Laois 1-15 Armagh 1-10:TWO TEAMS battling at the basement end of the table produced an entertaining hour's football at Portlaoise. Both teams had suffered at the hands of Dublin in recent weeks and in particular Armagh, who are still without the Crossmaglen contingent.

Armagh opened well and two early points by Brian Mallon and Aidan Forker settled them but after a slow start Laois recovered and their defence tightened up.

Colm Begley posted Laois’s opening score from play and the teams were level in the 13th minute when Michael J Tierney sent over a fine point from play. Laois were taking a grip around the pitch and took the lead with points by Colm Begley followed by a fine effort from Billy Sheehan from play after 20 minutes.

Armagh hit back for a point from Gavin McPartland but Laois finished the half in style with great points from Ross Munnelly and a brace by Michael J Tierney.

The only reply from the visitors was a late point by Aidan Forker but it might have been much closer had Armagh not kicked five bad wides in a row. At the interval Laois led 0-7 to 0-4 but the real talking point was when the teams returned for the second half. Sligo referee Michael Duffy issued Armagh centre-back Kieran McKeever with a straight red card as apparently he had been involved in an incident in the tunnel with Laois player Billy Sheehan.

Armagh officials had to escort the player to the line before the game resumed. Laois quickly extended their lead with points by Darren Strong and substitute Paul Cahillane but as in the first half it was goalkeeper Eoin Culleton who was the real Laois hero with a string of top-class saves. He was eventually beaten by Caolan Rafferty after a ball rebounded from a Finian Moriarity rasper.

Armagh closed the gap to two points but a great shot by Paul Cahillane secured Laois their second brace of points. They face a daunting trip to Killarney on Sunday next while Armagh meet Down in a local derby.

LAOIS: E Culliton; C Healy, K Lillis, P OLeary; D Strong (0-1), K Meaney (0-1), C Boyle; B Quigley, J OLoughlin; R Munnelly (0-2), C Begley (0-3), Mark Timmons (0-1); MJ Tierney (0-3), A Kelly, B Sheehan (0-1). Subs: P Cahillane (1-1) for A Kelly (35 mins), Damien O’Connor (0-2) for M J Tierney 60m, Colm Kelly for J O’Loughlin (65), J OLoughlin for C Begley ( 69 mins).

ARMAGH: P McEvoy; A Mallon, F Moriarity, D McKenna; K Dyas, C McKeever, P Duffy; Billy J Padden, P Carragher; A Forker (0-2), B Mallon (0-3), A Duffy; C Rafferty (1-1), C Watters, G McParland (0-1); Subs: J Kingham (0-1) for A Forker (52), R Rafferty for C Watters (58), M O’Rourke (0-1) for G McPartland (59), J Lavery (0-1) for P Carragher (48), C Vernon for A Duffy (49).

Referee: Michael Duffy, Sligo