Mayo ventured into disputed territory in Graiguecullen yesterday and were fortunate to retreat with their unbeaten league record still intact.
This piece of footballing land by the River Barrow is currently the subject of a tug of war between Laois and Carlow - and, allowing for the Carlow-registered cars clogging the approach route with blue and white headbands dangling from rear-view mirrors, the conflict of interest was abundantly obvious.
Yet, the on-field endeavours of the Laois team offered manager Tom Cribbin, in the hot seat for only a matter of days, considerable hope.
After a shaky, error-ridden, start, in which even the fundamentals of the punched pass seemed beyond some of his players (the first three frees of the game were conceded by Laois men failing to effect the pass, the third punished by the first of Maurice Sheridan's haul of six points), Laois showed enough commitment and a desire to roll up their sleeves to play catch-up on Mayo and, indeed, almost sneak a win.
The numerous changes to both teams prior to the throw-in didn't cause any obvious problems. Indeed, Gerard Brady, a brother of established midfielder David, made the most of his call-up due to Fergal Costello's hip injury to make a good impression for Mayo. Too many of his team-mates, however, disappointed with the old tendency to overplay the ball, especially in attack, allowing Laois to gradually work their way back into the match.
Mayo's start hinted at a possible landslide. The visitors moved into a quick three-point lead, 0-4 to 0-1, after just seven minutes of play: in the opening attack of the game, David Nestor had nothing other than a goal on his mind when the ball slipped through centre half back George Doyle's legs to leave him with a clear run in, but the shot was marginally too high and clipped the top part of the crossbar. After that, Maurice Sheridan added two points from frees and Damien Quinn kicked another with Laois's meagre response a pointed free from Stephen Kelly.
Laois, in fairness, showed a willingness to graft and didn't lose any further ground. In fact, they narrowed the gap to just a point midway through the half but Mayo had moved into a four-point lead as the first-half moved into injury time. Then, Laois defender Brian O'Reilly - who was to be sent-off two minutes from time for a second bookable offence - fouled livewire Nestor in the penalty area and gave Sheridan a gilt-edged opportunity to inflict further punishment on the home side; however, goalkeeper Fergal Byron dived superbly to his right to save Sheridan's penalty kick and that act seemed to inspire Laois.
On the resumption, Laois, who hadn't scored since the 13th minute of the first-half, immediately cut the deficit with a George Ramsbottom point. And, then, in the 37th minute, Michael Lawlor's high ball was punched to the net by the in-running Danny Doogue to level matters.
The impressive Lawlor, arguably the best player on the pitch, had moved out the field from his starting position at full forward, and put Laois ahead - for the only time - in the 50th minute when his 45 gave them a 1-7 to 0-9 lead.
However, Mayo rallied superbly. A free awarded against Martin Rooney for overcarrying led to one of the best moves of the match with Sheridan, Brian Maloney and John Casey all combining for Casey to kick the equalising point and, a minute later, Sheridan kicked his sixth point to edge them ahead again.
The momentum seemed to be with Mayo and a couple of disputes of the handbags-at-six-paces variety looked as if they had taken the steam out of Laois's sails, especially when O'Brien was dismissed in the 59th minute.
But 14-man Laois showed enough character to launch an attack and it was perhaps fitting that it was Lawlor who scored from the resulting 45.
Laois: F Byron; E Delany, D Rooney, B O'Reilly; N Collins, G Doyle, G Lawlor; N Garvan, D Sweeney (0-1); G Ramsbottom (0-1), D Doogue (1-0), T Kelly (0-1); S Kelly (0-2, one free), M Lawlor (0-3, two 45s), P Dunne. Subs: M Rooney for T Kelly (half-time); W Flanagan for Dunne (59 mins).
Mayo: P Kane; K Mortimer, K Cahill, P Holmes; G Brady (Ballina), D Heaney, A Higgins; D Brady, J Nallen; B Maloney, D Nestor (0-1), J Casey (0-2); D Quinn (0-1), K McDonald (0-1), M Sheridan (0-6, all frees). Subs: G Brady (Claremorris) for Quinn (39 mins); E McDonagh for Nestor (55 mins).
Referee - N Barrett (Cork).
