Laois are into the quarter-finals following a routine 1-13 to 1-4 losers' round victory over Carlow at Dr Cullen Park tonight.

Beaten by Meath in their first-round assignment, the O'Moore County got their challenge back on track at a canter, Johnny Kelly's goal easing them six points clear after just ten minutes.

The game was effectively done and dusted inside 20 minutes, with the visitors ahead by 1-7 to 0-1. Kelly fired the winners' major in the tenth minute to make it 1-4 to 0-1 after points from Diarmuid Whelan (3) and Alan Kinsella had got Laois off to a tidy start.

Cathal Myers' goal from the penalty spot handed the hosts a potential lifeline before the break but they still had a mountain to climb when the action resumed, trailing by 1-7 to 1-2 at the turnaround. Adding just two points to their tally thereafter, they were never at the races.

The third quarter was one to forget, the O'Moore men outscoring their neighbours by three points to one during that spell to carry a commanding seven-point advantage into the last 15 minutes. The last quarter was a carbon copy, with the match long since over as a meaningful contest.

So Laois is the seventh name into the quarter-final draw, where they join Dublin, Meath, Kildare, Louth, Westmeath and Wexford. The winners of next week's Offaly V Wicklow play-off will complete the last-eight line-up. Following successive defeats to Louth and Laois, Carlow's season is over.

Laois - R McGrath; S Bolger, D Bennett, J O'Connor; Conor Brennan, S Byrne, James Kelly (0-1); R Tyrrell, M Connolly; C Carroll (0-1), Johnny Kelly (1-0), J Kavanagh (0-1); A Kinsella (0-4, 2f), D Whelan (0-5, 3f), A Deering (0-1'45). Subs: C Comerford for Johnny Kelly, Caomhan Brennan for Conor Brennan, L McDonald for James Kelly, R Hitchcock for M Connolly, D Ferne for S Bolger, E Lowry for A Deering.

Carlow - K Hickey; L Nolan, J Kehoe, C O'Doherty; N Cawley, T Bric, R Doyle; N Roche, J Morrissey (0-1); M Gardiner, C Redmond, C Myers (1-0pen); C Crowley (0-1f), R Dunphy (0-1), J Elliott. Subs: C Fitzpatrick for C Redmond, J Murphy for N Cawley, G Healy for J Elliott, D Nolan for R Doyle, J Byrne (0-1) for R Dunphy.

Referee - D Sheppard.

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