Laois battle hard but stung at the death by Antrim equaliser

Laois and Antrim played out a hard fought draw in Division three of the National football league in O'Moore Park on Saturday night and both teams would have left Portlaoise thinking they had the chances to win it.

On a rotten night for football with driving wind, it was an entertaining battle from start to finish and the game had a real edge to it.

LAOIS 1-8

ANTRIM 1-8

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION 3

With a strong wind blowing into the town end in Portlaoise, it was the Antrim men who had the advantage of it in the opening half. Odhran Eastwood kicked the visitors into an early lead but that was soon cancelled out with Gary Walsh kicking his opening free of the evening.

Antrim were not afraid to have a pop at goals from distance and points from Ryan Murray and Paddy McAleer either side of another free from Walsh left the Saffrons leading 0-3 to 0-2 after a low scoring opening 16 minutes.

Disaster then hit for the Laois men as Michael McCann came through the middle, fed Ruairi McCann before finding Odhran Eastwood who coolly slotted past Matthew Byron in the Laois goals. Two more Antrim points followed in quick succession and within 10 minutes, Laois went from being level to 1-5 to 0-2 behind on 22 minutes.

A pair of frees from Mark Barry and Walsh cut the gap for Laois before on 28 minutes, they got a massive fillip. Gary Walsh took a free off the ground from about 40 metres and while it looked like it would be heading over the bar, the wind took it at the last minute and but before it got a chance to go wide, Evan O'Carroll rose highest and punched to the net to make it 1-5 to 1-4.

Ruairi McCann got Antrim back into a two point lead on 30 minutes but two minutes later Laois were denied a stone wall penalty after Gary Walsh was clearly pulled back before he was about to pull the trigger for a goal. It stayed 1-6 to 1-4 as Laois turned around to play with the wind in the second half trailing by two points.

It took seven second  half minutes to yield a score but it was worth waiting for as Mark Barry curled over a brilliant effort from 35 yards. Gary Walsh levelled matters on 44 minutes and a minute later, it could have gotten a lot better but for a superb save from Oisin Kerr in the Antrim goals to deny Evan O'Carroll.

Laois then took the lead on 47 minutes when Eoin Lowry got his first of the evening as the home side began to dominate. As the wind continued to play havoc, scores dried up  but on 55 minutes, Antrim had a glorious chance to hit the front but Michael McCann drove his close range shot over the bar to level the game at 1-7 each.

Gary Walsh had a chance from a tricky free to put Laois in front with four minutes to go but after initially been given as a score, the referee consulted with the umpires and decided it was wide, which from the viewpoint in the press box, looked the correct call.

Then with three minutes of injury time played, Matthew Byron stood over a free from 55 metres out and nailed it to put Laois into the lead with only a minute of injury time to play. However, there was to me one final twist as with the last kick of the game, Ryan Murray kicked the equaliser and the game ended all square.

LAOIS

Scorers: Gary Walsh 0-4 frees, Evan O'Carroll 1-0, Mark Barry 0-2 (0-1f), Eoin Lowry and Matthew Byron (free) 0-1 each.

Team: Matthew Byron; Trevor Collins, James Kelly, Alex Mohan; Sean O'Flynn, John O'Loughlin, Gareth Dillon; Kieran Lillis, James Finn; Cormac Murphy, Eoin Lowry, Paddy O'Sullivan; Mark Barry, Evan O'Carroll, Gary Walsh. Subs: Brian Byrne for Cormac Murphy (60), Ross Munnelly for Gareth Dillon (64), Alan Farrell for James Finn (65)

ANTRIM

Scorers: Odhran Eastwood 1-1, Ruairi McCann and Ryan Murray 0-2 each, Michael McCann, Jamie Gribbon and Paddy McAleer 0-1 each.

Team: Oisin Kerr; Eoghan McCabe, Ricky Johnston, Peter Healy; Paddy McAleer, James Laverty, Marc Jordan; Michael McCann, Kevin Small; Ryan Murray, Jamie Gribbon, Ruairi McCann; Tomas McCann, Odhran Esdtwood, Conor Murray. Subs: Martin Johnston for Ryan Murray (temp 13-14m), Martin Johnston for Jamie Gribbon (ht), Dermot McAleese for Ricky Johnston (44), Patrick McBride for Odhran Eastwood (51),Patrick McCormack for Tomas McCann (51), Eunan Walsh for Patrick McBride (60)

Referee: Niall McKenna (Monaghan)