If ever a draw felt like a win, this was it

THERE’S fewer sweeter things in sport than getting one over on your rivals in the dying embers of a game and thankfully it was the Laois contingent that had that winning feeling coming out of Netwatch Cullen Park on Saturday afternoon.

If ever a draw felt like a win, that was it as the draw was enough to send Laois into their third Joe McDonagh Cup final, leaving Carlow out in the cold in the process.

Laois felt that bitterness in 2023 when an injury time penalty for Carlow at the same venue effectively ended Laois’s chances of progressing to the final that year, and to get their own back in such an emphatic circumstance was incredible.

It certainly wasn’t a classic encounter between two teams well capable of playing free-flowing hurling, and given what was at stake it was never going to be anything other than a tense battle involving two teams fighting to not have a premature end to their 2025.

There’s a huge amount of credit due to the players and management for proving their mental fortitude in picking themselves back up from the desolation that they felt after the loss to Kildare last week, a game which very few predicted would go awry.

In a perfect world, Tommy Fitzgerald and his group would have travelled to Carlow with two feet firmly in the final, but Kildare had other ideas and ultimately what was expected by many to be a dead rubber ended up being the most important game of 2025 thus far.

Laois breezed their way through the opening three round of this competition with Westmeath, Kerry and Down putting up little in the way of a challenge as they were steamrolled by the O’Moore men.

The first challenge was Kildare and Laois failed to overcome the physicality and athleticism that they brought to town, but Laois used that experience to their advantage in Carlow.

As the Laois camp well knows by now, Carlow are a big and physical team themselves and that did show for long periods on Saturday as the hosts did dominate for periods and led for 95% of the game.

Chris Nolan showed incredible strength in his opening goal for Carlow and that gave them a dream start, and though Laois responded excellently in scoring eight of the next 10 points, the hosts hit back with five on the trot to regain their lead before half time.

The side went tit for tat early in the second half before Carlow notched a second goal, went five points ahead with 15 minutes left and Laois looked out of ideas.

Fitzgerald emptied the bench and it proved to be a masterstroke as Aaron Dunphy, Mark Dowling and James Duggan each scored after their introductions.

It was indeed, Dowling who got the all-important goal in the 75th minute of the game that left Carlow heartbroken and sent the Laois contingent onto another planet.

While they left the field feeling hard done by with such a late score given just three minutes of added time were indicated, Carlow’s timewasting tactics in injury time ultimately came back to bite them.

That goal is just another tale in the competition that rarely fails to deliver some blockbuster moments, and while that result was massive, Laois will be hoping there’s another blockbuster moment in them on Sunday 8 June.