Offaly defeated Laois by 2-16 to 2-15 in an astonishing match at O'Moore Park tonight.

In an amazing finale, the winners - who led most of the way but were stunned by a late Laois revival - slotted three successive points through St Rynagh's marksman Stephen Quirke (1-8) to bag a dramatic victory.

The hosts had a late, late chance to draw level and force extra time but, unfortunately for them, the otherwise flawless Stephen Maher (0-11) missed the target with a free deep in injury time. That proved to be the last touch of the opening match of this years Leinster U21 HC and it was the visitors who squeezed through by the skin of their teeth.

Their reward is a semi-final date with Kilkenny!

At the end of an entertaining first half, Offaly - who started and finished the opening half-hour strongly - led by three points, 1-9 to 1-6.

In a welcome change from tradition, both teams started as selected and it was the would-be victors who roared out of the blocks with an unanswered burst of 1-4 before senior star Maher opened Laois' account on ten minutes.

Seir Kieran's Adrian Hynes - a survivor from last year's Faithful County U21 side - had registered the visitors' opening goal in the ninth minute.

Once they got a sniff of the posts, the O'Moore County were like a dog with a bone and a goal from midfielder Ben Conroy (Castletown Slieve Bloom) had them right back in contention by the 16th minute, with Rathdowney Errill's Paddy Purcell slotting the point that made it 1-4 to 1-3.

The next four points were shared but Ger Coughlan's charges finished the opening period strongly to lead by 1-9 to 1-6 at the interval.

The visitors had stretched their lead to four points by the 40th minute but Laois refused to roll over and reeled off a salvo of four unanswered points to finally draw level. Paddy Keating supplied the score that made it 1-11 to 1-11 at the three-quarters stage.

When Offaly poked their nosed back in front, the O'Moore County response was pretty emphatic - a PJ Scully goal!

Amazingly, Offaly replied in kind with their second three-pointer courtesy of Stephen Quirke - 2-12 each.

Laois moved into a 2-15 to 2-13 lead but Quirke replied with three successive points - including an injury-time free - to take a dramatic 2-16 to 2-15 lead in the second minute of stoppage time.

An Offaly player was then punished for touching the sliothar on the ground and 'Picky' Maher - who'd had an excellent game - bravely stepped forward but his shot sailed wide and the Faithful County progressed by the narrowest of margins.

Offaly - C Clancy; N Wynne, D Kelliher, M Cleary; D King, P Camon, S Gardiner; S Cleary (0-2), T Carroll (0-2); S Dolan, A Kealey, P Geraghty (0-2); S Quirke (1-9), T Geraghty (0-1), A Hynes (1-0). Subs: P Murphy for Dolan.

Laois - E Fleming; O Carroll, G Burke, D Duggan; M Collier, B Duggan, N Unwin; P Purcell (0-1), J Ryan; B Conroy (1-0), MJ Lalor, S Maher (0-10); PJ Scully (1-1), P Whelan, R King (0-2). Subs: C Dwyer for Lalor, P Keating (0-1) for Whelan, T Dowling for Conroy. Tweet

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