Cavan and Laois produce thriller

Cavan 4-11 Laois 2-17

There was a remarkable scoreline at Breffni Park today when Cavan and Laois produced a thrilling draw in Division 1B of the NFL.

These two top sides battled out a thriller and gave the 5,000 fans a game to remember.

It was a penalty four minutes into injury time which gave Cavan a share of the points, Peter Reilly converting a penalty in the 74th minute.

Earlier in the game Laois seemed to have the edge and Mick O'Dwyer had his players in peak condition so much so that they led by 0-6 to 0-1 after 15 minutes but were brought back to level terms by a Larry Reilly goal in the 21st minute.

Laois recovered sufficiently to take a 0-10 to 0-5 lead as half-time approached but on the stroke of half-time Jason Reilly scored a fine goal and while Cavan felt they were going into the interval with a lead two minutes into injury time Laois responded with a penalty converted by the goalkeeper Fergal Byron to give them a two point lead 1-10 to 2-5.

The excitement was far from finished and while Laois increased their lead with points from Noel Girvan and Michael Lawlor the accuracy of Dermot McCabe from frees kept Cavan in contention.

It was score for score as the game entered the final quarter and Mickey Graham levelled the scores in the 54th minute.

However Laois were far from dead and they introduced Hugh Emerson into the attack.

He was only seconds on the field when he crashed the ball to the net to restore Laois's lead which they held for 10 minutes when Jason Reilly finished the ball to the net and it was now 3-11 to 2-13.

With only five minutes of normal time remaining Laois felt they had the points in the bag when Aidan Fennelly levelled the scores and another sub David Sweeney scored two spectacular points which was added to by a free from Ian Fitzgerald.

With three minutes of added time to be played Laois enjoyed a three point lead but then came Peter Reilly's late penalty.