Senior hurlers suffer knockout blow by Laois

ALL-IRELAND SHC PRELIMINARY QUARTER-FINAL

DUBLIN 0-23 LAOIS 1-22

Dublin senior hurlers' summer is over after being rocked by a vibrant Laois in Sunday's All-Ireland SHC preliminary quarter-final at O'Moore Park, Portlaoise.

The Joe McDonagh winners, having defeated Westmeath just seven days previous, hurled with great vigour and energy while their game-plan worked a treat.

Dublin, for their part, failed to reach the highs of their recent Leinster SHC round-robin victory over Galway with their hosts determining the terms of engagement of this duel.

The home side operated with a two-man full-forward line from the outset with Cha Dwyer partnering Paddy Purcell to telling effect to free up John Lennon to play the sweeper role.

Lennon did the job expertly and it was obvious from an early stage that Laois had done their work on how Dublin had unlocked the Galway defence - they were determined that a repeat was not on in Portlaoise.

The O'Moore County led from the start but Dublin did rally strongly in the second half to get level but crucially Laois lifted their game again with the long-range shooting keeping Dublin on the back foot.

Laois got a great start with the only goal of the game arriving in the ninth minute when Willie Dunphy didn't give up on a ball heading towards the endline and angled through on goal, Alan Nolan parried his effort but Aaron Dunphy was loitering and he batted the rebound to the net to give his side a 1-3 to 0-2 lead, Ronan Hayes doing well early on for Dublin.

Dublin didn't get too many sightings of goal but Eamonn Dillon did break through in the 28th minute but was denied by Laois keeper Enda Rowland at his near post.

The Dubs attack did not get their combination play going and Laois moved 1-12 to 0-8 ahead before Danny Sutcliffe began to work his way into the game and points from the St Jude's man and Conal Keaney reduced the deficit to 1-12 to 0-10 by the interval.

Dublin improved on the restart with the industrious Cian Boland hitting two points and Oisin O'Rorke adding a third.

The Dubs were coming stronger with O'Rorke firing over a free but vitally Aaron Dunphy and Mark Kavanagh replied for the home side and it was that ability to respond to every Dublin move by lifting their game again.

Dublin probably needed a goal to really ignite their charge for victory, Danny Sutcliffe went for the top corner from 20 metres but was denied by and athletic Enda Rowland full length save.

From the resulting '65' Oisin O'Rorke pointed and added two more converted free with Danny Sutcliffe flashing over a fine point to bring the sides level, 1-15 to 0-18, by the 55th minute.

But back came Laois again with their ability to find their man in space and strike well from range to push Dublin back.

The Dubs, who hit 16 wides overall, bombarded the Laois goal with aerial ball late on but it wasn't to be despite Laois being reduced to 14 players following the second yellow card dismissal of John Lennon.

Sean Moran had one late free for Dublin, it was at a difficult angle for a goal attempt and his high shot was parried over for a point and with it went Dublin's last change of salvaging anything.

SCORERS - Laois: M Kavanagh 0-9 (0-7f, 0-1 '65'), A Dunphy 1-2, W Dunphy 0-4, C Dwyer, E Rowland (0-2f) 0-2 each, J Kelly, P Purcell, R King 0-1 each. Dublin: O O'Rorke 0-12 (0-10f, 0-1 '65'), C Boland 0-3, R Hayes, D Sutcliffe 0-2 each, S Moran (0-1f), E Dillon, C Keaney, P Ryan (0-1f) 0-1 each.