Limerick - 2-17 Laois 3-10 Limerick collected a brace of league points when they recorded a comfortable victory over Laois at Portlaoise yesterday. Laois, however, got off to a dream start when Canice Counihan punished the Limerick defence with a goal inside the opening five minutes.

Laois went on to dominate the opening quarter and led 1-3 to a point after 20 minutes. But a Limerick switch that saw Ollie Moran move to full forward was to pay dividends. In the 21st minute he sent a shot to the roof of the net and a succession of points from James Moran, Barry Foley and Mark Keane saw the visitors ahead by 1-7 to 1-6 at the interval.

On the changeover Barry Foley stretched their advantage with two early points but when Laois hit back with two points from Darren Rooney and Michael McEvoy only a point separated the sides.

Ten minutes into the half Ollie Moran struck for his second goal and points from Peter Lawlor, Donncha Sheehan, Barry and Mark Foley put Limerick comfortably in front. Laois improved in the final 15 minutes and two goals, one from Liam Tynan and a second from a penalty by James Young, narrowed the gap to four points. But that was as close as they were to get.

LIMERICK: G Houlihan; D Reale, PJ Ryan, E Mulcahy; M O'Brien, K Carey, M Foley (0-1); P Lawlor (0-1), C Smith; J Moran (0-1), O Moran (2-3), B Foley (0-5); M Keane (0-3), N Moran, D Sheehan (0-3). Subs: P O'Dwyer for M O'Brien; M O'Brien for J Moran; J Meskell for P Lawlor; J O'Brien for M Keane.

LAOIS: J Lyons; L Mahon, Pat Cuddy, T Phelan; C Cuddy, Paul Cuddy, M McEvoy (0-1); J Young (1-4), D Mooney (0-1); B McCormack (0-1), E Meagher (0-1), N Daly; F O'Sullivan (0-1), L Tynan (1-1), T Coonan (1-0). Subs: M Rooney for B McCormack; L Wynne for C Coonan; T Fitzgerald for N Daly.

Referee: D Kirwan (Cork).