Eamonn Dillon on the double as senior hurlers progress

DUBLIN 2-28 LAOIS 1-15

Dublin had little difficulty overcoming Laois in this All-Ireland SHC first round qualifier at Parnell Park on Saturday evening and now enter Monday morning's second round draw.

The Dubs led by minimum at the interval, 0-12 to 0-11, but with the wind at their back in the second period the soon began to put clear distance between the teams.

Nh Fionnbarra's Eamonn Dillon had a second half to remember, tallying 2-3 to add to his first half point from play.

It was his goal six minutes into the second half that propelled the Dubs to victory when he controlled a long delivery from corner-back Fionn O Riain Broin before dispatching clinically to the net past Enda Rowland.

That strike pushed Dublin 1-14 to 0-13 clear before points from David Treacy, Donal Burke, two from Dillon including one of the scores of the night when Shane Barrett, Ben Quinn, Fergal Whitely and Dillon combined superbly.

Ger Cunningham's men were enjoying their hurling now and kept the momentum going with further points from Treacy (free), Dillon, Treacy again, two from sub Whitely and David O'Callaghan to see their side out of sight, leading 1-24 to 0-13.

Three minutes from the end of normal time Dillon, with a stunning shot to the roof of the net, made it 2-27 to 0-13 before sub John Hetherton added a close range free - to make it 1-14 for the Dubs without reply.

Of pure consolation was Laois' late goal from keeper Rowland from a 25-metre free and point from Mark Kavanagh.

Kavanagh along with Paddy Purcell were the O'Moore County's best performers and both caused problems for their hosts in the opening half.

Dublin started slowly and trailed 0-1 to 0-4 inside seven minutes.

However, Dublin eventually found their feet and the freetaking of Treacy alongside two fine points from starting debutant Cian O'Sullivan had Dublin back in contention as the half progressed.

SCORERS – Dublin: E Dillon 2-4, D Treacy 0-9 (0-6f), C O’Sullivan, B Quinn 0-3 each, D Burke, D O’Callaghan, F Whitely 0-2 each, S Barrett, N McMorrow, J Hetherton (0-1f) 0-1 each. Laois: M Kavanagh 0-6 (0-2f), P Purcell 0-5, E Rowland 1-1 (1-1f), M Whelan, C Taylor, C Collier 0-1 each.

DUBLIN: C Dooley; C O’Callaghan, E O’Donnell, F Ó Riain Broin; S Barrett, C Crummey, S Moran; B Quinn, N McMorrow; D Burke, L Rushe, E Dillon; C O’Sullivan, R O’Dwyer, D Treacy. Subs: F Whitely for McMorrow (49), D O’Callaghan for O’Sullivan (60), F McGibb for Burke (62), J Hetherton for O’Dwyer (65), T Connolly for Moran (65)

LAOIS: E Rowland; D Palmer, L Bergin, L Cleere; E Killeen, M Whelan, R Mullaney; P Purcell, S Downey; C Healy, C Collier, J Kelly; N Foyle, A Dunphy, M Kavanagh. Subs: C Taylor for Kelly (ht), A Corby for Dunphy (52), S Bergin for Downey (56), D Hartnett for Killeen (71), P Lawlor for Collier (71)

REF: J Keenan (Wicklow).