The Allianz League title holders ground out a one-point win over Meath having trailed by that same margin with 68 minutes on the clock.

“Particularly in the social scene that we are today, the GAA is far more important than it ever was,” Counihan told the Irish Examiner GAA Podcast.

Laois manager Mike Quirke, 2010 All-Ireland winning Cork manager Conor Counihan, and four-time All-Ireland hurling final referee Brian Gavin have called for the introduction of the clock-hooter system to lessen the "unsustainable" demands being placed on football referees.

GAA chiefs face a fixtures’ backlog after Storm Ciara forced the postponement of a number of games in the Allianz Football League.