Kildare defeat Laois to book a semi-final place

Kildare booked their place in the Leinster SFC semi-final and a meeting with Westmeath following a five point win over Laois at Cedral St Conleth's Park, this afternoon.

A very lively opening half saw the teams level on six occasions eventually going in at the break still nothing between the sides.

Laois hit two goals in that half from Paul Kingston and Darragh Galvin, Kildare replying with Ben Loakman punching to the net after an Eoin Cully effort came off the crossbar.

Kildare went two up on 29 minutes following a Darragh Kirwan two-pointer but points from Evan O’Carrall and a Kingston free tied it up 1-10 to 2-7.

Kildare dominated the second half scoring the first five points, Laois got their first of the half on 50 minutes.

Enter Ben McCormack and the Sarsfields man had an explosive 25 minutes firing over four points and on 63 minutes it was all done and dusted when Darragh Kirwan put through by Colm Moran calmly planted the ball in the net to make it 2-19 to 2-12.

McCormack added a point for The Lilies and while Laois added tree points it was too little too late as Kildare won on a final score line of Kildare 2-20 Laois 2-15.

Scorers:  Kildare, Darragh Kirwan 1-4 (two-pointer), Eoin Cully 0-5, Ben Loakman 1-2 (1 free), Ben McCormack 0-4, Darragh Swords 0-2, Tommy Gill 0-2, Kevin Feely 0-1.

Laois, Paul Kingston 1-3 (1 free), Daragh Galvin 1-2, Evan O’Carroll 0-3, Killian Roche 0-3 (1 two-pointer free, 45), Kevin Swayne 0-1, Ronan Coffey 0-1, Patrick O’Sullivan 0-1, Cian Nolan 0-1.

KILDARE: Cian Burke; Brian Byrne, Mark Dempsley, Ryan Burke; James McGrath, Eoin Lawlor, Tommy Gill; Brian McLoughlin, Brendan Gibbons; Daragh Ryan,  Darragh Swords, Callum Bolton; Ben Loakman, Darragh Kirwan, Eoin Cully. Subs: Colm Moran for  Eoin Lawlor (TS 30-34); Kevin Feely  for Daragh Ryan (half-time); Ben McCormack for Ben Loakman (50 minutes);  Colm Moran for  Brian McLoughlin (56 minutes);  Neil Flynn for Callum Bolton (65 minutes);  James Harris for James McGrath (72 minutes).

LAOIS: Killian Roche; Jack Lacey, Trevor Collins, Alex Mohan; Paul Kingston, Aaron McEvoy, Robert Tyrrell; Ciaran Burke, Conor Heffernan; Kevin Swayne, Ronan Coffey, Patrick O'Sullivan, Brian Byrne, Daragh Galvin, Evan O'Carroll. Subs: Ben Dempsey for Jack Lacey (30 minutes); Pa Kirwan for Aaron McEvoy (half-time); Rioghan Murphy for Brian Byrne (49 minutes); Cian Nolan for Robert Tyrrell (65 minutes); Darren Brennan for Ronan Coffey (72 minutes).

REFEREE: Conor Lane.