Joe McDonagh Cup Final: Laois get over the line

Joe McDonagh Cup final

Laois 1-27 Carlow 1-18

By Paul Keane at Croke Park

It took them three attempts but Laois have finally gotten over the line in a Joe McDonagh Cup final, seizing a golden ticket to the Leinster SHC for 2027.

Cillian Dunne capped a brilliant first season in blue with 1-6 for Tommy Fitzgerald's crew who, after final defeats to Kildare in 2025 and Offaly in 2024, made sure they left with no regrets this time.

Laois were just two points ahead with 15 minutes to go when substitute Mark Dowling passed the ball out of a ruck of players 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 MacCarthy Cup race, replacing Kildare in the Leinster round-robin.

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 lineup 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 opportunity 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 the Barrowsiders 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: Eoin Reilly; Cody Comerford, Ian Shanahan, Pádraig Delaney; Lee Cleere, Fiachra C Fennell, Ryan Mullaney; David Dooley, Aidan Corby; Martin Phelan, Stephen Maher, Aaron Dunphy; Cillian Dunne, Ben Conroy, Tomás Keyes.

Subs: Mark Dowling for Tomás Keyes 51, Jack Kelly for Conroy 54, Fionán Mahoney for Corby 58, James Keyes for Phelan 65, Gearóid Lynch for Dunphy 69.

Carlow: Brian Tracey; Jack McCullagh, Dion Wall, Paul Doyle; Jon Nolan, Kevin McDonald, Evan Kealy; Fiachra Fitzpatrick, Ciarán Whelan; Conor Kehoe, Jack Treacy, Donagh Murphy; James Doyle, Chris Nolan, Martin Kavanagh.

Subs: Paddy Boland for Kehoe 39, Jake Nolan for Murphy 53, John Michael Nolan for Whelan 62-65, John Michael Nolan for Kealy 66, Fiach O'Toole for Jack Treacy 73.

Referee: Eamonn Furlong (Wexford).