’Leary for Quigley (inj, 17 mins), A Fennelly for Begley (yellow, 45 mins), P McNulty (0-1) for McCormack (63 mins), C Bergin (0-1) for Munnelly (68 mins), S Conlon for Kingston (69 mins).

WEXFORD: A Masterson; D Carter, P Wallace, B Malone; C Morris, D Murphy, N Murphy; D Bradley, D Fogarty; S Roche (0-3, one free), A Flynn, D Kinsella (0-1); C Lyng, P Colfer, M Forde (0-4, three frees). Subs: D Foran (0-2) for Lyng (yellow, 9 mins), A Morrissey for Colfer (47 mins), D Walsh for N Murphy (yellow, 50 mins), C Deely for Kinsella (60 mins), C Byrne for Forde (68 mins).

Referee: P Hughes (Armagh).