End of the road for Laois hurlers as Wexford cruise to victory in Portlaoise

The Laois senior hurlers have exited the All-Ireland Hurling Championship after Wexford had way too much for Willie Maher's side in today's preliminary quarter-final.

Laois will look at three 10-minute periods where they failed to score as Wexford kept plugging away to ensure an easy victory over Laois.

Wexford 0-32

Laois 0-20

It took two minutes for both sides to find their feet in the game with Wexford opening the scoring courtesy of Rory O'Connor. Laois were then awarded a penalty a minute later after Jer Quinlan was fouled by Simon Donohoe. Enda Rowland came forward from his goals but was denied by his opposite number Mark Fanning as he dived low to his left to stop the penalty. Conor McDonald added to Wexford's tally after five minutes.

Laois' first point came straight from a puck-out as Aaron Dunphy caught a breaking ball to split the posts for his side. Picky Maher levelled the game after eight minutes with a point from play. The next four scores were traded as Lee Chin and Aaron Dunphy scored two points each. Conor Hearne and Simon Donohoe tacked on two further points for Wexford with Aidan Corby scoring a splendid point from his own 65' in reply. 

Wexford then hit the front with seven points on the trot as Laois failed to deal with their prowess. Conor McDonald (two), Tomas Kinsella, Liam Og McGovern, Lee Chin (two) and Cian Byrne all split the posts as Wexford led 0-13 to 0-5 after 24 minutes. Laois broke a 10-minute spell without a score through the stick of Aaron Dunphy as he pointed a free. Picky Maher got his second point of the game soon after. Chin tapped over a free to leave it double scores, 0-14 to 0-7. Laois had Podge Delaney to thank for the next Wexford attack as he made a savage block on Chin to deny the Wexford a certain goal.

Chin raised his sixth white flag of the first half while Damien Reck added to Wexford's advantage. Aaron Dunphy got two points on the bounce for Laois from a free and 65'. Chin added a seventh point before the break as Dunphy yet again got two more scores from placed balls. Liam Og McGovern got the final score of the half as Wexford led 0-18 to 0-11 at half-time.

Wexford started the second-half the same way they had the first as they got the first two points. Rory O'Connor and Lee Chin adding their tally's. Laois' Aaron Dunphy pointed a free to get Laois off the mark in the second period but Wexford kept adding scores of their own. Cian Byrne and Chin (free) raised white flags for Keith Rossiter's side. Frees were proving to be Laois' own way at getting scores as Dunphy added two more to his tally. 

The away side were rampant when they came forward as they raised five white flags without reply. McDonald, Liam Og McGovern, Corey Byrne Dunbar and two points from Lee Chin saw Wexford lead 0-27 to 0-14. Laois ended another 10-minute spell without a score as Dunphy split the posts. Cody Comerford and Ryan Mullaney both got their names on the score sheet soon after. Conor Hearne and Dunphy (free) traded points before McDonald got his fifth point of the contest. Laois' Enda Rowland came forward to strike a 21-yard free in the hope of getting a goal but his shot was saved by Mark Fanning.

Seamus Casey came off the bench for Wexford in place of Lee Chin and he took over the free-taking duty as he tapped over two frees. Laois went another 10 minutes without a point for the third time with Dunphy pointing a free. Conor Hearne and Dunphy (65') traded the last two scores of the game as Wexford won out by 12 points in the end. They go forward to play Clare in the quarter-finals.