Fired up Longford complete great escape as Billy O'Loughlin puts his native Laois to the relegation sword

Vital goals executed in either half by Dessie Reynolds and Joseph Hagan ensured that fired up Longford claimed the scalp of Laois in this winner takes all Allianz Football League Division 3 relegation battle at O'Moore Park, Portlaoise this afternoon. 

A superior Longford outfit, managed by Arles Killeen and Laois native Billy O'Loughlin, put wasteful and outclassed Laois to the sword and relegated them to the basement division for next year. 

ALLIANZ NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION 3 ROUND 7: LAOIS 1-13 LONGFORD 2-17

Indeed, this makes it successive relegations for Laois who were banished from Division two in 2021 under Mike Quirke and now will face the depths of Division four in 2023.

Westmeath, Antrim and Fermanagh along with Longford preserved their Division 3 status and they will be joined next season by Offaly and Down (relegated from Division 2) and Cavan and Tipperary (promoted from Division 4). 

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This was a great victory for Longford particularly since the Laois venue hasn't always been a happy hunting ground for them. The visitors led 1-10 to 1-5 at the break and once Hagan crashed home to the twine early in the second half, it was curtains for Laois.

Hagan with 1-6 to his credit, along with Dessie Reynolds, Darren Gallagher and Mickey Quinn were the stars in this impressive win for Longford.

Longford staying up today was a huge story that may get overlooked, as they beat Laois, Mickey Quinn was utterly integral to their survival!

Manager Billy O’Loughlin told @willocallaghan on @MidlandsSport that Mickey won 92% of the kickouts he contested today #GAA https://t.co/QkwotgJywq

— Tommy Rooney (@TomasORuanaidh) March 27, 2022

Billy O'Loughlin's team now have a number of weeks to prepare ahead of their Leinster championship opener against Westmeath, a side they defeated in the league. Incredibly, after today's action, there will be no Leinster county operating in Division 1 next year as both Dublin and Kildare dropped out of the top flight. 

How the Division 3 table ended up..... 

In glorious conditions for football, it was the Longford men who raced into an early two point lead. Wing forward Joseph Hagan started the game on fire and had four points from play to his name by the 15th minute. He landed the opening score while Oran Kenny also opened his account in the fifth minute to put the visitors two up.

Laois got their opening score in the game on eight minutes when Eoin Lowry clipped over before Hagan knocked over his second to restore the two point lead for Billy O'Loughlin's men. Gary Walsh was moving well inside and he got two well taken scores in the space of three minutes to leave it 0-3 to 0-3 after 13 minutes.

Hagan landed two more with a corker from Mark Barry in between as Longford held a slender advantage with 15 minutes gone.

Then out of nothing, Laois struck for goal. Mark Barry cut in along the end line, made a small angle for himself and found the net despite Paddy Collum managing to half block the shot.

As both sides favoured looking for the early ball into the full forward line, Longford went through a patient phase of play that resulted in Darragh Doherty opening his account to leave Laois only leading by a point - 1-4 to 0-6 with 21 minutes on the clock.

Laois got their first score in nine minutes when Eoin Lowry kicked over a superb effort from 40 yards on 25 minutes but no longer had they restored their two point lead when Longford narrowed the gap through a Jack Duggan free and Laois wing back Sean O'Flynn picked up a black card leaving Laois with 14 men for 10 minutes.

Things got worse for Laois on 28 minutes. Kevin Diffley charged in along the end line and fed the onrushing Dessie Reynolds to palm to the net and give the Longford men a 1-7 to 1-5 lead.

Reynolds raided up the field for the next score as well, kicking a splendid effort from an acute angle to put his side three points in front with five minutes left in the opening half.

Longford continued to make use of the numerical advantage and kicked two more scores before the break with Hagan getting hsi fifth and Darren Gallagher curling over a free to leave them 1-10 to 1-5 ahead at half time.

Laois fired three wides in the opening three minutes of the second half and in the middle of that, Dessie Reynolds kicked over from 35 metres for Longford to extend their lead over a Laois side that re-jigged things at half time. Brian Byrne reverted back to corner back with Sean Moore coming into the fray for Alex Mohan and Cormac Murphy coming on in a straight swap for Danny O'Reilly.

