Offaly beat Laois to reach Leinster senior hurling semi-finals

A devastating second-half performance from Offaly at O'Connor Park was enough to sweep aside a feeble Laois challenge and send them back into the Leinster senior hurling semi-finals for the first time in four years after a 3-22 to 2-14 win.

A Joe Bergin goal just 40 seconds into the second-half set the Faithful County on their way as they outscored Laois by 2-12 to 1-4 after the restart, condemning Seamus Plunkett's side to a place in the Leinster Round Robin series in 2017.

In the 2015 meeting between the two sides it was Offaly's inability to deal with the Laois sweeper system that proved to be a critical difference between the two sides and they employed a similar system in O'Connor Park this afternoon, with Paddy Purcell slotting back in front of his full-back line.

But Offaly proved far more adept at dealing with the policy this year and scrapped their way to an early 0-3 to 0-1 lead, each of their scores coming from placed balls after hard earned turnovers secured chances for Shane Dooley.

Laois settled into the contest however and with Neil Foyle starting to exert himself on the edge of the Offaly square, they edged in front by the 20-minute mark.

It could have been even better for them had James Dempsey not pulled off an unbelievable save to deny Cha Dwyer, but as PJ Scully pointed the resultant '65, the signs were still good for the visitors.

The importance of taking your chances was drummed home when James Mulrooney goaled for Offaly with the next play of the game and the Faithful men pushed on from there, before a five-minute spell shortly before half-time rocked them onto their heels.

A scrambled PJ Scully goal, poked to the net after James Dempsey made two stunning saves to deny Foyle and Stephen Maher, ignited their push and they regained the lead briefly before a Dooley free tied the sides up at the break.

The balance of the first-half disintegrated completely as Offaly were a transformed side after the break, charging out of the blocks with Bergin's goal and piling on the scores in a fantastic five-minute spell.

Kevin Connolly and Paddy Murphy struck glorious points from long range and while Stephen Maher finally got Laois off the mark with seven minutes played, there was no breaking Offaly's momentum.

Ten first-half wides hurt Offaly but it was Laois who racked up nine errant shots in the second-half and Offaly gradually pulled away, before finally making the victory safe through a Dooley penalty, earned when Kevin Connolly collided with Enda Rowland inside the large parallelogram.

Cillian Kiely, Sean Cleary and Liam Langton came off the bench to add points for a rampant Offaly side, while Laois were condemned to the qualifiers long before Willie Dunphy struck a late consolation goal, deep into injury time.

Offaly: J Dempsey; C McDonald, D Shortt, P Rigney; D King, S Gardiner (0-1), D Mooney; S Ryan (0-1), P Camon; S Kinsella (0-3), J Bergin (1-1), P Murphy (0-1); K Connolly (0-1), J Mulrooney (1-0), S Dooley (1-11, 1-0 pen, 9f, 2 '65s).

Subs: C Kiely (0-1) for Shortt (h-t), L Langton (0-1) for Connolly (56), S Cleary (0-1) for Mulrooney (60), J Sampson for Ryan (62), D Kelleher for Mooney (67).

Laois: E Rowland (0-1, 1f); C Healy, D Maher, D Palmer; L Bergin, M Whelan, R Mullaney; P Purcell, J Lennon; C Dwyer (0-5), W Hyland (0-1), S Maher (0-2, 1f); C Stapleton, N Foyle (0-2), PJ Scully (1-3, 2f, 1 '65).

Subs: B Conroy for Stapleton (44), T Delaney for Mullaney (48), W Dunphy (1-0) for Scully (51), R King for Lennon (58), O Carroll for Delaney (65).

Referee: Johnny Ryan (Tipperary).