Waterford 0-25 Laois 3-11 Waterford banked another two league points at Walsh Park yesterday to add to the brace they collected so impressively away to Kilkenny in the first round of games, but it took them a long time to overcome stubborn Laois resistance.
From the time Liam Tynan scored Laois's first goal to put them ahead in the seventh minute, the visitors held the lead until midway through the second half.
That goal was followed in less than a minute by another from corner forward Damian Culleton. When Tynan immediately added a point, Waterford found themselves 2-2 to 0-2 behind after eight minutes. That was despite Culleton spurning an open goal within 90 seconds of the start and the visiting forwards shooting a succession of wides.
But with Tony Browne at centreback and forwards Dan Shanahan and John Mullane coming into the game, Waterford began to recover. Shanahan made a particularly vital impact with some majestic points.
Laois still led 2-6 to 0-11 at halftime, however, and Culleton found the net for them again within a minute of the re-start as if to remind the home side they were in a real contest.
From there Waterford gradually took a grip on proceedings, and six points shared evenly between Paul Flynn, Dave Bennett and Mullane, as against two in reply from David Cuddy and Tommy Fitzgerald, had the sides level 14 minutes into the second period.
Another point from Shanahan put Waterford in front three minutes later, and between that and the end the winners, showing superior skill in front of a 7,000 crowd, put over seven more points. Laois responded with just two pointed frees from James Young.
WATERFORD: I O'Regan; T Feeney, D Prendergast, D O'Brien; E Murphy, T Browne, B Phelan; D Bennett (0-3, two frees), M Walsh; E Kelly (0-1), D Shanahan (0-6), P Flynn (0-8, frees); J Mullane (0-3), S Prendergast (0-3), S Ryan. Subs: J Kennedy (0-1) for Kelly, D Coffey for Feeney, P O'Brien for Flynn, B Wall for Walsh, S O'Sullivan for Ryan.
LAOIS: K Calvin; L Mahon, P Cuddy, C Cuddy; J Fitzpatrick, F Keenan, M McEvoy; J Young (0-5, frees), J Walsh; C Coonan, D Cuddy (0-2, frees), S Dwyer; T Fitzgerald (0-2), L Tynan (1-1), D Culleton (2-1). Subs: J Dunne for Fitzpatrick, C Brophy for Dwyer, E Maher for Keenan, D Walsh for J Walsh, P Mahon for L Mahon.
Referee: J McDonnell (Tipperary)
