Kildare 1-14 Laois 0-7 Kildare ran out convincing winners over a very disappointing Laois in Portlaoise yesterday.

The opening quarter produced the best football, by the end of which the home side were up by 0-3 to 0-2. Then a movement saw Tom Archibold place full forward Adrian Kelly for a well taken Kildare goal.

Laois responded with points from Chris Bergin and Paul Lawlor but at half-time the visitors led by 1-6 to 0-4.

On the resumption Peter McNulty and Lawlor scored Laois points and just when it looked as if Laois might stage a comeback Kildare upped their game and took complete control.

In the closing 10 minutes Kildare kicked four unanswered points to progress to a quarter-final meeting with Westmeath.

KILDARE: T Corley; M Hogarty, R McCabe, A McLoughlin; M Dowling, M Foley, J Lonergan (0-1); H Lynch (0-1), D Flynn; D McCormack, J Kavanagh, C Crinnigan (0-1); R Glavin, A Kelly (1-7), T Archibold (0-3). Subs: E McCormck (0-1) for J Kavanagh, W Heffernan for C Crinnigan, F Hanniffy for H Lynch, M Cocoman for D Flynn.

LAOIS: C Gorman; S Julian, C Ryan, M Bergin; P Begley (0-1), S Cotter, B Mulligan; C Kelly, B Quigley; E Gorman (0-1), C Bergin (0-2), P McNulty (0-1); P McMahon, P Lawlor (0-2), C Rogers. Subs: L Kealy for C Rogers, J Sweeney for P McNulty, W Lalor for E Gorman, A Woods for C Kelly, J Delaney for F Julian.

Referee: P Reilly (Longford).