Laois 2-18
Carlow 0-13

Laois' rehabilitation under Seamus 'Cheddar' Plunkett continued at O'Moore Park this afternoon as they easily brushed aside the challenge of 12-man Carlow.

Willie Hyland and Zane Keenan raised green flags in either half for the winners who will host champions Galway in the Leinster SHC semi-final on June 16, but the big talking point afterwards was the dismissal of three Carlow players in the final 10 minutes.

Shane Kavanagh and Paul Coady will miss the first round of the All-Ireland qualifiers after receiving straight red cards, while Jack Kavanagh was also sent off on two yellows. The sending offs had no bearing on the outcome as Laois already had the game won, having scored 10 points without reply between the 32nd and 43rd minutes to sap the life out of the visitors.

Stephen Maher opened the scoring for Laois, but Carlow were soon level thanks to Edward Coady. It was tit for tat until the 15th minute when Willie Hyland scored a fortuitous goal to give Laois a 1-2 to 0-3 lead.

Maher's third point made it 1-3 to 0-4, but Carlow refused to be ruffled and battled back to level through HP O'Byrne in the 32nd minute, 0-7 to 1-4. However, Laois finished the first half with unanswered scores from Maher, Hyland and Cahir Healy to lead by three at the break.

The home side picked up from they left off by adding a further seven points without reply on the resumption, with Healy, Matthew Whelan and Joe Fitzpatrick among the scorers. Carlow manager John Meyler introduced Mark Brennan, Paul Coady and Peter Shaw in a bid to stop the rot, and they managed to reduce the arrears to six points, 0-11 to 1-14, before Laois took control again.

The O'Moore's tagged on two more points before the game was well and truly ended as a contest with 10 minutes remaining when Zane Keenan blasted a 20-metre free to the net to make it 2-16 to 0-11.

David English replied with a point for the visitors who, unfortunately, lost their discipline in the closing stages and finished the game with just 12 players.

Scorers - Laois: S Maher 0-9(7fs); W Hyland 1-1; Z Keenan 1-0(f); C Healy, M Whelan(fs), J Fitzpatrick 0-2 each; T Fitzgerald, B Duggan 0-1 each. Carlow: M Kavanagh 0-4(3fs); E Coady 0-3; D English(fs), HP O'Byrne 0-2 each, JM Nolan, S Murphy 0-1 each.

Laois: E Reilly; B Stapleton, B Fitzpatrick, B Campion, JA Delaney; J Fitzpatrick, M Whelan, G Burke; C Healy, J Walsh; S Maher, Z Keenan, B Dunne; T Fitzgerald, N Foyle, W Hyland. Subs: D Maher for Campion inj (9); J Brophy for Dunne (42); B Duggan for Foyle (55)

Carlow: F Foley; D English, E Nolan, D Shaw; HP O'Byrne, A Corcoran, D Byrne; R Coady, J Kavanagh; E Coady, S Kavanagh, S Murphy; C Doyle, M Kavanagh, JM Nolan. Subs: M Brennan for Murphy (47); P Coady for D Byrne (47); P Shaw for Nolan (51); D Roberts for Doyle (67); C McCabe for D Shaw (68)

Referee: J Ryan (Tipperary) Tweet

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