Kilkenny completed their third successive victory in Tier One of the Electric Ireland Leinster Minor Hurling Championship as they overcame Laois by 1-26 to 1-12 at O'Moore Park on Friday evening.
A one-sided encounter was anticipated and it started off in that vein as points from Conor Kelly, Jack Doyle and Ciarán Brennan helped the visitors to a 0-5 to 0-2 lead by the end of the first quarter, with Laois scoring through placed balls from Adam Kirwan and Conor Cosgrove.
Kilkenny continued to dominate as the half evolved and with Eoin Guilfoyle adding two points in quick succession, they opened up a 0-12 to 0-4 interval lead thanks to further scores from Cían Kenny, Kelly, Jack Doyle and Brennan.
Given that Laois had failed to score from play against Dublin last Saturday, a drubbing seemed on the cards, but the hosts resumed impressively and received a lifeline as David O’Shaughnessy raced clear of the away defence before finishing with aplomb to reduce the deficit to five points.
Mark Hennessy was another bright light in the Laois attack as he chipped in with three points from play but the hosts proved too reliant on Kirwan and Cosgrove for scores from placed balls with the duo contributing eight points from frees.
Kilkenny had greater options up front with Brennan scoring five points from play to augment eight scores by Kelly and four from his midfield partner Darragh Maher.
They confirmed their victory thanks to a Niall Higgins goal in the 58th minute, securing top spot in Tier 1 as a result.
In Tier Two, Kildare proved too strong for Meath in Newbridge, dominating in the second half on their way to an impressive 1-21 to 0-13 victory.
It proved even more straightforward for Carlow in Tier Three, as they cruised past Down by 3-23 to 2-7 in Longwood.
