Lalor on fire as Stradbally Town defeat Mountmellick United for Laois Combined Counties glory

Stradbally Town 3 Mountmellick United 2 
CCFL Laois Cup Final 

The Laois section of the CCFL Summer League came to a conclusion in Abbeyleix at the weekend.

Stradbally Town and Mountmellick United clashed in the decider with the chance to join the Longford, Offaly and Westmeath champions in the semi finals.

In a thoroughly entertaining affair, Stradbally played with the wind at their backs and made a very first start.

Justin Lalor’s through ball was brilliantly latched onto by Benny Lawlor and he slotted the ball through the legs of keeper Conor Comiskey.

Lalor turned from provider to scorer minutes later when he received a pass from Benny Lawlor and smashed a shot into the top corner of the net.

Stradbally looked like they were going to run away with the game but Mountmellick struck back after 15 minutes when Robbie Hibbits was fouled and Shane O’Connell smashed home the penalty.

But just minutes later, Lalor was at it again as he produced another brilliant shot from long range that proved unstoppable.

But a crazy first half had another few twists still to come. A minute after the goal, O’Connell was fouled for another Mountmellick penalty but this time his effort went over.

Then after 27 minutes, when a long clearance wasn’t dealt with by the Stradbally defence, Mountmellick did score through Shane Dowling.

However, they were rocked again after 30 minutes when they were reduced to 10 men.

Benny Lawlor ran onto a long ball over the top and got to the ball before Mountmellick keeper Conor Comiskey who took down the Stradbally forward just outside the box.

The referee was left with little choice but to send the stopper off and Mountmellick had to play the final hour with a man less.

From here, Stradbally professionally saw out the game and used their extra man to perfection to win.

They now face Clara Town in the Lawn in Stradbally in the semi final on Saturday evening at 6pm.

STRADBALLY TOWN: Wayne Comerford; Colin Beale, Keelan Barry, Noel Delaney, Colin Murphy; Liam Clancy, Justin Lalor, Cillian Maher, Damien Murphy; Padraig Fitzpatrick, Benny Lawlor. Subs: Jack Langton for Clancy (HT), Podge Dunne for Fitzpatrick (58), Aaron Wright for Maher (81), Connor Buggie for Lawlor (87)

MOUNTMELLICK UNITED: Conor Comiskey: Robbie Hibbits, John Watchorne, Daragh Kelly, Ethan Lawlor; Mark Dowling, Shane O’Connell, Luke O’Connor; Oran Murphy, Mark Grennan, Shane Dowling. Subs: Rian Coss for O’Connor (31), Justin Collins for Grennan (60), Eoghan O’Riordan for Hibbits (79)

Referee: Kevin Bryant

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source https://www.laoistoday.ie/2021/08/09/lalor-on-fire-as-stradbally-town-defeat-mountmellick-united-for-laois-combined-counties-glory/