Dublin rounded off their National Hurling League Division 1B campaign with a routine win over Laois in a miserable O’Moore Park.
There was barely anything to play for in this game as Laois were already relegated to Division 2 regardless of the result here following defeat to Carlow last week.
For Dublin, there was only a very slim chance that they could gain promotion as it would involve them winning and already promoted Offaly defeating Waterford.
But by the time this game threw in, Offaly had been reduced to 14 men and Waterford were in control of the tie – winning well in the end and meaning that Dublin remain in Division 1B for another season.
A strong wind howled towards Abbeyleix and Laois failed to make use of it in the first half as they trailed by three points thanks to a goal from Darragh Power midway through the half.
In the end, the game hinged on a 30 second phase in the second half where Laois had a goal chance blocked off the line and one end only for Dublin to go down and score their second down the other.
Speaking afterwards, it was this moment that defeated Laois manager Tommy Fitzgerald referenced. He said: “That was a six point swing.
“We had the goal chance with seven minutes to go, it gets cleared off the line for us and they went straight down and scored one.
“So that was the game then but I was proud of how our lads stood up to them physically.”
Dublin started this one well as Ronan Hayes, Darragh Power and Diarmaid O Dulaing fired them into a three point lead by the 12th minute as their running game was proving successful against the strong breeze.
Aaron Dunphy and James Duggan responded for Laois but Dublin then struck for their first goal when Conor Donohoe picked out Darragh Power with an exquisite pass across the field and the latter smashed into the net from close range, leaving Eoin Fleming with no chance.
Laois played better after that but although they did rally, they still trailed 1-9 to 0-9 at half time.
The opening 15 minutes or so of the second half were quiet with two frees from PJ Scully the only scores for Laois while Dublin fired through O’Riain, Hayes and Currie.
There was one final blow for Laois when Dublin countered quickly after Sean Brennan saved a Ben Conroy shot and got the ball down to David Purcell to rattle the net from close range with his first possession of the ball.
Laois battled on after that but the game was up as Dublin cruised to victory in the end.
Laois 0-13 Dublin 2-21
SCORERS – Laois: PJ Scully 0-4 (three frees), Aaron Dunphy 0-3 (one 65), Aidan Corby and James Duggan 0-2 each, Mark Dowling and Fiachra C Fennell 0-1 each. Dublin: Darragh Power 1-2, Diarmaid O Dulaing 0-4 (frees), David Purcell 1-0, Sean Currie (two frees), Conal O’Riain, and A. Jamieson-Murphy 0-3 each, Ronan Hayes and Brian Hayes 0-2 each, Conor Donohoe and John Hetherton 0-1 each
LAOIS: LAOIS: Eoin Fleming; Diarmaid Conway, Lee Cleere, Cody Comerford; Ryan Mullaney, Eoin Gaughan, Jordan Walshe; Fiachra C-Fennell, David Dooley; Aaron Dunphy, Tomas Keyes, Aidan Corby; PJ Scully, Mark Dowling, James Duggan. Subs: Ben Conroy for Duggan (49), Donnchadh Hartnett for Cleere (55), John Lennon for Dowling (58), Colin Byrne for T Keyes (68), James Keyes for Dunphy (68)
DUBLIN: Sean Brennan; Andy Dunphy, Paddy Smyth, Conor McHugh; Paul O’Dea, Paddy Doyle, Kevin Burke; Conor Burke, Conor Donohoe; Darragh Power, Conal O’Riain, Brian Hayes; Sean Currie, Ronan Hayes, Diarmaid O Dulaing. Subs: David Lucey for Doyle (45), John Hetherton for O Dulaing (48), Iain O hEither for O’Dea (51), A. Jamieson-Murphy for C Burke (56), David Purcell for R Hayes (64)
REFEREE: James Owens (Wexford)
