After a comparable marathon championship season for both teams, Dublin advance to claim the somewhat daunting honour of providing Kilkenny with a bit of competition in the next round.

The early dismissal of captain PJ Peacock and an onset of fatigue at a critical juncture dearly cost a Laois team who appeared to be gunning for victory going into the final 10 minutes.

It was the city side, however, who demonstrated the benefit of a few summer runs by coolly gnawing into a two-point deficit and going on to put sufficient distance between themselves and their adversaries.

The current state of Laois hurling was captured in one brief and glorious burst and involved virtually all of their key shakers. Trailing 2-9 to 0-11 after a Ger Ennis free on 52 minutes, Laois rose for one last rally and brought June fever to Tullamore.

Declan Conroy was the soul of this movement, a brick-shouldered and unflinching athlete who lifted his team through his effort and skills. It was he who was on hand to smash home the restorative goal on 53 minutes after Niall Rigney's low-driven free was parried.

A minute later, Conroy rose to the heavens for a fetch and blazed downfield again. With Dublin under pressure, he got in a vital stick-poke which freed Rigney for his first score and then, two minutes later, Conroy hit a delicious cross-field pass which David Cuddy sent sailing.

At 1-14 to 2-9, it was looking good for Laois, and when Niall Butler was red carded for a rash challenge on Laois goalkeeper John Lyons, the momentum looked to have shifted irrevocably. But having bubbled long enough to put themselves in a commanding position, Laois simply crashed. The efforts of soaking up pressure with 14 men for most of the game took their toll and again, their disastrous league campaign betrayed them.

Dublin had the lungs and, when it mattered, the hurlers. As in last week's drawn game, Ballyboden's David Sweeney was immense, ferreting around the park and skipping free to fire two invaluable points during that last 10-minute purple patch. His second, in the 69th minute, following a pass from Thomas McGrane, essentially put the issue to rest. McGrane also left his mark. Reliable in his free-taking duties, and nerveless when it mattered, he closed out the scoring, hopping onto a nice pass from Gordon Glynn to swipe a point and then hammering an injury-time free.

Although the Laois attack lost a tooth after Peacock went - poor James Young was immediately substituted in favour of the more defensive John O'Sullivan - the Dublin back lines contain some redoubtable characters. Conor McCann played his usual economical and devastating game and Liam Walsh produced another pivotal performance. Duignan and Shane Martin were alive to the rebound opportunities which they venomously transformed into goals, both of which sucker-punched Laois.

Martin's strike came in the 22nd minute, immediately after Peacock left the field and following a period of flowing Laois play. The second goal came on the stroke of half-time, leaving the scores at 2-6 to 0-9.

While Dublin were fairly steady throughout, Laois hurled in sporadic waves.

They were hot early on, with Rooney coasting through for an early point, and shot some gorgeous scores during that period, James Young, in particular, catching the eye with a fine fall-away point. But they needed that bit extra from the old reliables. David Cuddy had a reasonable game but was never on song as he had been last week, and Niall Rigney didn't carry his usual swashbuckling qualities. Rooney was, at times, heroic, Nicholas Lacey presided over a tight quarter in the left-hand corner and Anthony Coffey shimmered now and again up front. But collectively, they gusted too rarely to knock Dublin.

It is turning into a bright enough summer for this Dublin team, who endured some miserable hours over the course of the league. There seems to be a sort of kamikaze aspect to their encounter against Kilkenny, but at least they go into the game having sharpened themselves over the preliminaries.

True, the big names are falling like summer flies these days, but it is hard to see Dublin being the latest side to shock.