Kelleher defiant after demoralising defeat

Leinster SHC/Laois 4-14 Dublin 0-14: Sooner or later Humphrey Kelleher will throw his arms in the air and shout enough, enough! Days like this eventually get to the most perennial optimists. Dublin hurling is going nowhere, and Kelleher must be the last person in the city not to believe that anymore.

Could it be an all-time low for Dublin hurling? They weren't necessarily 12 points worse than Laois, and yet it was another sad day for the county with a population base that should at least make winning an option, not a forlorn hope. A city hurling draft for all youngsters under the age of 16 would be a little extreme but it can't go on like this.

Take away the four well-struck goals by Laois and it would appear Dublin were at least up for the challenge of contesting a place in the Leinster semi-final. Not quite. They went 26 minutes of the second half without a score, their full-back line might have had a sheet of ice under their feet, and they eventually lost a man to a straight red card that must surely have come from inner torment.

Dublin's chances of a victory slipped further away with every passing minute of the second half - when Laois outscored them 1-11 to 0-5. Dublin were down three points at the turnaround, but could do nothing to quell the superiority of Laois after that. If Laois had shown a little more self-belief in the first half it could have been a total annihilation.

Kelleher sat wearily in the Dublin dressingroom, surrounded by players who each looked stranded in a team that never wins. Yet the Dublin manager stood up defiantly and talked on and on about the future.

"They talk about the hardest job in management," he said. "There's nothing harder than what's going on here at the moment, to motivate those guys and keep them going. But I know the youngsters are there, and that's the motivation behind me staying involved. And I know what the potential is. But it's going to take a hell of a lot of hard work.

"I'm proud of my lads, and they didn't give up. We have to keep going. There's a group of youngsters in there as devastated as I am. But goals win matches. That was the only difference."

Ah, the goals. Laois collected their first after four minutes when Damien Culleton collected a long ball from Joe Fitzpatrick, and rattled the Dublin net like a machine gun. A minute later James Young collected his first free, and when later moved to centre forward frequently found himself in open space - and ended up with 1-9.

Dublin's best passages of play were condensed into the 15 minutes after that, when they delivered five unanswered points, including three from Emmet Carroll, and so ended up 0-6 to 1-1 in front. That was as good as it got. Young coolly converted a Laois penalty on 24 minutes and seconds before the break Tommy Fitzgerald set up Liam Tynan for goal number three.

Dave Sweeney and Stephen Hiney were just about holding the Dublin team together. Both Stephen Perkins and Simon Daly were deemed unprepared to start because of exams, with both midfielders going back into the defence as a result. Stephen McDonald did reasonably well to contain Young in the first half, but if Dublin did have a plan it never came to fruition.

Laois opened up the second half with four swift points in succession, and on 44 minutes the recently introduced Perkins was given his marching orders for a strike on Culleton, which seemed accidentally-on-purpose. Moments after that Culleton twisted the knife in Perkins's back by scoring Laois's fourth goal. They tagged on four more points after that before Ronan Fallon finally sent over a 65-metre for Dublin on 61 minutes - their first score of the second half.

For the small number of people who made the trip to Nowlan Park the rest of the contest was watched with either torture or elation. Dublin's faults became increasingly obvious, while Laois just polished off a few more touches ahead of their semi-final meeting with Wexford.

"We were determined to win today," said their manager Paudie Butler, "and even if we were a little slack in the first half, we're delighted with that. We get a game in Croke Park now, and that's a big prize for us. We're definitely making progress, and we'll take great confidence from that."

LAOIS: 1. P Mullaney; 2. B Campion, 3. P Cuddy, 4. M Evoy; 5. J Fitzpatrick, 6. D Rooney, 7. S Dwyer (0-1); 8. J Young (1-9, six frees, one penalty), 9. J Walsh; 10. J Phelan, 11. J Rowney, 12. L Tynan (1-1); 13. T Fitzgerald, 14. M Rooney, 15. D Culleton (2-1). Subs: 25. E Meagher (0-1) for Rowney (24 mins), 19. P Russell (0-1) for M Rooney (46 mins), 24. C Healy for Walsh (58 mins), 22. C Brophy for Culleton (62 mins), 17. C Coonan for Tynan (70 mins).

DUBLIN: 1. G Maguire; 2. G Bennett, 9. S O'Shea, 4. G O'Meara; 5. D Sweeney (0-2), 8. R Fallon (0-1, a 65), 7. S Hiney; 10. T Moore (0-1), 19. S McDonald; 18. M Carton, 11. D Curtin (0-4, two frees, two 65s), 12. D O'Reilly; 13. E Carroll (0-3), 14. M Breathnach, 15. S Mullen (0-1). Subs: 3. S Perkins for O'Shea (33 mins), 17. C Meehan (0-1) for M Carton (45 mins), 26. P Carton for Mullen (50 mins), 6. S Daly for McDonald (55 mins), 24. A de Paor (0-1) for Fallon (70 mins).

Referee: T McIntyre (Antrim).

Attendance: 1,100.