Laois justify Justin McNulty's journey with big win in Wexford

Laois bossed it in Wexford to make it two wins from two in Division 4 of the Allianz NFL.

Wexford were competitive against the O'Moore County in both league and championship last year but the purple and gold never raised a meaningful challenge in this rematch, with Justin McNulty’s return to the Laois hot-seat bring about a far more vibrant showing from the blues.

McNulty was on the sideline despite having attended the return of Stormont in his role as a member of the Northern Ireland assembly earlier in the afternoon.

A dominant first-half by the Midlanders was crowned by a 34th-minute Shaun Fitzpatrick goal which set them on course as they charged 1-11 to 0-6 clear at the interval.

Wexford ultimately suffered a fifth setback since their last victory over the Laois in the league – in the lofty heights of Division 1 in 2005.

And John Hegarty’s charges, triumphant away to London in round one, must look to regroup and get their promotion hopes back on track away to Leitrim on 18 February. Laois are scheduled to host Carlow the previous day.

Amid calm conditions, the O'Moore men ruled the roost from the start, leading 0-4 to no-score inside ten minutes as defender Brian Byrne’s opener was added to by Kevin Swayne, goalie Killian Roche (free) and Niall Dunne.

Wexford were offering hope in sporadic attacks, but they were simply unconvincing at the business-end of those surges.

Wing-back Glen Malone eventually got them off the mark after 11 minutes and though fellow defender Darragh Lyons quickly shaved the gap to 0-4 to 0-2, the opposition really began to flex their superiority.

Indeed, full-forward Evan O’Carroll was unfortunate with a goal chance as the Laois lead swelled to 0-09 to 0-03 after 19 minutes – midfielder Damon Larkin