Late Laois free seals the deal over Derry
Eoin Lowry was Laois' late goal scoring hero as John Sugure's side edged a tight encounter against Derry to ensure they are in the hat for Monday's All Ireland Qualifying Series third round draw.
Lowry only entered the fray with nine minutes remaining but three minutes later and with Derry one point to the good at 0-12 to 0-11, the substitute latched on to Martin Scully's through ball to slide a fine, low finish under Thomas Mallon for a goal Derry couldn't recover from.
The goal was harsh on the home side but Laois always looked the more likely goal scorers and ran out deserved winners to bounce back from their recent Leinster Championship defeat.
Derry manager Damian McErlain had named two changes from the team that started the first round victory over Wexford, Liam McGoldrick and Jack Doherty coming in for Ruairi Mooney and Emmett Bradley.
His opposite number John Sugure followed suit with two changes of his own from the side defeated by Meath, Donie Kingston, as expected, coming in to start for Damien O'Connor and Trevor Collins replacing Sean O'Flynn.
The visitors started with Kingston occupying the centre half forward role but it was the home side who looked more impressively in the early exchanges.
Deploying Shane McGuigan and Benny Heron as a two man full forward line, Derrry were two points up inside three minutes thanks to scores from Ryan Bell and McGuigan from a free.
Laois were settling though and in full forward Colm Murphy, they had a man causing Derry all sorts of problems. Murphy opened the Laois account in the fifth minute before Evan O'Carroll somehow missed his shot when the ensuing Derry kick-out went straight to him seconds later.
He made amends though inside three minutes with a ninth minute equaliser and the dye was cast for a half in which there would be nothing between the teams.
Two points from the excellent Murphy had the visitors in the lead for the first time at 0-4 to 0-3 before Derry tied the game again after Laois full-back Denis Booth was yellow carded but a cynical foul on McGuigan who tapped the free over.
Collins and Bell swapped scores before O'Carroll and McGuigan did likewise to maintain the status quo at 0-6 a-piece.
Derry's Ciaran McFaul scored the point of the half when he won a Laois kick-out and meandered through three tackles before kicking a beauty against the breeze and when Niall Keenan won loose ball to set-up Heron,Derry had a two point lead going into first half injury time.
The last say of the half however went to Laois and Daniel O'Reilly who split the posts after a great run to leave only the minimum between the teams at 0-8 to 0-7.
Derry introduced Eoghan Concannon for McGoldrick at half-time and the substitute was handed the job of stopping Murphy but despite enjoying the breeze second half, Laois could have hit the net three times with Derry indebted to some superb goalkeeping from Thomas Mallon.
Chrissy McKaigue had started the half with a lovely point but Laois were beginning to dominate. Two Donie Kingston frees levelled before Paul Kingston's long ball in saw Murphy hold off Concannon, turn and flash a shot inches wide of the far post.
That was close but even closer was to follow.
Derry were unable to win their kick-out, John O'Loughlin setting off toward the posts before O'Carroll's centre perfectly picked out Murphy only yards from the goal line. The full forward met it full on with the fists but Mallon somehow blocked the effort before getting down to block Murphy's second effort only inches from the line.
That save looked even more valuable when Bell squeezed over a free from south of 40m to edge Derry 0-10 to 0-9 in front seconds before an excellent Mallon save denied O'Carroll.
Donie Kingston and Robert Piggott were both black carded for Laois, Kingston for a trip of McFaul and Piggott for a cynical foul of the breaking Heron but Laois were in the ascendancy.
Point were traded until McGuigan edged Derry in front at 0-12 to 0-11 with a close range free before Lowry struck the critical blow with five to play.
Even with six minutes of injury time, the goal left Derry too much to do, especially with McFaul's loose pass out of defence gave Kieran Lillis an opportunity to score which he didn't pass up.
A late red card for McFaul for an off the ball incident didn't help Oak Leaf hopes. Lowry's late free sealed the deal but his goal won the game.
Ryan Bell (0-3, 2f), Shane McGuigan (0-4, 4f), Benny Heron (0-2), Ciaran McFaul (0-1), Christopher McKaigue (0-1),
Eoin Lowry (1-1, 1f), Colm Murphy (0-3), Evan O'Carroll (0-2, 1f), Trevor Collins (0-1), Donie Kingston (0-4, 3f), Daniel O'Reilly (0-1), Kieran Lillis (0-1)
Thomas Mallon; Karl McKaigue, Brendan Rogers, Liam McGoldrick; Jason Rocks, Christopher McKaigue, Niall Keenan; Conor McAtamney, Ciaran McFaul; Jack Doherty, Benny Heron, Padraig Cassidy; Shane McGuigan, Ryan Bell, Enda Lynn.
Eoghan Concannon for L McGoldrick, HT; Patrick Coney for J Rocks, 44mins; Conor Doherty for J Doherty, 54; Christopher Bradley for R Bell, 55mins; Sean F Quinn for E Concannon, 57mins;
3/4
C McKaigue, 44mins; B Rogers, 76mins;
C McFaul, 73mins;
Graham Brody, Stephen Attride, Denis Booth, Gareth Dillon; Trevor Collins, Robert Pigott, Patrick O'Sullivan; John O'Loughlin, Kieran Lillis; Daniel O'Reilly, Connor Boyle, Donal Kingston; Paul Kingston, Colm Murphy, Evan O'Carroll.
Sean Byrne for D Nooth, HT; Martin Scully for P Kingston, 49mins; Eoin Buggie for P O'Sullivan, 52mins; Eoin Lowry for E O'Carroll, 61mins; Mark Barry for D Kingston (Black Card), 61mins
3/4
Patrick O'Sullivan, 18mins; Denis Booth, 22mins; Gareth Dillon, 63mins;
D Kingston, 60mins; R Piggott, 64mins;
Jerome Henry (Mayo)
