Points shared in Portlaoise as late Niall Corbet point sees Laois and Limerick end all square

The Laois senior footballers had to settle for a point in their opening game of this year's Allianz Football League Division 3 as they needed a 73rd-minute point from Niall Corbet to snatch the point at the death against Limerick on Saturday evening.

Laois led for the majority of the second half, but could never get more than a goal ahead of the away side, and it almost came back to bite them late on.

There was a minute's silence before the throw-in as everyone paused to remember Ciaran 'Nelly' O'Neill from Stradbally, who sadly passed away on Friday, January 23.

Once the action got underway, it was Portarlington's Paddy O'Sullivan who opened the scoring after three minutes. Limerick started to get a feel for the tough underfoot conditions as they scored the next four points without reply. Mark McCarthy and Andrew Meade scored a point each, while James Naughton opened his account with two points, one from a free.

Laois' goal would come soon after as Darragh Galvin won possession from a Limerick kick-out after Killian Roche had kicked a two-point free wide and he played in Evan O'Carroll, who blasted the ball past Jeffrey Alfred. Limerick replied with points from Danny Neville and Conall O Duinn. Crettyard's Ciaran Burke got his name on the score sheet to cut Limerick's lead to just one point with half-an-hour played.

Naughton pointed his third of the evening and his second free, a score which would be their last of the half. Laois finished the half strongly with two points from O'Carroll. Rioghan Murphy had a great chance to get Laois' second goal, but after rounding Alfred, his shot was saved on the line by Jason Hassett. The sides went into the dressing rooms level at 1-4 to 0-7 and with it all to play for on what was a freezing cold evening in Portlaoise.

Laois wasted no time in getting the scoring underway in the second half as they scored straight from the throw-up. Burke won possession before laying it off to O'Sullivan, who found Conor Heffernan, and he split the posts. Laois would go three points ahead when Rioghan Murphy and Evan O'Carroll scored a free each. Neville got Limerick's first point of the half with 43 minutes played. O'Carroll's fourth point of the game pushed Laois a goal ahead with 20 minutes to play.

Galvin thought he scored Laois' second goal when he fired the ball into the Limerick net, but referee Alan Coyne had already blown the whistle for an earlier advantage. Roche ended up kicking the two-point free wide, so Laois went from having a goal to a shot at a two-pointer and ended up getting nothing.

Emmet Rigter and a two-pointer from Limerick captain Barry Coleman saw The Treaty County get level with 65 minutes played. Paul Kingston came off the bench to push Laois ahead, but Limerick's next score put them in front as Eliah Riordan scored a two-point free and now the pressure was on Laois all of a sudden. Another Laois substitute Niall Corbet popped up with the score that levelled the game. Corbet had another shot to win the game, but his effort went to the left of the Limerick posts.

One point is better than no points for Laois and they'll make the trip to Wexford Park next Saturday evening to take on Wexford at 6pm.

Final Score

LAOIS 1-10

WEXFORD 0-13

SCORERS- Laois: Evan O'Carroll 1-4 (0-3 frees), Paul Kinston, Niall Corbet, Conor Heffernan, Rioghan Murphy (free), Paddy O'Sullivan and Ciaran Burke 0-1 each. Limerick: James Naughton (0-2 frees) 0-3, Eliah Riordan (two-point free), Barry Coleman (two-point free) and Danny Neville 0-2 each, Mark McCarthy and Emmet Rigter 0-1 each.

LAOIS: Killian Roche (Killeshin); Ben Dempsey (Portlaoise), Trevor Collins (Graiguecullen), Jack Lacey (St Joseph’s); Paddy O’Sullivan (Portarlington), Brian Byrne (Captain) (Graiguecullen), Kevin Swayne (Portlaoise); Rob Tyrell (Courtwood), Ciaran Burke (Crettyard); Cian Nolan (Park-Ratheniska), Ronan Coffey (Portarlington), Conor Heffernan (Killeshin); Rioghan Murphy (Portarlington), Darragh Galvin (Portarlington), Evan O’Carroll (Crettyard). Subs: Niall Corbet (Clonaslee St Manman's) for Nolan (54 mins), Colin Dunne (Arles-Killeen) for Galvin (64 mins), Paul Kingston (Arles-Killeen) for O'Carroll and Mikie Dempsey (St Joseph's) for Burke (Both 69 mins)

LIMERICK: Jeffrey Alfred; Jason Hassett, Darren O’Doherty, Mark McCarthy; Barry Coleman, Killian Ryan, Diarmuid Buckley; Jack McCarthy, Paul Maher; Eliah Riordan, Andrew Meade, Conall O’Duinn; Robbie Childs, James Naughton, Danny Neville. Subs: Colm McSweeney for Hassett (HT), Sam Quigley for O'Duinn (39 mins, inj), Rory O'Brien for Maher and Emmet Rigter for Meade (60 mins)