All-Ireland Under-21 FC Final/ Cork 2-10 Laois 0-15: If the lesson that life is hard has value, Laois can take something from Saturday night's Cadbury All-Ireland under-21 football final in Thurles. At the final whistle they fell to the ground almost in unison, as if there had been some chemical attack on blue-and-white jerseys.
Cork have been in the pit themselves in recent years at this level and whereas they acknowledged their luck, they clearly didn't feel they were running an overdraft at the bank of good fortune, having narrowly lost last year's final to Mayo with much the same team.
"It would have been extremely hard," said a relieved Cork manager Tony Leahy afterwards, "and I think that's probably what got us over the line. As somebody said 'you have to lose one to win one', and maybe that stood for us here today."
This was a most peculiar match. On the face of it the meeting of two fast, footballing sides on the broad acres of Semple Stadium could have been a great spectacle but in the end an undercurrent of nervousness led to mistakes that ran through the match like a contrary subplot.
Laois gave their best performance of the year to put the favourites on the back foot for long periods of the match and their best phase, seven minutes of sustained attack that swivelled the match from two points in Cork's favour to three in Laois's, left them on the threshold of success with four minutes left.
The pivotal moment came within 100 seconds. Michael Shields, driven by the urgency of a desperate situation, launched a high ball in on top of the Laois goal. The goalkeeper and defenders leapt for it together, missed it together, allowing Colm O'Neill fist the ball home off the frantically scrambling cover.
Level at 2-9 to 0-15, the match had two further twists. On the hour Donie Brennan took a quick free close to the Cork goal but acutely angled on the left, the wrong side for Laois's in-form free-taker Michael Tierney. Replacement Donal Kingston had made himself available unmarked and was better positioned but his kick flew away, well wide.
The final act saw Fintan Goold fouled by Mark Timmons as Cork pushed for a late winner and the resulting free was calmly dispatched by Daniel Goulding, who had uncharacteristically squandered two frees earlier in the half.
"I said to the players at half-time that it would go down to the last kick of the game," said Leahy. "I didn't realise it would literally go down to the last kick of the game but I did say the game would be won in the last five minutes. It shows you the character that's in the team, we went down by three points on two occasions but came back. The three points deficit with five minutes to go was the real test of character and in fairness when Daniel needed to stand up to the plate he did that with the late free."
His Laois counterpart Seán Dempsey was proud of his players despite the agonising finale. "To play that well and still lose was devastating. The heart goes out to them. They played magnificently. They've been one of our best underage teams all up along and I thought it was their finest display yet. You can't ask for more than that.
"There were a couple of times when we went to lob the ball over the bar when we should have taken the man on for one last time. But they were out on their knees at the end, they gave it everything."
In the early stages Cork looked like they would gallop away with the match. Cleverly-built attacking movements and strong running, particularly by Paul Kerrigan, created plenty of chances in the first 10 minutes but virtually nothing came of them. The scoreline stood at one point each and the Munster champions became increasingly nervous.
It showed at centrefield where Goold never seemed to hit his rhythm and captain Andrew O'Sullivan spoiled good ball-winning by careless distribution. He wasn't the only one and good moves were disrupted by sloppy passing and careless loss of possession and the growing confidence of a Laois defence in which Timmons was excellent, cutting out attempts to supply Goulding, and well supported by Cahir Healy and Brian Meredith, who took a shot from Carthach Keane off the line, in the corners.
Centre back John O'Loughlin, one of the minors on the team, burst upfield for a point and wing back Niall Donoher replicated the feat. But the forwards were now taking the match to Cork.
Craig Rogers pulled the strings, Brennan probed and Michael Tierney and David Conway put up the scores. Going into injury-time before the break Tierney kicked a free for 0-8 to 0-5, which would have been a nice investment to take to the dressingroom.
Instead a line-ball from Kerrigan hit Goulding perfectly and with one turn he was gone and the finish high into the roof of the net sent the teams in level.
The opening minutes of the second half were extraordinary. It looked a case of inverted cliche: which side wanted it least. Cork got goal fever despite being level with almost half an hour left. Good possession was fumbled, Goulding dropped a free short from 25 metres and Colm O'Neill waltzed past the cover but swept wide when a point was available.
Laois squandered chances too, Shane O'Neill wild and wide after Rogers had placed him on goal. They also racked up more than twice as many wides as Cork.
Cork looked to have steadied when Kerrigan pushed them two ahead in the 49th minute but this just triggered Laois's big push for the championship. A couple of frees from Tierney, quick-witted points from Rogers and Brennan and the title was within the Leinster champions' grasp.
"I thought we were going to win it," said Dempsey. "I thought we were playing well enough to win it but we needed a couple of bits of luck and one or two frees went against us and then the last one but you wouldn't fault them.
"The idea was good," he said of Brennan's quick free. "They were thinking and they knew what they were about so I'm happy.
"Eight or nine years - it's been great, brilliant. The camaraderie, even in there now, no one blaming anyone - they're happy they got a performance out of themselves. They were waiting for that all year but the one day they got the performance they didn't get the win."
CORK: K O'Halloran; R Carey, M Shields, K Harrington; S O'Donoghue (0-1), D Limerick, E Cadogan; F Goold, A O'Sullivan; F Lynch (0-1), C Keane, P Kerrigan (0-1); C O'Neill (1-1), D Goulding (1-6, four points frees and one 45), S Cahalane. Subs: R Leahy for Cahalane (41 mins), G O'Shea for O'Sullivan (56 mins), S McCarthy for Lynch (56 mins).
LAOIS: C Munnelly; C Healy, M Timmons, B Meredith; S Lalor, J O'Loughlin (0-1), N Donoher (0-1); B Quigley, C Óg Greene (0-1); D Brennan (0-1), C Rogers (0-1), S O'Leary; MJ Tierney (0-7, five frees), S O'Neill, D Conway (0-3). Subs: D Kingston for O'Neill (39 mins), I Fleming for O'Leary (45 mins).
Referee: Vincent Neary(Mayo).
