Late McCormack point sees Laois snatch draw

THIS was more a point dropped than a point gained for Louth and Laois, but the home side had more reason to be pleased with the outcome in Portlaoise yesterday.

They were two points in arrears at the end of normal time but scores from Chris Conway and Brian McCormack brought a cracking third-round contest in the Allianz NFL to an exciting climax.

Both managers were positive about the result. Liam Kearns’ only reservation was that he felt Laois gave away two goals rather easily.

“It was a good test of the team and I thought we showed character.’’

Eamonn McEnaney was looking on the bright side too, even though Louth were also cheated out of victory by a late goal against Armagh.

“We could have no points at all if we were not playing well enough,’’ he said. “If anyone said to me a year ago that we could come down and dominate Laois for large parts of the game I would have been very happy.”

Louth made the perfect start when Aaron Hoey had the ball in the net after only five minutes. It gave them the confidence to take the game to the home side for the opening quarter and also meant that they weren’t led for the entire half.

There was very little between the sides for most of the second quarter and Laois’ steady improvement was rewarded with an equalising point from Paul Lawlor in injury time, to leave the scores 1-5 to 0-8.

The second half was five minutes old when Laois went into the lead for the first time — with Brennan doing well to finish to the net after receiving from Ross Munnelly.

Nevertheless, they were lucky that substitute ‘keeper Michael Nolan stopped a penalty in the 46th minute, when Shane Lennon was fouled and Mark Stansfield took a good kick from the spot. Stansfield quickly made amends with an outfield score from play, but with Munnelly scoring twice (one from a free, after a great McDonald ‘point’ was called back), Laois were able to hold their lead.

However, that situation change dramatically when Lennon used his strength and finishing power to goal for Louth in the 56th minute, before Hoey flicked over a free kick from Darren Clarke. That put them two points clear and they enjoyed that lead at the end of normal time after Chris Conway and Hoey swapped points.

However, Laois showed character to recover within the four minutes injury time that the referee allowed.

Brian McCormack kicked the levelling score, and if Laois had not spurned a few late chances they could have come out on top. Instead, the game produced the fourth draw in 26 league meetings between the counties.

*Syl Doyle refereed the game firmly and fairly and was always in control.

Scorers: Laois: B. Brennan 1-3; R. Munnelly 0-3 frees; B. McDonald 0-2 frees; C. Conway 0-2; P. McMahon, P. Lawlor and B. McCormack 0-1 each. Louth: A. Hoey 1-2; S. Lennon 1-1; D. Clarke 0-2 free; M. Stansfield 0-2; R. Finnegan, C. Grimes (free) and P. Keenan 0-1 each.

LAOIS: M. Nolan; J. Higgins, C. Ryan, R. Stapleton; P. O’Leary, D. Rooney, B. McCormack; P. Clancy (capt.), B. Quigley; B. Sheehan, P. Lawlor, C. Conway; B. McDonald, B. Brennan, R. Munnelly. Subs: P. McMahon for Stapleton (inj, 19th minute); G. Kavanagh for Sheehan (61st); D. Murphy for O’Leary (67th).

LOUTH: S. Reynolds; A. Page, C. Goss, D. Brennan; J. O’Brien, D. Finnegan, R. Finnegan; P. Keenan, M. Fanning; C. Grimes, M. Brennan, M. Stansfield; A. Hoey, S. Lennon, D. Clarke. Subs: J. Carr for Goss (inj, 54th minute); M. McConnell for Clarke (67th); R. Carroll for M. Brennan (72nd).

Referee: S. Doyle (Wexford).