Carlow 2-23

Laois 1-18

Trailing by a point at half-time, Carlow produced a dominant second half performance to overwhelm Laois in Round 2 of the Walsh Cup at O'Moore Park.

Buoyed by their first round victory over Offaly, Laois led by 1-13 to 2-9 at the end of an evenly-contested opening half, but Eddie Brennan's men only added four points in the second period as a haul of 1-10 from Marty Kavanagh helped Carlow to their first win of the campaign.

Stephen 'Picky' Maher gave the hosts a dream start with a goal inside 40 seconds, but Kavanagh hit back with a trio of points to level by the sixth minute. Scores from Jack Kelly and PJ Scully restored Laois' lead and they had gone five points clear before Kavanagh revived the Joe McDonagh Cup champions with a goal.

A second goal from Ciaran Whelan gave Carlow the lead for the first time before Laois replied with points from Maher, Scully and Dwane Palmer to take a slender advantage into the break.

But their challenge faded completely after the restart when Colm Bonnar's men cut loose with scores from Kavanagh, Ross Smithers, Sean Whelan, Jack Murphy and David English to run out convincing winners and put their mid-week defeat to Dublin behind them.

Carlow - B Tracey; G Bennett, K McDonald, M Doyle; E Nolan, D English (0-2, 1f), R Coady; J Kavanagh (0-1), D Byrne; S Whelan (0-2), J Nolan (0-1), J Murphy (0-2); M Kavanagh (1-10, 0-5f), T Joyce, C Whelan (1-1). Subs: R Smithers (0-2) for D Byrne, D Murphy (0-1) for T Joyce, C Nolan (0-1) for J Murphy.

Laois - E Fleming; D Hartnett, M Whelan, L Bergin; J Kelly (0-1), E Killeen, R Mullaney; C Stapleton, PJ Scully (0-6, 3f); A Dunphy (0-4), E Lyons, S Maher (1-2); M Kavanagh (0-2), W Dunphy, S Bergin. Subs: D Palmer (0-1) for W Dunphy, C Phelan for L Bergin, P Purcell (0-2) for C Stapleton, N Foyle for M Kavanagh, P Keating for S Bergin.

Referee - S Guinan.

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