Dublin closed out their Allianz National Hurling League campaign with an emphatic 1-29 to 0-20 victory over Laois at Parnell Park on Sunday afternoon.
Micheál Donoghue's team were powered by Donal Burke, who tallied twelve points with seven of those coming from frees.
This helped Dublin open up an early seven point lead, a cushion that seemed to have the stuffing cut out of it in the second half when the hosts went over fifteen minutes without registering a single score.
Stephen Maher converted three frees during this period, and that reduced a once seemingly untouchable gap to just four points.
It seemed, at that point on Sunday, that Dublin couldn’t do anything right as attempt after attempt was signalled as a wide.
This was a total contrast to the first half, which saw almost every member of the forward line put something over. Burke did not miss a single free and Alex Considine raised a green flag after shooting from close range. This justified a strong start that would have had a bigger lead for Dublin if not for the heroics of Laois goalkeeper Enda Rowland, who pulled off three excellent saves in quick succession.
Dublin didn’t seem to mind, as they continued to put over scores and Laois looked lost as they struggled to get to grips with the pace of the game.
This was a response from Dublin to last week at Nowlan Park, an afternoon that ended with them losing 2-25 to 1-17 to Kilkenny.
They went into the break leading by seven, and it felt like the team just ran out of steam once things restarted. Laois took advantage of this with Maher netting three consecutive frees, and the travelling fans began dreaming of a comeback.
Dublin found composure by bringing on a host a subs. Cian Costello was the best of those as he put over two scores, and that was the start of another free scoring run by the Dubs.
They closed things out rather comfortably, and it would have been more if not for another collection of saves by Rowland. Burke kept an almost perfect record from frees, and more and more members of the team began contributing.
Laois hit over some late scores, with the majority of these coming from Maher’s hurley. This barely dented Dublin’s lead which assured the win by the hour mark.
Micheál Donoghue's men now have a little break now after finishing in third place, and their collective attention will soon turn to the opening game of the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship against Antrim in Belfast in April.
Dublin: Sean Brennan; Paddy Doyle, Eoghan O'Donnell, Paddy Smyth, Conor Donohue, Conor Burke (0-1), Daire Gray (0-1), Eddie Moran, Chris O’Leary, Donal Burke (0-12, 7f), Danny Sutcliffe (0-1), Cian Boland (0-3), Paul Crummey (0-1), Cian O’Sullivan (0-2), Alex Considine (1-3).
Subs: Darragh Power (0-1) for Conor Donohoe (25), Dara Purcell (0-2) for Conor Donohoe (35), Cian Costello (0-2) for Chris O’Leary (42), James Madden for Cian O’Sullivan (60), Fergal Whitely for Cian O’Sullivan (58), Aidan Mellett for Danny Sutcliffe (70).
Laois: Enda Rowland; Padraic Dunne, Podge Delaney, Donnchadh Hartnett, Liam Senior, Ryan Mullaney, Ian Shanahan, Padraig Lalor, Jack Kelly (0-2), Aidan Corby (0-1), Stephen Maher (0-12, 11f), James Keyes (0-1), Stephen Bergin (0-3), William Dunphy, Aaron Dunphy.
Subs: Ross King for Aaron Dunphy (42), Tomas Keyes (0-1) for William Dunphy (50), PJ Scully for Stephen Bergin (55), Colm Stapleton for Padraig Lawlor (63)
Referee: Shane Hynes
