AT THE THIRD time of asking, Laois can finally call themselves Joe McDonagh Cup champions.
Cillian Dunne capped a terrific debut season with 1-6 for Laois who, after final defeats to Kildare and Offaly in 2025 and 2025, eventually got the job done.
Laois were just two points ahead with 15 minutes to go when substitute Mark Dowling kicked the ball across to Dunne who pulled straight away and hit the net.
From there, Laois powered to a landmark final win, reeling off the last six points of the game to secure their place in next season’s Leinster senior hurling championship.
Laois players celebrate after the game. Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO
Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO / INPHO
Stephen ‘Picky’ Maher matched rookie Dunne’s scoring heroics at Croke Park with nine points, six of which came from placed balls, while Aaron Dunphy and Jack Kelly, who split six points between them, and substitute James Keyes were all influential across the 70 or so minutes.
There was a powerful defensive effort from Laois who held a goal-hungry Carlow side – Pat Bennett’s side blasted 17 goals in the group – to just 1-18. Laois regretted a high wides count in the previous two finals, when they were beaten, but it was Carlow that rued their wasteful play this time with a whopping 22 wides.
Carlow also carved out four decent goal chances, aside from the one that James Doyle converted in the second minute, but couldn’t take any of them.
Conor Kehoe with Ryan Mullaney. Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO
Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO / INPHO
Carlow returned to a more accustomed line up having fielded an entirely different team in their final group game against Antrim. Two thirds of the team that lost to the Saffrons were on the bench this time while the other third didn’t even make the 26.
Laois made changes too from the side that started their final round-robin game, a comfortable win over London, with captain David Dooley, Maher, Ben Conroy and Tomás Keyes all back in. Pundits predicted a cracking encounter given the quality of both teams, and the two forward units in particular.
And we had two scores registered by the time the game was 30 seconds old, a Marty Kavanagh Carlow point and one from Laois talisman Maher.
And with just over a minute on the clock, Carlow pounced for an opportunistic Doyle goal. Laois goalkeeper Eoin Reilly failed to deal with Carlow captain Chris Nolan’s point attempt that dropped short and when the ball broke out to Doyle, he doubled on it to the net.
Advertisement
Reilly redeemed himself later on, catching a tricky ball on his goal line in the 16th minute and, shortly after, doing well to control a Jack Treacy shot.
Paddy Boland with Cody Comerford. Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO
Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO / INPHO
Carlow had two decent goal attempts in the 20th and 23rd minutes that came to nought, Nolan hitting the umpire with the first shot and Donagh Murphy blocked by Podge Delaney with the second.
Throw in 11 first half wides, and you can understand why Carlow left the field frustrated at half time as Laois led 0-13 to 1-7.
Laois had their wides too, six in all in the half, but Dunne sniped three beauties into the Hill 16 End.
And the ultra experienced Maher showed all his quality with five points to help open up that three-point advantage at the break.
Jack Treacy came good in the second half for Carlow with three points, but they were always chasing a Laois side, partly because of all the wides they continued to rack up.
The Dunne goal in the 55th minute was huge for Laois and while Carlow got it back to a three-point game with five minutes to go, they were powerless to prevent Laois finishing strongly with the last six points of the game.
Kelly punched the air in delight four minutes into stoppage time when he drilled his third point, sensing that he and Laois had done enough to finally get over the line in the tier two competition.
David Dooley lifts the Joe McDonagh Cup. Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO
Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO / INPHO
Laois scorers: Stephen Maher 0-9 (0-6f), Cillian Dunne 1-6, Aaron Dunphy 0-3, Jack Kelly 0-3, Tomás Keyes 0-1, Martin Phelan 0-1, Ben Conroy 0-1, Fiachra C Fennell 0-1, David Dooley 0-1, James Keyes 0-1.
Carlow scorers: Marty Kavanagh 0-7 (0-4f, 0-1 65), James Doyle 1-1, Jack Treacy 0-3, Fiachra Fitzpatrick 0-2, Chris Nolan 0-2, Evan Kealy 0-1, Donagh Murphy 0-1, Kevin McDonald 0-1 (0-1f).
Laois
1. Eoin Reilly (Abbeyleix)
4. Cody Comerford (The Harps), 2. Ian Shanahan (Ballinakill), 6. Pádraig Delaney (The Harps)
3. Lee Cleere (Clough-Ballacolla), 5. Fiachra C Fennell (Rosenallis), 7. Ryan Mullaney (Castletown)
Related Reads
'I think the sky is the limit. I really do' - a new Dublin hurling era
Limerick stay true to data but John Kiely says players driving their goal hunt
Who are the candidates to replace Derek Lyng as Kilkenny manager?
8. David Dooley (Rosenallis – Captain), 9. Aidan Corby (Clough-Ballacolla)
10. Martin Phelan (Castletown), 11. Stephen Maher (Clough-Ballacolla), 12. Aaron Dunphy (Borris-Kilcotton)
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Dunne stars as Laois claim Joe McDonagh Cup final victory over Carlow
Laois 1-27
Carlow 1-18
AT THE THIRD time of asking, Laois can finally call themselves Joe McDonagh Cup champions.
Cillian Dunne capped a terrific debut season with 1-6 for Laois who, after final defeats to Kildare and Offaly in 2025 and 2025, eventually got the job done.
