A superb second-half display swept Laois into the Leinster semi final with a 12 point, 4-14 to 0-14 victory over a very disappointing Dublin side at Nowlan Park in Kilkenny, in a game that never reached championship standard, in front of 1500 spectators.
It took three goals to give Laois a half-time lead, but while Humphrey Kelleher’s Dublin side had the advantage of the wind in the second period, they were totally out hurled and played much of that second period with 14 men after full back Stephen Perkins was sent off.
Perkins and center back Simon Daly had been left out of the starting lineout just before the game fuelling rumors of trouble in the Dublin camp, but manager Kelleher dismissed this afterwards saying “both have been doing exams all week”, and quipping “we must have the best educated team in Ireland."
Certainly they got a hurling lesson from Laois in the second half, as they were held scoreless for 26 minutes and were outplayed in most sectors of the park.
However, Laois manager Paudi Butler was pleased: “That second half display was more like what we are capable of. That performance was coming for a long time and really we should have done that two years ago here against them."
"We scored 4-14 but really we should have scored more and that is something we will have to work on. We are delighted to be back in Croke Park. It is a while since a Laois team played there”
Kelleher was disappointed: “There is no way we were 12 points a worse team but we will get on with the job of building a team. They are young and eager and they are gutted in that dressing room”
Dublin had made sweeping changes before the start with both full-back Stephen Perkins and center-back Simon Daly left out of the team.
Dublin opened with a point from a David Curtin free but Laois struck a goal when Damien Culleton got inside the defense scooped, up the ball on the run and slotted it in the corner. James Young added a point to give Laois the early advantage.
Dublin hit back with five unanswered scores with David Curtin and Emmett Carroll hitting a brace each with Stuart Mullin adding another for a 0-6 to 1-1 lead after 22 minutes.
Then Laois scored their second goal when James Young rifled the ball to the net. Points from Young and substitute Enda Meagher gave them a three-point lead.
Dublin were playing the better hurling and were back on level terms with scores from Tommy Moore, David Curtin and Emmett Carroll, but in injury time, a long ball from Darren Rooney was well won by Tommy Fitzgerald and he delivered a perfect pass to Liam Tynan who rattled the Dublin net for a 3-3 to 0-9 half-time advantage.
Laois got into their stride on the restart and hit a succession of points from James Young (3) and Seamus O’Dwyer before Hiney got a straight red card for a reckless pull on Damien Culleton.
Culleton dusted himself down and three minutes later fired home his side’s fourth goal with a smashing lift and strike effort on the run.
Points from Young, Liam Tynan and Culleton gave Laois a 14-point lead with Dublin getting a few late scores as their opposition eased up.
Laois: P Mullaney, B Campion, P Cuddy, M McEvoy, J Fitzpatrick, D Rooney, S O’Dwyer 0-1, J Young 1-9, J Walsh, J Phelan, J Rowney, L Tynan 1-1, T Fitzgerald, M Rooney, D Culleton 2-1.
Subs: E Meagher 0-1 for Rowney, P Russell 0-1 for M Rooney, C Brophy for Culleton, C Healy for Walsh.
Dublin: G Maguire, G Bennett, S O’Shea, G O’Meara, D Sweeney, R Fallon 0-1, S Hiney, T Moore, S McDonald, M Carton, D Curtin 0-4, D O’Reilly, E Carroll 0-3, M Breathnach, S Mullen 0-1.
Subs: S Perkins for O’Shea, P Carton for Mullen, C Meehan 0-1 for M Carton, S Daly for S McDonald, A De Paor 0-1 for Fallon.
Referee: T McIntyre Antrim
