Mixed NHL for Dublin as they hit one of their two targets set out

Defeats to Offaly and Waterford in the middle of the campaign, both games they had the winning of, ruined their promotion hopes and meant Ó Ceallacháin was unable to tick that second box.

ONE OF TWO TARGETS: Dublin set out two targets for the NHL to reach the final and blood new players and they hit one of those. Pic: Stephen Marken/Sportsfile

Allianz NHL Division 1B: Dublin 2-21 Laois 0-13

A National League campaign of high experimentation and some frustration for the Dublin hurlers.

New manager Niall Ó Ceallacháin set out two clear targets back in mid-January; to look at lots of players and to win games.

He ticked the first box by looking at 36 different players, Andrew Dunphy the last to make his seasonal return to activity on Saturday evening in Portlaoise, and they did at least finish on a winning note.

A late unanswered 1-5 from Dublin, including substitute David Purcell's goal, stretched the gap to 13 points by full-time. Darragh Power, who finished with 1-2, scored Dublin's earlier goal after 20 minutes.

But defeats to Offaly and Waterford in the middle of the campaign, both games they had the winning of, ruined their promotion hopes and meant  Ceallachain was unable to tick that second box.

"I've talked about it a lot that there were two objectives of the league; to be winning games and to reach the final, we didn't do that," said Ó Ceallacháin.

"But the second objective was absolutely to give people opportunities. We did that, probably moreso than we normally would, or than other teams would, but that's just where we're at this year. So we know a lot more now than we did seven or eight weeks ago."

Dublin have just under a month now to their Leinster SHC opener with Offaly at Parnell Park. Ó Ceallacháin has chopped his panel down to 35 and will be sticking with that for the summer.

Given that 30 of those 35 have started at least one game for Dublin in their Division 1B campaign, chances are Ó Ceallacháin still isn't entirely sure of his best XV. Rian McBride for St Vincent's has also yet to get game time.

"That's the league done now so there's going to be a clear step up in intensity from the league to Leinster championship perspective," said Ó Ceallacháin. "The next four weeks will be narrowing things down, we've narrowed down the panel already. The first couple of weeks will be really intense from a training perspective and then we'll ease off for a week or two leading into the Offaly game.

"You look back on the league and the last couple of months and there's been a lot of positives and a lot to work on. So we have a big four weeks ahead of us but so do all the other teams."

Dublin still could have sneaked a top-two finish, had Offaly defeated Waterford at Walsh Park and other results gone their way. But Waterford, starting an hour earlier on Saturday, were always in control against Offaly so that possibility was off the table at an early stage.

Laois had even less of an incentive given that they were already relegated. Boss Tommy Fitzgerald chose to hand starts to goalkeeper Eoin Fleming and defenders Ryan Mullaney and Eoin Gaughan, bringing to 33 the amount of players he's used in the campaign. James Duggan, who scored two excellent first-half points, started his first game of 2025.

Laois were competitive for the most part and only Power's goal separated the teams at half-time, 1-9 to 0-9. There were still just six points in it with seven minutes to go but Purcell's goal for Dublin and their late 1-5 without response glossed the scoreline. Purcell's goal came immediately after Laois had had a goal chance saved at the other end, goalkeeper Sean Brennan denying Laois sub Ben Conroy.

Laois will be back in action in just under a month, against Westmeath in the Joe McDonagh Cup.

Scorers for Dublin: D Power 1-2; D O Dulaing 0-4 (4 frees); David Purcell 1-0; R Hayes, A Jamieson Murphy, S Currie (2 frees), C O Riain 0-3 each; B Hayes, C Donohoe, J Hetherton 0-1 each.

Scorers for Laois: PJ Scully 0-5 (3 frees, 1 65); A Corby, J Duggan, A Dunphy 0-2 each; M Dowling, FC Fennell 0-1 each.

DUBLIN: S Brennan; P Smyth, C McHugh, A Dunphy; P O'Dea, P Doyle, K Burke; C Burke, C Donohoe; S Currie, B Hayes, D Power; D O Dulaing, R Hayes, C O Riain.

Subs: D Lucey for Doyle (45); J Hetherton for O Dulaing (48); I O hEithir for O'Dea (51); A Jamieson Murphy for C Burke (55); David Purcell for R Hayes (64).

LAOIS: E Fleming; D Conway, L Cleere, C Comerford; R Mullaney, E Gaughan, J Walshe; FC Fennell, D Dooley; A Dunphy, T Keyes, A Corby; M Dowling, J Duggan, PJ Scully.

Subs: B Conroy for Duggan (49); D Hartnett for Cleere (55); J Lennon for Dowling (59); J Keyes for Dunphy & C Byrne for T Keyes (68).

Referee: J Owens (Wexford).