Dublin stroll in phoney war with Laois ahead of Leinster rematch

Laois and Dublin will meet in Parnell Park in a month's time in the opening round of the Leinster championship – so their final round league game in O’Moore Park was a glorified dress rehearsal.

Donal Burke hit 14 points for Dublin but despite their 10-point win, they lose out to Waterford on scoring difference for a semi-final place.

In a high-scoring game, Dublin were comfortable winners in the end despite having Rian McBride sent off on a straight red midway through the second half.

At that stage they led by nine points and Laois had the wind.

Cheddar Plunkett’s men did get the difference back to six on two different occasions but never looked like getting the goal they needed and Alex Considine hit the net in injury time for the visitors to make sure of it.

Dublin hit a massive 0-21 in the opening half with their top scorer Donal Burke scoring 11 points in the first 35 minutes.

It was akin to a tennis match at times as the ball went over and back with minimal contact and though Laois got some nice scores, Dublin found the range easier with the wind at their backs.

Fergal Whitely, Davy Keogh and Rian McBride were all on target too on a couple of occasions as Dublin opened up a nine-point lead coming up to half time.

Laois reduced the gap when a James Keyes shot was fumbled by Dublin keeper Sean Brennan and with Cha Dwyer and Podge Delaney leading the charge, it was back to six at half time, 0-21 to 1-12.

An Eamon Dillon goal early in the second half helped Dublin go 12 clear at one point though Laois kept the scoreboard moving with a couple of nice efforts from Jordan Walshe, frees from PJ Scully and Dwyer.

An altercation between Dwyer and McBride led to the Dublin man getting a red in the 48th minute and though Laois eat into