Laois were just two points ahead with 15 minutes to go when substitute Mark Dowling kicked the ball across to Dunne who pulled straight away and hit the net.
From there, Laois powered to a landmark final win, reeling off the last six points of the game to secure their place in next season’s Leinster senior hurling championship.
Stephen ‘Picky’ Maher matched rookie Dunne’s scoring heroics at Croke Park with nine points, six of which came from placed balls, while Aaron Dunphy and Jack Kelly, who split six points between them, and substitute James Keyes were all influential across the 70 or so minutes.
There was a powerful defensive effort from Laois who held a goal-hungry Carlow side – Pat Bennett’s side blasted 17 goals in the group – to just 1-18. Laois regretted a high wides count in the previous two finals, when they were beaten, but it was Carlow that rued their wasteful play this time with a whopping 22 wides.
Carlow also carved out four decent goal chances, aside from the one that James Doyle converted in the second minute, but couldn’t take any of them.
Carlow returned to a more accustomed line up having fielded an entirely different team in their final group game against Antrim. Two thirds of the team that lost to the Saffrons were on the bench this time while the other third didn’t even make the 26.
Laois made changes too from the side that started their final round-robin game, a comfortable win over London, with captain David Dooley, Maher, Ben Conroy and Tomás Keyes all back in. Pundits predicted a cracking encounter given the quality of both teams, and the two forward units in particular.
And we had two scores registered by the time the game was 30 seconds old, a Marty Kavanagh Carlow point and one from Laois talisman Maher.
And with just over a minute on the clock, Carlow pounced for an opportunistic Doyle goal. Laois goalkeeper Eoin Reilly failed to deal with Carlow captain Chris Nolan’s point attempt that dropped short and when the ball broke out to Doyle, he doubled on it to the net.
Reilly redeemed himself later on, catching a tricky ball on his goal line in the 16th minute and, shortly after, doing well to control a Jack Treacy shot.
Carlow had two decent goal attempts in the 20th and 23rd minutes that came to nought, Nolan hitting the umpire with the first shot and Donagh Murphy blocked by Podge Delaney with the second.
Throw in 11 first half wides, and you can understand why Carlow left the field frustrated at half time as Laois led 0-13 to 1-7.
Laois had their wides too, six in all in the half, but Dunne sniped three beauties into the Hill 16 End.
And the ultra experienced Maher showed all his quality with five points to help open up that three-point advantage at the break.
Jack Treacy came good in the second half for Carlow with three points, but they were always chasing a Laois side, partly because of all the wides they continued to rack up.
The Dunne goal in the 55th minute was huge for Laois and while Carlow got it back to a three-point game with five minutes to go, they were powerless to prevent Laois finishing strongly with the last six points of the game.
Kelly punched the air in delight four minutes into stoppage time when he drilled his third point, sensing that he and Laois had done enough to finally get over the line in the tier two competition.
Laois scorers: Stephen Maher 0-9 (0-6f), Cillian Dunne 1-6, Aaron Dunphy 0-3, Jack Kelly 0-3, Tomás Keyes 0-1, Martin Phelan 0-1, Ben Conroy 0-1, Fiachra C Fennell 0-1, David Dooley 0-1, James Keyes 0-1.
Carlow scorers: Marty Kavanagh 0-7 (0-4f, 0-1 65), James Doyle 1-1, Jack Treacy 0-3, Fiachra Fitzpatrick 0-2, Chris Nolan 0-2, Evan Kealy 0-1, Donagh Murphy 0-1, Kevin McDonald 0-1 (0-1f).
Laois
1. Eoin Reilly (Abbeyleix)
4. Cody Comerford (The Harps), 2. Ian Shanahan (Ballinakill), 6. Pádraig Delaney (The Harps)
3. Lee Cleere (Clough-Ballacolla), 5. Fiachra C Fennell (Rosenallis), 7. Ryan Mullaney (Castletown)
8. David Dooley (Rosenallis – Captain), 9. Aidan Corby (Clough-Ballacolla)
10. Martin Phelan (Castletown), 11. Stephen Maher (Clough-Ballacolla), 12. Aaron Dunphy (Borris-Kilcotton)
14. Cillian Dunne (Clough-Ballacolla), 13. Ben Conroy (Slieve Bloom), 15. Tomás Keyes (Camross)
Subs
Carlow
1. Brian Tracey (Naomh Eoin)
4. Jack McCullagh (Bagenalstown Gaels). 3. Dion Wall (Ballinkillen), 2. Paul Doyle (St Mullins)
5. Jon Nolan (Mount Leinster Rangers), 6. Kevin McDonald (Mount Leinster Rangers), 7. Evan Kealy (Mount Leinster Rangers)
8. Fiachra Fitzpatrick (Mount Leinster Rangers), 9. Ciarán Whelan (Ballinkillen)
10. Conor Kehoe (St Mullins), 11. Jack Treacy (Ballinkillen), 12. Donagh Murphy (Mount Leinster Rangers)
15. James Doyle (St Mullins), 14. Chris Nolan (Mount Leinster Rangers – captain), 13. Martin Kavanagh (St Mullins)
Subs
Referee: Eamonn Furlong (Wexford)
*****
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Carlow Champions Hurling Joe McDonagh Cup Laois