14-man Dublin eventually shook off a dogged Laois challenge in a tight and tense O'Byrne Cup final encounter at Netwatch Cullen Park this afternoon. 

Dessie Farrell's side lost centre-back John Small to a straight red card after an off-the-ball incident with opponent Evan O'Carroll before the break but the sending off by referee Cormac O'Reilly had no impact on proceedings as the Dubs dug deep to record a 1-13 to 0-11 win in Carlow.

Dublin's Ciaran Kilkenny leaves the pitch with the O’Byrne Cup. ©INPHO/Ken Sutton.

Trailing by just two points at the change of ends (1-5 to 0-6) with the numerical advantage, Laois, who had beaten Kildare in a penalty shoot-out in Wednesday’s semi-final at the same venue, looked to be in a promising position but failed to capitalise as instead Dublin upped the gear in the second-half.

The first score of the game on five minutes, a goal by Sean Bugler, helped the Dubs establish a four-point advantage, which was wiped away when Laois kicked four points in succession before McGarry and Costello edged the winners to the front at half-time.

Through O'Carroll and Mark Barry, Laois levelled matters on the resumption, but the Leinster champions had plenty in the tank to fend off their threat with points from Brian Fenton, Aaron Byrne, Costello, McGarry and Lee Gannon seeing them through.

Tweet

Most Read Stories