Sean Moore registered 1-8 as 14-man Laois eased to a 2-13 to 1-8 victory over Louth at Portlaoise.

The result sees the Wee County make a disappointing exit from the last-ever provincial U21 competition, while the midlanders have set up a mouth-watering semi-final derby against Offaly at Dr Cullen Park next week.

The winners led by six points at the end of an incident-packed first half that produced three goals and a red card as the teams went toe-to-toe in determined fashion. A Ryan Burns goal had opened Louth's account but Laois plundered two goals of their own inside a minute via Moore and Colm Murphy before having David Connolly sent to the line.

Full forward Moore had Gary Kavanagh's charges up and running in the third minute but senior hotshot Burns replied with interest for the Wee County on five minutes when sending his shot to the top corner of the net. Hunterstown ace Burns followed up with a sweetly-struck free and Tadgh McEneaney slotted over in response to a Moore brace as the visitors led by 1-2 to 0-3 after ten pulsating minutes.

After Brian Daly pulled back another point, the hosts dramatically reclaimed the lead with goals from Moore and Murphy within 30 seconds of each other to suddenly make it double scores in their favour - 2-4 to 1-2.

Unsurprisingly, the scores dried up temporarily as both sets of players took a deep breath and the next incident of note was the dismissal of O'Moore County midfielder Connolly on a straight red card. Burns and Moore exchanged points and a Conor Whelehan strike had the home side ahead by double scores once more six minutes from the interval, 2-6 to 1-3.

Brian Byrne increased the gap to seven but Louth's Ciaran Downey had the honour of clipping over the last score before the break.

The winners knocked over four of the first six points after the resumption to remain in command, leading by 2-11 to 1-6 with eight minutes to play. Moore traded points with Ross Nally and then McEneaney before Eoin Buggie popped one over to make it 2-10 to 1-6 at the three-quarters stage.

From there, the 14 men comfortably held on to deservedly seal their place in the last four.

Laois - A Cooney; J Kelly, S Nerney, T Collins; P O'Sullivan, E Buggie (0-1), D O'Reilly (0-1); David Connolly, D Luttrell; Darragh Connolly, B Daly (0-1), C Whelehan (0-1); C Murphy (1-0), S Moore (1-8, 0-4f), B Byrne (0-1). Subs: L Knowles for Darragh Connolly, D Doyle for B Byrne, A Carroll for C Whelehan, R Piggott for P O'Sullivan.

Louth - S Hayes; C Clarke, K Carr, N Sharkey; D Maguire, M Corcoran, J Clutterbuck; C Early, C Grogan; D Hamill, R Burns (1-4, 0-3f), C Downey (0-1); T McEneaney (0-2), S Mulroy, R Nally (0-1). Subs: H Osborne for D Maguire, P Matthews for C Grogan, A O'Brien for D Hamill, R Ward for R Nally (BC), G Matthews for T McEneaney, S Marry for C Downey.

Referee - F Smyth.

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