National Football League Division Four final: Laois 3-14 Leitrim 0-9
A first ever Leitrim win at Croke Park, albeit in only their sixth outing there, would have been a nice tale to wrap up the Division Four campaign with.
For a while, it didn’t seem such an outlandish prospect as a mini-revival left Andy Moran’s side just two points behind with 47 minutes on the clock. Suddenly, the vocal travelling support from the tiny Connacht county dared to dream.
As quickly as the thought of going one better than their 2019 final loss and picking up a first piece of league/championship silverware since 1994 began to materialise, however, it was dashed.
Paul Kingston clipped over a point in response for Laois, then Eoin Lowry struck a goal and suddenly six points separated them.
Leitrim never truly recovered after that and ultimately were outscored 2-6 to no score from the 48th minute onwards as Laois exacted revenge following their surprise round six loss in Portlaoise.
Kingston and Lowry finished with 1-2 apiece while Ben Dempsey struck the first Laois goal in the 18th minute, putting them into a lead which they never relinquished.
Evan O’Carroll was the real star, though. The Laois captain was a real handful at full-forward and scored six points, played the final pass for the Dempsey and Lowry goals and generally caused mayhem under the high ball in the Leitrim full-back line.
The result and strong performance will send Laois into their Leinster SFC opener against Offaly on April 13 on a high, though Leitrim must try to turn things around in a short period as they will meet Sligo in the Connacht SFC next weekend.
They were up against it from the off and O’Carroll’s appetite for destruction was evident as he twice won advanced marks in the opening 14 minutes, but opted to play on and go for goals on each occasion.
He slammed a shot off the crossbar the first time and rifled just over with the second one.
Leitrim stayed in touch throughout the first half with a series of excellent points from the two O’Rourkes, Ryan and Riordan, as well as Mark Plunkett and goalkeeper Nevin O’Donnell.
But each of those scores was almost an epic while the points came easier for Laois who braved that third quarter revival from Leitrim before striking down hard and finishing off the contest.
It’s Laois’ first piece of silverware since winning the same title back in 2018.
Laois: K Roche; B Dempsey (1-0), J Kelly, E Buggie; B Byrne, M Timmons, S Lacey; K Lillis (0-1, one mark), D Larkin; K Swayne, E Lowry (1-2), S Fitzpatrick; M Barry (0-2), E O’Carroll (0-6, two frees), P Kingston (1-2). Subs: S Fingleton for Byrne (53 mins), C Heffernan for Lillis (62), R Murphy (0-1) for Kingston (63), N Dunne for Fitzpatrick (64), Dempsey for Swayne (65).
Leitrim: N O’Donnell (0-3, one free, one 45); C Reynolds, M Diffley, D Casey; J Gilheany; D Wrynn, A Flynn, J Foley; P Dolan, B McNulty (0-1); M Plunkett (0-1), D Rooney, T Prior; Ryan O’Rourke (0-2), Riordan O’Rourke (0-2). Subs: E Sweeney for Reynolds (20 mins), P Keaney for Prior (20), S Quinn for Riordan O’Rourke (52), A Reynolds for Casey (61), J Rooney for Flynn (67).
Referee: T Murphy (Galway).
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