All-Ireland SFC fourth round qualifier/Laois 1-9 Offaly 0-4: Really, what's left to be said about Mick O'Dwyer? When Laois surrendered so abjectly to Dublin back in June we tipped our hats respectfully and said it was a sad way for it all to end.
Yesterday as the final whistle blew in Portlaoise the man was mobbed in a manner that would be seriously damaging to other fellas of his age. He smiled on all who smiled. Laois roll on. So does Micko.
That Laois team got brought out for a little square bashing. They invested their pain and their sweat in the weeks that followed as O'Dwyer took them back to the basics of the boot camp.
They have been playing ever since like a team who have known a little suffering and have no intention of revisiting that place.
Yesterday they were dogged more than they were beautiful but it was enough. Games with Offaly aren't judged on aesthetics. Laois will have a say yet in where this summer's championship ends up.
The scoreboard put it most succinctly. Offaly, with two of the most coveted corner forwards in the game, couldn't score.
They got two points from play in the 70 minutes, one of those coming very early on from Colm Quinn.
The rest of the afternoon was a heartbreaking struggle. Offaly fought as tigerishly as any Faithful team sent out to the midlands derby, but the lack of a cutting edge cost them dearly.
Strange. At half-time we thought Laois were in trouble.
They led by two points but had squandered the benefits of a strong breeze by hitting 11 wides and blasting a penalty over the bar.
If Offaly could yet find away to score the game might be theirs. They managed one point in the entire second half.
Laois came out and took the opening two scores of the half while Offaly ran in three wides in five minutes.
Kevin Kilmurray's brow began to furrow. He had the sharpshooters. He didn't have enough ball winners to gouge out a supply line.
So Offaly came looking for possession and found themselves locked out by a drift-net Laois defence. They hoisted high ones over their shoulders and hoped for the best. It wasn't their day.
Laois came with the right equipment for the job. On a day when neither full forward line mustered a score, it was the guys outfield winning the hard ball who were making the difference.
In that regard Billy Sheehan - who as predicted went a-wandering quite early - foraged well. The Laois half forwards grabbed what they could and made inroads with it, winning frees when necessary and useful.
At midfield young Brendan Quigley had a fine game for Laois. His two points were well taken and came at key points in the first half.
The first was a classic midfielder's score. A high catch, a tilting solo run and a shot from 30 yards.
The second - with the scores tied coming to the end of the half - was a fine score under pressure to put Laois four points to three up.
Between then and the half-time break Laois were to survive a major scare. A high ball hopped high again in the Offaly square. Brian McCormack reached and grabbed it.
The crowd, already humming with excitement, roared and the Offaly defence panicked and hauled him to the ground.
The referee had no hesitation in indicating a penalty but the subsequent delay while the issue was debated and the outraged Offaly backs were shooed away to the requisite distance increased the pressure on Fergal Byron. He hoofed the ball over the bar.
We wondered would he live to regret the moment. Laois, though, have a tenacity about them now which we never suspected of them back in June. They have held out against Tyrone, they have been put with their backs to the wall by Meath and survived.
The pace and intensity of yesterday's game held no fears for them and there was something distinctly impressive about their second-half performance as they ground out possession and squeezed the life from Offaly.
The introduction of Pádraic Clancy not long before half-time brought several benefits, the least likely of which perhaps was his goal.
With 10 minutes of the game remaining Offaly had just scored their only point of the second half, through a Ciarán McManus free.
That left the width of three points between the sides and Offaly clenched their fists and called for one last push to the death.
Meanwhile, Laois swept upfield, straight through the central avenue - Kelly to Munnelly to Clancy, who gave a little sidestep and drove the ball straight to the Offaly net.
Offaly doubled up on the canvas and even though they beat the count and got going again we all knew the game was over.
As Offaly grew more desperate, Laois grew more clinical in exploiting the desperation.
Munnelly had a point while at the other end a Niall McNamee shot came back off the Laois posts and into Laois arms.
Laois moved the ball out wide, playing to the corners to keep possession and add to the frustration of their opponents.
The final insult to injured Offaly pride came when Chris Conway hit a point from an oblique angle on the left to finish the scoring.
LAOIS: F Byron (0-1, a penalty); A Fennelly, D Rooney, J Higgins; P McDonald, T Kelly, P McMahon; B Quigley (0-2), N Garvan; B McCormack, C Conway (0-3, two frees), R Munnelly (0-3, one free); B Sheehan, I Fitzgerald, B McDonald. Subs: P Clancy (1-0) for Garvan (21 mins), P Lawlor for B McCormack, C Parkinson for Fitzgerald (both 64 mins).
; A Fennelly, D Rooney, J Higgins; P McDonald, T Kelly, P McMahon;
B Quigley (0-2)
, N Garvan; B McCormack,
C Conway (0-3, two frees)
,
R Munnelly (0-3, one free)
; B Sheehan, I Fitzgerald, B McDonald.
Subs: P Clancy (1-0)
for Garvan (21 mins), P Lawlor for B McCormack, C Parkinson for Fitzgerald (both 64 mins).
OFFALY: P Kelly; C Daly, G Rafferty, N Grennan; P McConway, S Sullivan, K Slattery; N Coughlan, M Daly; C Quinn (0-1), C McManus (0-3, two frees), P Kelleghan; T Deehan, J Coughlan, N McNamee. Subs: S Casey for C Quinn (51 mins), T Phelan for J Coughlan (64 mins), S Ryan for T Deehan (67 mins).
P Kelly; C Daly, G Rafferty, N Grennan; P McConway, S Sullivan, K Slattery; N Coughlan, M Daly;
C Quinn (0-1)
,
C McManus (0-3, two frees)
, P Kelleghan; T Deehan, J Coughlan, N McNamee.
Subs:
S Casey for C Quinn (51 mins), T Phelan for J Coughlan (64 mins), S Ryan for T Deehan (67 mins).
Referee: J McQuillan (Cavan).
