‘Hometown decisions’ irk McNulty

Glenn Ryan hailed his side’s mental fortitude in making such an important breakthrough by winning their first Leinster championship game since 2007.

The proud Longford manager revealed his players had been under huge pressure to end that barren spell following their second straight promotion in the league and winning the Division 3 title, describing their display as “our worst performance of the year”.

It certainly looked to have paralysed them in the first half and they were lucky to be just six points down as Laois racked up eight wides to go with their nine points.