Kingston kicks prove vital as Laois hang on

DONIE KINGSTON scored nine points as 14-man Laois held on for a win that keeps their hopes of staying in Division 3 alive while dragging Longford into the relegation mix.

The foundation for this win was laid in the first half, when Laois went in just two points in arrears at the interval, 0-8 to 0-6 despite having played into a very strong wind.

Kingston, who recovered from injury to take his place, provided three of the Laois scores in the opening period including one spectacular effort, while Evan O’Carroll also arced over a neat score.

Longford started well with points from Michael Quinn and the excellent Larry Moran but they could not get away, despite scoring the last two points of the half.

Longford did not help themselves when conceding four points from frees to Kingston within six minutes of the restart, although a couple seemed generous awards.

Seanie McCormack reduced the deficit to the minimum but Robbie Smyth spurned an opportunity to equalise and in the next play David Conway drove a shot to the roof of the Longford net after an accurate O’Carroll kick.

Yet the momentum changed when O’Carroll got his marching orders after a second yellow with 13 minutes left, but despite Longford getting four on the trot they had too much to do.

lAoiS: G Brody, D Strong, D Booth, J Kelly, E Buggie, C Begley (J Finn 54), P McMahon, J O’Loughlin, K Meaney, Alan Farrell, D Conway (D Luttrell 70+6), N Donoher (G Dillon 62 BC), E O’Carroll, D Kingston, P Kingston.

Scorers: D Kingston 0-9 (6f), D Conway 1-0, D Strong (45), E Buggie, Alan Farrell, E O’Carroll 0-1.

lonGforD: P Collum, D Brady, B Gilleran (B Farrell 66), Andrew Farrell, D McElligott, P McCormack, B O’Farrell, D Gallagher (R McEntire 59), J Keegan (D Mimnagh 70+3), L Moran, J McGivney, B McKeon (D Masterson ht), R Smyth, M Quinn, S McCormack.

Scorers: R Smyth 0-6 (2f), L Moran, S McCormack (2f) 0-2, D McElligott, J Keegan, M Quinn 0-1.

referee: J Henry (Mayo).