The appointed referee, Joe O'Leary of Cork, did not appear, but Kilkenny follower Denis Cody was persuaded to take charge and, after a 23-minute delay, proceedings got underway at Nowlan Park on Saturday. Kilkenny dominated the first half of a lacklustre match, and Laois had the better of things for most of the second. Sean Ryan, the Kilkenny captain, bagged a goal after five minutes, and Ollie O'Connor added a second in injury time in the half to give the winners a 2-7 to 0-6 half-time lead.

Laois fell 10 points behind early in the second half. But then, from nowhere, they conjured up some interesting hurling and points from Tomas Kenna and P J Peacock and a goal from Declan Conroy suddenly brought them to life.

They out-scored their opponents by 1-6 to 0-1 during the closing 20 minutes, but it was not enough to save the day.