Dublin edged out 14-man Laois at Parnell Park, 0-13 to 0-11, but both teams will advance to the quarter-finals.

The hosts trailed by a point with five minutes left but finished strongest to record their fourth victory of the Spring. Mattie Kenny's charges will finish either first or second on the final 1B table, depending on the outcome of the rearranged fixture between Waterford and Galway, whose meeting scheduled for this afternoon was called off due to the inclement weather.

Laois were looking for victory to guarantee themselves a place in the last eight but Offaly’s 4-8 to 1-10 defeat of Carlow at Dr Cullen Park means they remain in fourth place anyway, despite being beaten, and will take on All-Ireland champions Limerick next weekend for a place in the semi-finals.

In messy conditions, a run of four unanswered points from Willie Dunphy, Mark Kavanagh (2) and Enda Rowland (free) had the O’Moore County ahead by 0-7 to 0-3 after fifteen minutes but the Dubs slotted the last three points of the half, all from David Treacy frees, to trail by the minimum at half time, 0-7 to 0-6.

Exchanges remained tight and the midlanders, who had Charles Dwyer sent off in the 57th minute, still led by the minimum approaching the closing stages after the first eight points of the second half were shared, Kavanagh’s fourth point making it 0-11 to 0-10 after 63 minutes. However, a brace of Danny Sutcliffe points in the 65th minute edged the hosts ahead, with centre back Sean Moran adding a pointed ‘65’ on the stroke of full time.

Dublin - S Brennan; P Smyth, E O'Donnell, J Madden; D Gray, S Moran (0-2f), S Barrett (0-1); J Malone, R McBride; J Hetherton (0-1), D Sutcliffe (0-3), D Treacy (0-3f); P Ryan, L Rushe, D Burke. Subs: O O'Rorke (0-2) for P Ryan, C Boland (0-1) for J Malone, E Dillon for D Burke, R Hayes for J Hetherton, F Whitely for D Treacy.

Laois - E Rowland (0-1f); J Phelan, M Whelan, D Hartnett; P Delaney, R Mullaney, L Cleere; S Downey (0-1), W Dunphy (0-1); A Dunphy (0-1), M Kavanagh (0-4, 3f), C Dwyer (0-2); P Purcell (0-1), N Foyle, S Maher. Subs: S Bergin for W Dunphy, J Kelly for S Maher, P Keating for N Foyle, C Phelan for S Downey.

Referee - L Gordon.

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