Dunne dominates in Dublin rout

LIAM DUNNE scored 1-10 as Dublin cruised to a facile win over Laois at O’Moore Park to get their campaign back on track after losing to Kilkenny in their opening game.

Dunne struck early with a coupleoffreestogivethe visitors a two-point lead, but Laois had their best spell after that. They rattled off three frees in a row to lead, and should have gone further ahead, but poor finishing scuppered their chances.

Dublin responded with points from Luke Swan and Pearce Christie to break the Laois resistance, and it was plain sailing after that. Dunnetackedonacoupleof frees and the Dara Purcell slotted home a goal from close range, to put Dublin 1-10 to 0-5 ahead.

The second half was a formality after that, with the relentless Dunne continuing to impress, as he hit the first five points of the half, four of which came from frees.

To top it off, he then added a fine individual goal, and Dublin cantered home to a convincing victory.

SCORERS - Dublin: L Dunne 1-10 (9f), D Purcell 1-2, C Murray 0-3, L Swan 0-2, A O’Toole, P Christie, C Foley, S Fenton 0-1 each. Laois: A Kirwan 0-7(7f)

LAOIS: L Fitzpatrick; B Shore, D Brennan, G O’Neill; K Kelly, C Cosgrove, T Fitzpatrick; F Mahoney, T Cuddy; C Byrne, A Connolly, E Hawkes; M Hennessy, C O’Shaughnessy, A Kirwan. Subs: N Carey for Kelly (ht), DJ O’Callaghan for Hawkes (ht), F Holland for Shore (52), S Farrell for Byrne (55)

DUBLIN: J Lambert; K Byrne, C Hogan, T Cullen; E Carney, A O’Neill, I Ó hEither; D Leavy, D Power; C Murray, P Christie, C Foley; L Dunne, L Swan, D Purcell. Subs: A O’Toole for Christie (41), F Murphy for Byrne (43), C Walsh for Cullen (46), F Ryan for Leavy (50), S Fenton for Purcell (54) REF – R Fitzsimons (Offaly)