Wexford stepped on the gas after the restart to inflict a 3-25 to 1-17 defeat on 13-man Laois at O'Moore Park.

Harry Kehoe, Aidan Nolan and Jack Guiney netted for Davy Fitzgerald's men as they safely negotiated their potentially-tricky trip to the midlands to set up a semi-final meeting with holders Kilkenny at Wexford Park on Saturday week.

Watching from the stand, the winning manager must have been impressed as his side struck 3-19 from play to win at their ease despite a gallant effort from the losers before the break.

With the breeze at their backs, the victors did most of the damage early in the second half when points from Paul Morris (2) and Conor McDonald (3) - who top-scored with 0-9 - doubled the Model County's lead before goals from Nolan (43) and influential half-time substitute Guiney (52) had the game over as a contest by the three-quarters stage, 3-18 to 0-13.

Pat Purcell struck a late goal for Laois, who never gave up, midfielder Ross King serving them well with a seven-point haul, but there was no way back and their cause certainly wasn't helped by the dismissals of Charles Dwyer (two yellows) and Willie Dunphy (straight red) in the 57th and 61st minutes respectively as they lost their discipline as well as their belief.

There wasn't a lot between the teams in the first half but Kehoe's three-pointer assured the Model County of a narrow 1-11 to 0-9 interval lead. Kehoe scooped the ball to the net in the sixth minute after the O'Moore County had fired the first three points via Stephen Maher and King (2).

A McDonald sideline cut had the Slaneysiders in front but Purcell replied before Jack O'Connor's point was cancelled out by a long-range King free - 1-2 to 0-5.

Wexford hit three on the trot via McDonald (free), Lee Chin and Kehoe; Morris and Kehoe added more scores after wing back Ciaran Collier found the range for the hosts. When Dwyer pointed for the home team, the winners notched three more successive points through David Redmond, Nolan and Morris.

Jack O'Connor's second long-range point closed the first-half scoring after captain King (free) and John Lennon pulled back a couple of Laois scores.

The second half was a procession as the Model advanced and the O'Moores dropped into the Qualifiers.

Wexford - O O'Leary; S Donohoe, L Ryan, J Breen; E Martin, M O'Hanlon, D O'Keeffe (0-1); A Nolan (1-1), J O'Connor (0-2); P Morris (0-5), L Chin (0-3, 2f), D Redmond (0-1); C McDonald (0-9, 4f, 1'65, 1sl), H Kehoe (1-2), S Murphy (0-1). Subs: J Guiney (1-0) for D Redmond, B Carton for J O'Connor, E Moore for J Breen, D Dunne for A Nolan, L Og McGovern for P Morris.

Laois - E Rowland; L Cleere, L Bergin, D Palmer; M Whelan, C Dwyer (0-1), C Collier (0-1); P Purcell (1-1), R King (0-7, 5f); J Kelly, S Maher (0-1), S Downey (0-1); J Lennon (0-1), N Foyle, W Dunphy (0-1). Subs: C Taylor (0-1) for J Kelly, A Dunphy (0-2) for L Cleere, M Kavanagh for J Lennon, A Corby for S Downey.

Referee - C McAllister.

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