By Barry McEvoy
Laois kept their Joe McDonagh Cup ambitions alive with a comprehensive victory over Kildare in O'Moore Park this afternoon.
Willie Maher's men struggled early on as the conditions didn't allow for much free flowing hurling, but a late flurry in the first half set them up perfectly to march on to victory after the break.
Laois had experienced mixed fortunes coming into this game, with one win, one draw and one loss on their record so far in this competition, whereas Kildare's league form has deserted them and they entered this afternoon's game with three losses from three.
It was very much a slow burner as the sides struggled in the intense wind and rain that engulfed Portlaoise.
Laois led 0-04 to 0-01 after 17 minutes, all scores coming courtesy of Stephen Maher dead balls in response to a Cian Boran effort from play.
Maher kicked off another flurry Laois scores on 24 minutes with an effort from a free, Ross King scoring their first from play a minute later and Maher capped off the trio with a fine score from distance.
David Qualter pointed a couple of free for the visitors but they were struggling to put any menacing plays together and fell victim of the wind advantage by hitting seven wides.
As the sun began to shine for the final five minutes of the half Laois found another gear. Maher pointed his seventh of the half on 30 minutes.
Stephen Bergin benefitted from some excellent hassling by Martin Phelan to notch a point and the resulting puck out went straight to Aidan Corby who made a powerful run through the middle before handing off to Tomas Keyes who buried the ball across the top of the grass into the bottom right corner for the game's only goal.
Keyes followed up immediately with a point and Laois were on the up.
Cian Boran had the final say of the half with a point for Kildare by David Herity's men trailed the hosts 1-10 to 0-04.
The scoring didn't pick up much in the second half as the sides traded three points each in the opening 15 minutes.
Further scores from Bergin and Maher increased the Laois lead to 11, but sub Killian Harrington quickly responded for Kildare.
Ross King had a majestic game in the middle of the field and the split the posts twice in quick succession midway through the half as Laois continued to turn the screw.
Qualter fired one back for Kildare but it no sooner hit the back netting and Jack Kelly had one back for Laois at the other end.
Laois continued to press on the attack and Martin Phelan pointed a brace from full forward before Maher added another free and James Duggan pointed from the bench in the 70th minute.
Qualter got a brace in vain for Kildare at the death but James Duggan capped off a fine cameo from the bench with a second point with the final puck.
Laois are now headed to Tralee next weekend to face Kerry whilst Kildare have to battle Down in a relegation decider.
Laois: Enda Rowland; Donnchadh Hartnett, Fiachra C Fennell, Ian Shanahan; Ryan Mullaney, Padraig Delaney, Jack Kelly (0-01); Aidan Corby, Ross King (0-05); Paddy Purcell, Stephen Maher (0-10, 8f), James Keyes; Tomas Keyes (1-01), Martin Phelan (0-02), Stephen Bergin (0-02).
Subs: John Lennon for Keyes (56), James Duggan (0-02) for Bergin (56), Gearoid Lynch for Mullaney (56), Pauric Dunne for Delaney (60), Liam Senior for King (66)
Kildare: Paddy McKenna; Neil O'Muineachain, Simon Lacey, Cormac Byrne; Alan Goss, Rian Boran, Drew Costello; Sean Christanseen, Paul Dolan; Declan Flaherty (0-01), Johnny Byrne, Mark Delaney; Brian Byrne, Cian Boran (0-03), David Qualter (0-06, 5f).
Subs: Killian Harrington (0-01) for Flaherty (38), Richie Hogan for Leacy (52), Frank Bass for C Boran (56), Micheal Hogan for Sean Christianseen (63), Sean Whelan for Delaney (68), Harry Carroll for Costello (69)
Referee: Patrick Murphy (Carlow)
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