Laois  1-12 Wicklow  0-9While three players were sent off by Limerick referee John Sexton at Aughrim on Saturday evening, this was by no means a dirty or ill-tempered game.

Because of the driving rain before and during the match, it was played on a water-logged pitch which made it extremely difficult for the players from both teams to play hurling of real quality.

The ill-tempered weather conditions were probably a shade less kind to the more classy Laois hurlers, but still, one must give credit to Wicklow - one of the weaker hurling counties - for a battling performance which made their opponents work hard for their victory.

Wicklow were down to 14 men just before half-time when they had their Railway-Cup star and full forward Don Hyland sent off for a second yellow card following an off-the-ball incident with Laois corner back PJ Peacock, who picked up a first yellow card.

Hyland was a huge loss to Wicklow as he had been their inspirational forward in the opening 30 minutes, banging over three of their four first-half points, including giving his team the lead twice in the opening 10 minutes.

Indeed, Wicklow were to share parity with Laois on three occasions in the opening period and they were left to wonder what might have been in the second half had Hyland being still on the field as they shared the 10 points with Laois despite having a man less.

Two more players got their marching orders three minutes before the end, when Laois full back Paul Cuddy and Wicklow substitute Denis O'Brien received straight red cards from referee Sexton after he had consulted his umpires following a goalmouth brawl involving a number of players from each side.

Despite their victory, Laois will not be happy with their performance, never succeeding in killing off the Wicklow challenge.

LAOIS: S Lyons; PJ Peacock, P Cuddy, L Mahan; P Mahon, P Drennan, M McEvoy; D Conroy, J Phelan (0-1); J O'Shea (0-2), D Rooney (1-1), N Rigney (0-1); D Culleton, D Cuddy (0-4, three frees), J Coogan (0-1). Subs: B Ferns (0-2) for J Coogan; M Duffy for J Phelan; M Kirwan for N Rigney.

WICKLOW: C Byrne; MA O'Neill, G Keogh, E O'Sullivan; G Bermingham, C O'Brien, T McGrath (0-2, 65 and free); C O'Toole, J Murphy; T Collins, J O'Neill, D Curran; L Flynn (0-3, one free), D Hyland (0-3, one free), M O'Brien (0-1). Subs: D Doyle for J Murphy; G Deehan for D Doyle; D O'Brien for D Curran.

Referee: J Sexton (Limerick).