Dublin 2-28 Laois 1-15
Ger Cunningham’s Senior Hurlers put in an emphatic second half performance against the O’Moore County this evening, to keep their All Ireland hopes alive for another day. And an outstanding scoring performance from both Eamonn Dillon and David Treacy saw Dublin make light work of the visitors
After Eamonn Dillon opened Dublin’s account, Laois certainly settled stronger in the opening exchanges in a sun kissed Parnell Park, with Patrick Purcell aiding a 0-05 to 0-01 lead within five minutes, clearly using the wind to their advantage.
But it wasn’t long before the Dubs calmed the nerves and Donal Burke, Cian O’Sullivan (2) and Ben Quinn (2) got the scoreboard ticking. David Treacy pushed 0-04 in frees over the bar and Niall McMorrow sent a long range score over. Dublin were matching Laois score for score and claimed a vital extra point to send them in ahead at the break 0-12 to 0-11
The second session brought that wind advantage to Dublin’s favour, and they completely capitalised and ran rampant over their opponents. Despite sending the first 2 attempts wide and Mark Kavanagh drawing Laois level, Treacy and O’Sullivan swung the advantage back in their favour before Dillon pounced on the first goal opportunity.
in the sixth minute, The Barrs forward caught a huge ball from the back line, spun away towards the Laois goal and slotted it neatly into the bottom corner.
From there it was, quite literally, one way traffic. Dublin played out the rest of normal time scoring 0-13 unanswered, before Dillon once again played a sublime shot past Enda Rowland in the Laois goal, but the game was over well before it. Substitutes Dotsy O’Callaghan and John Hetherton added their names to the score card, only adding to Dublin’s dominance.
Matthew Whelan sent a long ball over for Laois before keeper Rowland ran the length of the pitch for a 21 metre free which he converted into a goal to save the visitors blushes.
But tonight belonged to Ger Cunningham’s side who undoubtedly earned their place in the next round of qualifiers.
They’ll have to wait until Monday morning to find out their opponents, but for this evening they can appreciate an outstanding performance in front of a huge home crowd.
Scorers for Dublin:
Eamonn Dillon 2-04
David Treacy 0-09 (0-6f)
Ben Quinn 0-03
Cian O’Sullivan 0-03
Donal Burke 0-02
Fergal Whitely 0-02
David O’Callaghan 0-02
Niall McMorrow 0-01
Shane Barrett 0-01
John Hetherton 0-01 (1f)
Scorers for Laois:
Patrick Purcell 0-05
Mark Kavanagh 0-05 (0-2f)
Enda Rowland 1-01 (all f)
Matthew Whelan 0-01
Ciaran Collier 0-01
Cahiry Healy 0-01
Dublin
1. Conor Dooley
2. Cian O’Callaghan
3. Eoghan O’Donnell
4. Fionn O’Riain Broin
7. Shane Barrett
6. Chris Crummey
5. Sean Moran
8. Ben Quinn
9. Niall McMorrow
10. Donal Burke
11. Liam Rushe
12. Eamonn Dillon
13. Cian O’Sullivan
14. Ryan O’Dwyer
15. David Treacy
Subs
Fergal Whitley for McMorrow (48)
David O’Callaghan for O’Sullivan (60)
Fiontan McGibb for Burke (62)
John Hetherton for O Riain Broin (65)
Tomas Connolly for Moran (65)
Laois
1. Enda Rowland
2. Dwane Palmer
3. Leigh Bergin
4. Lee Cleere
5. Eric Killeen
6. Matthew Whelan
10. Ryan Mullaney
8. Patrick Purcell
11. Cahir Healy
12. Sean Downey
7. Ciaran Collier
9. Jack Kelly
14. Neil Foyle
15. Aaron Dunphy
13. Mark Kavanagh
Subs
Cian Taylor for Kelly (ht)
Aidan Corby for Dubphy (52)
Stephen Bergin for Downey (57)
Donncha Hartnett for Killeen (70)
Padraig Lawlor for Collier (70)