Hitherto pointless Laois deservedly broke their duck at Brewster Park against a Fermanagh team who, over the course of the 70 minutes, gifted the Leinster side a generous amount of possession. Laois were ultimately able to take advantage of the fact that Fermanagh were weakened by the absence through injury of Paddy McGuinness, Tom Brewster and Stephen Maguire, who were joined on the sidelines by fellow injury victims Barry Carty and Kieran Gallagher.
Fermanagh's woes were added to after 29 minutes when Rory Gallagher fluffed a penalty kick and that about summed up a dull day for John Maughan's team, who would live too regret some wayward shooting after good approach work.
At half time, thanks to that missed penalty, Laois were leading by 0-8 to 0-5, even though on balance of play the home side had carved out the greater number of scoring chances.
The anticipated Fermanagh revival, however, failed to materialise in the second half, despite the fact that Gallagher brought the northern side to within a point (012 to 0-11) of the visitors with 10 minutes remaining. Right throughout the game Laois dominated at midfield through John Kealy and Noel Garvan, with the latter helping himself to a delightfully lobbed goal a minute into extra time after excellent approach work by Michael Lawlor and substitute Gregory Ramsbottom. On the day, Fermanagh had few stars apart from Sean Burns in defence and the injured Stephen Maguire at full-forward, with substitute Shane McDermott proving a real find. On the other hand, Laois had talent throughout their side and, in addition to their strong midfield pairing, wing forward Tom Kelly, who could have had two goals in the second half, and corner forward Chris Conway were always a threat.
FERMANAGH: Ronan Gallagher; M Lilly, P McGuinness, P Courtney; R Johnston (0-1), S Burns, J Gilheaney; P Brewster, O Mulligan; K Donnelly (0-1), Rory Gallagher (0-6) L McBarron; Raymond Gallagher (0-2), S Maguire (0-2), S King. Subs: S McDermott (0-1) for Mulligan; M McGrath for King; B McBrien for Donnelly.
LAOIS: D O'Mahony; P McDonald, J O'Reilly, J Higgins; A Fennelly, P Conway, JP Kehoe; J Kealy, N Garvan (1-1); E Fitzgerald (0-3), M Lawlor (0- 2), T Kelly (0-2); S Kelly, P Dunne (0-1), C Conway (0-5). Subs: D Brennan for O'Reilly; G Ramsbottom (0-1) for S Kelly; P Langton for Dunne.
Referee: E Murtagh (Longford).
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