Laois 1-14 Killdare 1-9 An unbeaten flight through Division One B, and now the perfect landing. So a memorable few months for Laois football will continue into the league semi-finals, and it seems the best is yet to come.
Under summer-like skies and in front of a home crowd that swelled to over 10,000 it was the finest Laois performance yet produced under Mick O'Dwyer. At times it seemed like the finest Laois produced in many years. And it should have been enough to keep O'Dwyer's pulse running as next up come All-Ireland champions Armagh.
All this too against old rivals Kildare, the county where O'Dwyer spent 10 seasons as manager. So while the Laois supporters lingered enthusiastically to applaud every player off the field, the Kildare supporters slipped quickly off the terraces of O'Moore Park knowing that nothing could save their players now from relegation.
Even if the GAA's Games Administration Committee decide on Wednesday that the controversial Kildare-Sligo game of February 9th is to be replayed (on the basis that Sligo took the points on a technicality), the fact that Down won yesterday means Kildare will still be doomed to relegation.
As things turned out Down (in the other relegation position) are the only team to have anything to gain from the replay, in that a loss for Sligo would mean they would drop, and Down survive.
As far as Laois are concerned, however, there is no reason now to look backwards, only forwards. And the only reason they might call on the GAC is to re-fix their first round of the Leinster championship against Wexford on May 4th - the same day as the league final. On current form there is good reason to bet on the possible double booking.
Fifteen minutes into yesterday's clash Laois already looked like a side that could do some serious damage in the months ahead. With their creative, decisive and, most of all, attractive football they had Kildare running in circles. And their six-point lead within that period was totally deserved.
Kildare did manage to rally towards the end of half - mostly through some running repairs in terms of positioning - and also clawed back some points towards the final whistle but in truth Laois were far superior.
All around the field they were in control and having turned around 0-7 to 0-4 in front, they built a decisive lead early in the second half.
The forward line hardly put a foot wrong. All three half forwards scored within the opening minutes, and of these, Colm Parkinson remained the most active. On the other wing, Mick Lawlor also produced a near-perfect display, and he ended with a 1-4 contribution - including the thunderous goal early in the second half that killed all threat of a Kildare victory.
Damien Delaney maintained his consistency at corner forward, and though Brian McDonald failed to score his influence never waned. Stephen Kelly was perhaps a little subdued at full forward but Donal Miller - his half time replacement - made up for any early shortcomings.
Back in defence there was further evidence of a well-settled operation. Joe Higgins continues to lord his corner, as does Derek Conroy in front of him. And the most startling acceleration all afternoon was displayed by Pauric Clancy at midfield.
Needless to report, then, O'Dwyer was well satisfied. "The most important thing for me when I came to Laois was to try and get the team to believe in themselves," he noted. "And get them winning games. And I've done that now.
"There were some great scores today and there are the right ingredients now for a good side. The blood pressure was high at times, but sure it always is in local derbies like that. But it was always a high tempo game, the way I want it."
The tight schedule between the league play-offs and the championship is not exactly to his liking, but now that they are there O'Dwyer's reckons they should give it the full lash.
"Well it's good for Laois to be in the semi-finals. We came through the division without a defeat and we played good football. It's just a bloody curse it's so near the championship. But we'll take it in our stride and go for it. I mean we're happy enough about where we are now. But whether we're ahead of schedule or not I don't know. I mean it's a long way to next September," he laughed.
For Kildare there must be few thoughts about September now. Only Tadhg Fennin came anywhere near his old form, and without substitute Paddy Murray they would have only scored twice from play. In fairness, they probably put away marginally more of their chances than Laois, it was just those chances were desperately isolated.
LAOIS: F Byron; T Kelly, C Byrne, J Higgins; D Rooney, K Fitzpatrick, D Conroy; P Clancy, N Garvan; C Parkinson (0-2), I Fitzgerald (0-2, 1f), M Lawlor (1-4); B McDonald, S Kelly, D Delaney (0-6, 4fs). Subs: D Miller for Kelly (half time), A Fennelly for Conroy (53 mins), R Mullelly for Parkinson (65 mins), C Conway for Delaney (73 mins).
KILDARE: C Byrne; B Lacey, D Lyons, A McLoughlin; E O'Callaghan, D Hendy (0-1), A Rainbow; A Barry, A McHugh; K Ennis, G Ryan, R Sweeney; T Fennin (1-4, 3fs), D McCormack, J Doyle (0-2). Subs: K Brennan for McHugh (16 mins), M Dunne for O'Callaghan (21 mins), P Murray (0-2) for McCormack (42 mins), E McCormack for Ennis (52 mins), R Quinn for McLoughlin (72 mins).
Referee: N Barrett (Cork)
