Laois are Croke Park bound as they seal promotion to Division 3 following victory over Waterford

Laois players and supporters have a trip to Croke Park on their minds as they put in an impressive scoring performance against Waterford in the SETU Arena this afternoon

Mark Barry fired in 2-3 in 25 minutes before being subbed off while Evan O'Carroll scored 1-3 before being replaced by Brian Daly at the same time. Laois will face Leitrim in the decider next weekend.

Laois 5-19

Waterford 0-9

Waterford gave Laois a scare early on as a slack pass from Killian Roche left him in no man's land but Laois veteran Mark Timmons was on hand to sweep up the ball. Laois pushed forward from that scare and Mark Barry pointed the game's opening score after six minutes. Laois' first of four first-half goals came from the resulting kick-out as O'Carroll beat his marker before tucking the ball into the net off his left foot.

A second goal would soon follow as a superb Laois move saw Mark Barry add to his earlier point. Kieran Lillis played the ball to Paul Kingston with the Arles-Killeen forward setting up Eoin Lowry to run at goal. Lowry squared the ball to Barry who tapped the ball into the net at the back post.

Jack Lacey, making his national league debut for Laois, went on a mazy run upfield with the St Joseph's star setting up Paul Kingston to raise a white flag. Shaun Fitzpatrick pointed Laois' third point but another goal would come from the boot of Barry as O'Carroll played it to Kingston with the latter putting the ball on a plate for the O'Dempsey's forward. 

Barry would add two more points to his tally as he was proving unmarkable from a Waterford perspective. Kingston got Laois' fourth goal of the first period as he slotted the ball into the bottom corner. O'Carroll fired over three points on the bounce as Laois led 4-8 to no score with 25 minutes on the clock.

Waterford finally got a score on the board as Tom O'Connell pointed a mark. Tom O'Connell pointed a second score soon after from a free while Jason Curry made it three points unanswered for Waterford. Rioghan Murphy pointed the half's final score from a free as Laois led 4-9 to 0-3 at the break.

Brian Daly got the scoring underway in the second-half as Michael Curry replied with a mark for Waterford. Rioghan Murphy was quickest to react for the fifth Laois goal as he slotted the ball into the Waterford net. Donie Fitzgerald kicked Waterford's fifth point of the contest. Laois kicked on once again with three points on the bounce as Niall Dunne pointed while Kingston kicked over two.

Donie Fitzgerald and Killian Roche traded points before Waterford fired over three points without reply. Jason Curry got all three from placed balls. Laois ended the game with five more scores as Conor Heffernan, Roche (45'), Daly (mark) and two frees from Eoin Lowry saw Laois record an impressive victory.

Laois will face Leitrim in Saturday's Division 4 final in Croke Park.