Longford were far more economical with their chances and they went a good distance to putting the game to bed on 42 minutes when that man Joseph Hagan found the net, coolly slotting to the net from close range to make it 2-11 to 1-5.

Allianz National Football League Round 7 in Portlaoise. 41 min. @OfficialLDGAA 2-11@CLGLaois 1-05

GOOOOAALLLLLL

Iarla O’ Sullivan plays a great through ball and the right man gets on the end of it as Joe Hagan nets to bring his tally to 1-05 from play.

— Longford Leader (@Longford_Leader) March 27, 2022

Laois did get two scores back through Sean Moore and a Mark Barry free but by the 47th minute, those were cancelled out with Jayson Matthews and Joseph Hagan both tagging on scores for the Longford men.

Mark Timmons kicked two on the bounce for Laois but the result was beyond doubt at this stage as Longford continued to stay ticking over as full back Andrew Farrell blazed over from close range with the goal at his mercy.

Leading 2-14 tom 1-9 with 10 minutes to go, Longford controlled the game well in the closing stages. Gary Walsh had a glorious goal chance saved by Paddy Collum from point blank range with four minutes to go and that pretty much summed up Laois' day in front of goals.

Mark Barry and Mark Timmons landed two impressive scores as the game wandered into injury time but the game eventually ended up in a seven point defeat for Loais.

LAOIS

Scorers: Mark Barry 1-4 (0-3 frees), Mark Timmons and Gary Walsh (0-1 free) 0-3 each, Eoin Lowry 0-2, Sean Moore 0-1.

Team: Danny Bolger; Trevor Collins, Mark Timmons, Alex Mohan; Sean O'Flynn, John O'Loughlin, Gareth Dillon; Kieran Lillis, James Finn; Brian Byrne, Eoin Lowry, Danny O'Reilly; Mark Barry, Evan O'Carroll, Gary Walsh. Subs: Alan Farrell for Gareth Dillon (21), Sean Moore for Alex Mohan (ht), Cormac Murphy for Danny O'Reilly (ht), Brian Daly for James Finn (43), Ross Munnelly for Evan O'Carroll (60)

LONGFORD

Scorers: Joseph Hagan 1-6, Dessie Reynolds 1-2, Darren Gallagher 0-3 frees, Andrew Farrell, Darragh Doherty, Jack Duggan (free), Jayson Matthews, Oran Kenny and Keelan McCann 0-1 each.

Team: Paddy Collum; Barry O'Farrell, Andrew Farrell, James Moran; Dessie Reynolds, Mickey Quinn, Iarla O'Sullivan; Kevin Diffley, Darren Gallagher; Eoghan McCormack, Darragh Doherty, Joseph Hagan; Jayson Matthews, Jack Duggan, Oran Kenny. Subs: PJ Masterson for Barry O'Farrell (43), Keelan McGann for Jack Duggan (48), Aidan McGuire for Jayson Matthews (54), Daniel Reynolds for Oran Kenny (60), Ryan Moffett for Darragh Doherty (68)

Referee: Brendan Griffin (Kerry)

It was a great win! Had Longford ever beaten Laois in Portlaoise before? None of us auld fellas there can recall any wins - only heavy defeats #survival

— Brendan McLoughlin (@BrendanMc1966) March 27, 2022

Make it the counties set to contest the Tailteann Cup in 2022, unless they reach provincial finals, are:

Offaly, Down, Antrim, Westmeath, Fermanagh, Longford, Laois, Wicklow, Cavan, Tipperary, Sligo, Leitrim, London, Wexford, Carlow, Waterford and New York.

— Fintan O'Toole (@fotoole13) March 27, 2022

Great win for Longford today. We have not had many great days in Portlaoise but we will take this one.

— Declan Rowley (@Declan049603271) March 27, 2022

King Billy some win

— Kevin Masterson (@KevinMasterson2) March 27, 2022

Well done Longford #survival pic.twitter.com/y4wdLI0cZV

— Club Longford (@ClubLongford) March 27, 2022