Kildare 0-13 Laois 0-8: Resurgent Kildare kept their promotion and play-off prospects alive with a comfortable win over Laois before a large attendance at Newbridge.

Laois finished up with 14 players after full forward Stephen Kelly was harshly dismissed on a straight red card after a challenge on Kildare midfielder Michael Foley. This dismissal particularly affected the second half, when Kildare were very much the dominant force.

Laois, however, cannot use the loss of Kelly as an excuse for their poor performance. They struggled for long periods to put attacking moves together and finished the opening half with just a couple of scores from play.

Centre forward Chris Conway got their opening score with a fine point from 30 metres but Kildare quickly took control with an equalising free from Tadhg Fennin followed by a point from Eamonn Callaghan.

Midfielder Foley got in on the act with a point at the end of the opening quarter.

Kildare continued to apply the pressure and although Laois rallied towards the end of the half with two scores from frees the home side were in front by 0-6 to 0-4 at the break.

Emerging talent Donal Brennan was introduced to a struggling Laois attack for the second half but it made little difference.Conway did kick over another free but Kildare replied quickly with points from a John Doyle free and Glen Ryan.

Ross Munnelly and Shane Cooke kept Laois in touch with a point each but they were left needing goals after these scores were cancelled out by Derek McCormack and Doyle.

The scores began to dry up for Laois as they went in search of goals and Kildare added three more scores before Munnelly ended the contest with his fourth score.

KILDARE: E Murphy; A Rainbow, D Hendy, A McLoughlin; M Wright, G Ryan (0-1), K Ennis; K Brennan, M Foley (0-1); E Callaghan (0-2), D McCormack (0-2), R Sweeney; T Fennin (0-2, one free), R Glavin (0-1), J Doyle (0-4, two frees). Subs: A Barry for Foley, S McKenzie Smith for Fennin, M O'Sullivan for Barry, T Archibald for Galvin, A Barry for Doyle.

LAOIS: F Byron; P McDonald, C Begley, T McDonald; D Rooney, T Kelly, P McMahon; P Clancy, N Garvan; R Munnelly (0-4, three frees), C Conway (0-3, two frees), M Dunne; S Cooke (0-1), S Kelly, G Kavanagh. Subs: K Kelly for McMahon, D Miller for Dunne, P Begley for Rooney, D Conroy for P McDonald, D Brennan for Kavanagh.

Referee: E Murtagh (Longford).