Bitter end for Dublin as Laois snatch golden goal

Laois - 1-15 D Cuddy 0-10, nine frees, P Cuddy 1-0, D Conroy 0-2, F O'Sullivan 0-1, D Culleton 0-1, D Rooney 0-1.

Dublin - 2-11 T McGrane 0-5, four frees, S Martin 1-1, G Ennis 1-0, D Sweeney 0-2, K Flynn 0-3.

REFEREE: G Harrington (Cork)

ATTENDANCE: 3,250 (est)

First rule of Dublin hurling and this championship summer: don't talk about Dublin hurling this championship summer.

Indeed this is one they will find hard to talk about even in years to come. Cut down by a single point, and yet that's the difference between Croke Park in June and staying stuck in the whirlpool of defeats.

This was an exhilarating story that can only begin with the closing sequence. Laois were on their way out, dead on their feet, and in need of a priest. Dublin were holding on, courageous and within sight of glory and salvation.

Injury-time spilled into new injurytime, and the clock was approaching five minutes beyond its scheduled conclusion. Down by two points, Laois need a goal and nothing less. So Paul Cuddy, standing 30 yards out, receives the ball and does nothing less, sending it low and jetting into the Dublin goal.

One could almost hear the blue hearts break. Having seemed destined to win for so long, they probably now think destiny must mean eternal defeat. It was a game they could - and surely would - have won had Laois not displayed such commendable heart and determination.

One statistic will be particularly haunting when Dublin eventually get the nerve to look back. With 20 minutes left to play, their six-point lead looked solid. The defence was growing in stature and Tomas McGrane was providing the frequent scores. If only they could have built further on that.

Instead, David Cuddy gradually chipped away at his side's deficit with his flawless free-taking - helped on by a succession of fouls in the Dublin defence. With just five minutes of normal time left, Cuddy had chipped it down to two points. And despite the ferocious period of action that followed, the only word that was left unsaid was that of his brother Paul.

Dublin will find reason to question such an extended period of play (the fourth official originally suggested three minutes of added time), but clearly there were significant injury periods within that injury period. There was time for one more puck after Cuddy's goal but not enough for Dublin to even think about a reply.

"Devastating," was the first word out of Kevin Fennelly's mouth, and the Dublin manager chose wisely. "That is the worst possible way to go out of a championship. And it was the worst possible result that I've suffered with Dublin."

Even with his limited reign as Dublin boss, Fennelly seems to have built something positive into his players. They were slow to start and didn't strike well for the first quarter hour. Call it rusty or call it whatever because it didn't last long and they were soon well on top, creating plenty of attacks with impressive co-ordination between half-forward and half-back lines.

After the opening half-hour Dublin could easily have had three goals. Just then Gerry Ennis did hit the net, latching on to long ball from Daragh Spain and beating Laois goalkeeper John Lyons in the tussle for the ball. When Kevin Flynn added his second of three points shortly afterwards, they led 1-6 to 0-6.

Another exchange of frees between David Cuddy and McGrane meant the sides switched ends still with the goal difference. But as soon as Laois clawed it back to one point, Shane Martin met to perfection an Ennis ball across the face of the Laois goal and crashed home Dublin's second goal. When captain David Sweeney swung another point, the Dublin lead was at that comfortable six points.

So what happened then? "Well I've been in hurling long enough to know that games can change in four or five minutes," added Fennelly, "although that happened over a longer spell of maybe 10 or 15 minutes. Even with six points up I knew the game was never over.

"A goal would put them back in it and it happened to come with the very last touch. We had a few chances to put the ball over the bar but they got the breaks in the end. You get good breaks and bad breaks in this game and that was one of the bad ones."

Laois, of course, could hardly believe the break when they got it. "Well, we were pressing the whole time but you have to give credit to Paul for coming down and putting that ball in the net," said manager Sean Cuddy - particularly proud of his son's achievements.

"And it is a great day for Laois hurling. Dublin were the faster team but our boys kept plugging away. And I think the two games before this were a big help because it made sure we hurled up to the last second. For the first 15 minutes of the second half, they never put us away. David kept us coming back at them and then it came down to the last puck of the game."

For a long time, though, Laois were having huge problems containing Dublin's superior pace. Sweeney, Spain and Martin all worked tirelessly at half forward, and if McGrane, Ennis and Kevin Flynn had gelled a little earlier then Dublin would never have been in a position to lose.