Galway, Laois and Kilkenny victorious in Walsh Cup

The hurlers of Galway, Laois and Kilkenny all claimed victories in the Bord na Mona Walsh Cup quarter-finals this afternoon.

Galway were always comfortable as they cruised to a 6-25 to 1-8 victory over UCD at Belfield.

Anthony Cunningham's first competitive fixture as the Tribesmen boss saw nine different scorers for his side with debutant Conor Cooney (2-6) leading the charge.

11 of last year's Championship side saw action for the visitors in a game which also saw Galway panellist Jamie Ryan commanding the goals for the students.

Ryan pulled off three brilliant saves in the opening half, including two from Damien Hayes and one from Joe Canning, but leaked four first half goals.

Cooney, Canning, Damien Hayes and David Burke all raising green flags before the interval. Iarla Tannian's goal moved Galway 5-20 to 0-7 ahead five minutes after the restart.

Cooney added his second goal late on, with UCD captain Noel McGrath (1-2) of Tipperary registering the students' only goal of the afternoon.

Galway will face Laois in the semi-finals after goals in either half from Tommy Fitzgerald were key in their 2-14 to 1-14 win over Dublin at a wet O'Moore Park.

The sides were level on four occasions inside the opening 24 minutes in Portlaoise, before Laois stole a march before the break.

The hosts led by 1-8 to 0-6 at the interval with Fitzgerald claiming a 32nd minute goal and the Portlaoise clubman netted Laois' second goal 30 seconds after the restart.

The O'Moore men opened up a nine-point lead following a John Brophy score soon after, but Anthony Daly's charges responded well with six points in-a-row.

Shane Stapleton, Cian McBride, Declan O'Dwyer, Ryan O'Dwyer and John McCaffrey were all on target to leave the scoreline at 2-9 to 0-12 in the 47th minute.

Laois bounced back with a trio of points, but a goal from substitute Alan McCrabbe left just three points between the sides with eight minutes left on the clock.

The sides traded points late on, with Dublin putting the Laois defence under increased pressure, but Teddy McCarthy's side stood firm to take a morale-boosting victory.

An experimental Kilkenny team edged out the students of NUI Galway by 0-13 to 0-12 at Freshford this afternoon.

Managed by Under-21 manager Richie Mulrooney, the Cats were pushed all the way by the Fitzgibbon Cup contenders.

Caimin Morey was among those on target for the students in the opening half, as they held a slender 0-8 to 0-7 interval lead.

Top scorer John Power was the best forward on show for Kilkenny, who will face Westmeath in the last-four next weekend.