Senior hurlers battle their way to win against Laois

Mon, 4th March 2019

HL DIVISION 1B

DUBLIN 0-13 LAOIS 0-11

Dublin fended off Laois for victory in this HL Division 1B clash played in atrocious conditions at Parnell Park on Sunday.

The Dubs now have to sit and wait to see who their quarter-final opponents are following the cancellation of several games on Sunday.

The pitch had an inspection from ref Liam Gordon but it was very tricky for players to illustrate any skill in impossible underfoot conditions.

However, the display once again of Danny Sutcliffe and Liam Rushe will give the Dubs hope as the look more long term to the summer ahead while the return to full competitive action for Cian Boland following injury was another boost.

Dublin started slowly and inside the opening quarter were trailing 0-3 to 0-6 to the O'Moore County men.

Indeed but for some fine goalkeeping by Dublin netminder Seán Brennan the Dubs would have found themselves further in arrears.

First he denied Stephen ‘Picky’ Maher from close-range when showing great reflexes. In the 20th minute he performed heroics again to stop a goal effort from Cha Dwyer and was also alert to stop a Mark Kavanagh shot coming up to half-time.

By the break Dublin had cut the gap to the minimum as to David Treacy frees saw his side trail 0-6 to 0-7 at the interval.

With his first touch following his introduction Oisín O’Rorke brought the sides level and Dublin quickly moved into a lead thanks to Shane Barrett's effort.

Laois lost Cha Dwyer to a second yellow card in the 57th minute but with just five minutes remaining the O'Moore County were in front.

But Dublin finished the stronger with two Sutcliffe points and a Seán Moran '65' securing victory for the home side. The Dubs finished the game with 14 players after Shane Barrett went off injured late on.

“There’s always things to be learned. You’re always going to be challenged along the way,” said Dublin manager Mattie Kenny.

“Whether it’s by your opponent or decisions going against you or in today’s case – the conditions. You’re looking for the reaction of the players.

“Our lads dug in and dug deep and that’s better than any number of training sessions.”

SCORERS – Dublin: D Sutcliffe, D Treacy (3f) 0-3 each, O O’Rorke, S Moran (0-1f, 0-1 ’65) 0-2 each, S Barrett, J Hetherton, C Boland 0-1 each. Laois: M Kavanagh 0-4 (0-3f), C Dwyer 0-2, E Rowland (0-1f), S Downey, A Dunphy, P Purcell, W Dunphy 0-1 each.

DUBLIN: S Brennan; P Smyth, E O’Donnell, J Madden; D Gray, S Moran, S Barrett; J Malone, R McBride; J Hetherton, D Sutcliffe, D Treacy; P Ryan, L Rushe, D Burke. Subs: O O’Rorke for Ryan (ht), C Boland for Malone (47), E Dillon for Burke (47), R Hayes for Hetherton (53), F Whitely for Treacy (66).

LAOIS: E Rowland; J Phelan, M Whelan, D Hartnett; P Delaney, R Mullaney, L Cleere; S Downey, W Dunphy; A Dunphy, M Kavanagh, C Dwyer; P Purcell, N Foyle, S Maher. Subs: S Bergin for W Dunphy (inj, 23), J Kelly for Maher (52), P Keating for Foyle (62), C Phelan for Downey (73).

REF: L Gordon (Galway).