Kilkenny cut loose in Portlaoise to end Laois' Leinster U-20 hurling campaign

The Laois U-20 hurlers are out of this year's Leinster Championship after a second-half onslaught from Kilkenny in Laois Hire O'Moore Park on Wednesday evening saw them seal their place in the Leinster final against Dublin.

Laois had cut Kilkenny's lead back to one point with 38 minutes on the clock, but their next score didn't came until the 57th minute and the game was well over at that stage.

Kilkenny 0-25

Laois 1-9

Kilkenny wasted no time in getting the game's first score as Michael Brennan raised a white flag within the first 20 seconds. Two minutes later, Kilkenny almost had a goal, but Brochan O'Reilly made a superb 1-on-1 save to deny Marty Murphy after a great run from Ed Lauhoff. Kilkenny's second point came after Cormac Hogan touched the ball on the ground, which allowed Aaron McEvoy to tap over an easy free.

Laois' first score was simple in its making as a puck-out from O'Reilly found half-back Tom Cuddy, and the Camross man turned before splitting the posts after six minutes. Ben Deegan took his time to find his range from frees for Laois, and Kilkenny punished them when Murphy scored from a move that began with a puck-out after Deegan had missed a free. Deegan had missed three frees by the 13th minute.

Kilkenny stretched their lead to five points with three more scores without reply. McEvoy pointed a free while Ed Lauhoff and Sean Bergin raised white flags from play for the away side. Laois replied with two scores of their own from Jer Quinlan, and Deegan finally landed a free at his fourth attempt. Ed McDermott's point for Kilkenny with four minutes of the half left pushed them four points ahead. That would be cut to a single point, three minutes later, as Kyron Cuddy raised the game's first green flag. A superb run by Justin Duggan saw him see his shot saved by Stephen Manogue, but Kyron Cuddy was quickest to react to score from close range. Kilkenny ended the half with points from Rory Glynn and a free from Brennan to go into the dressing rooms ahead by three, 0-10 to 1-4.

The second-half began with Brennan pointing a free before Laois hit three points in a row to cut Kilkenny's lead to a single point. Deegan scored all three, two frees and 65. The 65 came after Kilkenny's Stephen Manogue made a great save to deny Justin Duggan.

It was from here that it all went down for Laois as they failed to score for the next 20 minutes, with Kilkenny adding 12 points in that period. The first of those points could easily have been a goal, but Tom Cuddy got back to flick the ball off Murphy's hurl. Advantage was being played, so Brennan tapped over the free. Anthony Ireland Wall raised two white flags, having come off the bench, Mark Brennan added three more to his tally, while Marty Murphy scored two more points from play. Greg Kelly, Ed McDermott, Ed Lauhoff and Eoghan Lyng scored a point each.

Jack Breen finally broke Laois' barren spell with a point in the 58th minute. Cian Hill replaced Duggan and split the posts with his first possession. Eoghan Lyng and Sean Bergin scored late points for Kilkenny as they left Portlaoise with a 13-point victory.