Laois are well placed for a third Joe McDonagh Cup final in a row after they defeated Down by 13 points in O'Moore Park on Saturday.
Tommy Fitzgerald's men weren't at their best but it was still good enough to beat Down on a day when Stephen 'Picky' Maher became Laois' all-time leading scorer in the championship.
The Clough-Ballacolla man scored eight points in his 50 minutes on the field and that was enough to take him to 216 points overall.
The other significant performance came from Borris-Kilcotton's Aaron Dunphy who finished with 3-05, including a second-half hat-trick.
The win means that as long as Laois avoid defeat against London next Sunday, they will face Carlow in the final in June.
Down are all but out of the running now as they will need to beat Westmeath, hope Laois lose to London, for Antrim beat Carlow and, also, see a huge swing when it comes to points difference.
Down hit the front in the opening minute thanks to a Pearse Óg McCrickard free, but Laois replied with six unanswered points, all from play.
Maher registered two of those while Martin Phelan, Tomás Keyes, Ben Conroy and Cillian Dunne all followed suit.
McCrickard replied with a free but Laois were eight points up by the 15th minute thanks to scores from Tomás Keyes, Maher and Phelan.
Daithí Sands, Tom McGrattan and McCrickard then got Down back into it with their first scores from play.
However, Dunphy's first score in the 20th minute meant that all of Laois' forwards had scored by that stage with Aidan Corby and a '65 from Maher making it 0-14 to 0-05.
Down were much the better side in the remaining 15 minutes and reduced Laois' lead substantially.
McCrickard led the way as he finished the half with seven in total while Cahal Coleman and Tim Prenter also pointed.
Dunphy ended the half on a high for Laois with a score as his side took a 0-18 to 0-11 lead into the interval.
Laois made a brilliant start to the second half as a customary driving run from Tomás Keyes was finished to the net by the Camross man.
Maher then took his tally to eight points with two frees to make him the highest scoring Laois hurler in championship history with 216 points - overtaking James Young of Clonaslee-St Manman's.
Down rallied after that with points from McCrickard and McGrattan cutting the gap to eight, but Laois finished the tie as a contest in the 52nd minute.
Martin Phelan won a long ball and fed Aidan Corby who picked out Dunphy on the run and his shot was too powerful for Down ‘keeper Pearce Smyth.
Dunphy repeated the trick four minutes later when he finished smartly after a neat pass from sub James Keyes. The Borris-Kilcotton man then completed his hat-trick after another sub, Jack Kelly, picked him out with a long ball and he slotted the ball into the bottom corner.
The sides traded points from there as Laois saw out the victory to all but guarantee themselves a trip to Croke Park once again.
Laois: Eoin Reilly; Ian Shanahan, Fiachra C-Fennell, Lee Cleere; Ciaran McEvoy, Padraig Delaney, Ryan Mullaney; David Dooley (0-02), Aidan Corby (0-03); Martin Phelan (0-03), Stephen Maher (0-08, 0-03fs), Aaron Dunphy (3-05, 0-02fs); Ben Conroy (0-01), Cillian Dunne (0-01), Tomás Keyes (1-02).
Subs: Diarmaid Conway for McEvoy (ht), Mark Dowling for Conroy (44), James Keyes (0-01) for Maher (52), Jack Kelly (0-01) for Dunne (52), Padraic Dunne for Shanahan (59).
Down: Pearce Smyth; Ronan Smyth, Ruairi McCrickard, Ben Teggart; Barry Trainor (0-01), Caolan Taggart, Niall McFarland; Donal Hughes, Tim Prenter (0-02); Pearse Óg McCrickard (0-15, 0-07fs), Finn Turpin (0-02), Daithí Sands (0-02); Tom McGrattan (0-03, 0-01f), Ronan Beatty, Cahal Coleman (0-o1).
Subs: Shea Pucci for Beatty (47), Owen McDermott for Coleman (53), Paul Sheehan (0-01, 0-01 ‘65) for Hughes (58), Tom Murray for Smyth (63).
Referee: Colm McDonald (Antrim).
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