Laois 0-16
Armagh 0-10

Laois laid down a marker in Division 2 this evening after upsetting Armagh in Portlaoise to pick up their second win in as many outings.

Mark Barry and Evan O’Carroll combined for 0-12 for the winners whom served up a dominant first-half display to take in a 0-8 to 0-2 lead at the break.

Fresh off their 13-point hammering of Cavan in Round 1, Armagh had no response to their fired-up opponents’ dominance for long portions of the opening period but did manage to make inroads after the restart.

Rian O’Neill and sub Jarlath Óg Burns helped eat into the O’Moore lead, narrowing it down to four, but in the end there was no catching the hosts as Barry and the excellent O’Carroll steered them to the top of the division for tonight at least.

A brace of points from O’Carroll in the 23rd and 24th minutes were what put the first bit of daylight between these teams at 0-5 to 0-2, and when debutant Brian Byrne and Kieran Lillis registered more singles the visitors looked in a world of trouble.

Barry left six in it at half-time and he’d stretch the advantage before the Orchard men, whom started at 2/5 favourites, hit the next four scores through O’Neill (3 frees) and Conor Turbitt.

Laois hit back with a pair of their own before McGeeney introduced Jamie Clarke to the fray for the closing quarter.

The Crossmaglen native fired over two frees to complete his side 0-10 tally, which left them six short in the end, as Micheál Quirke’s side saw out a deserved victory.

Laois - N Corbett; B Byrne (0-1), M Timmons (0-1), G Hanrahan; S O’Flynn, R Pigott, P O’Sullivan; K Lillis (0-1), J O’Loughlin; S Byrne, M Barry (0-7, 6f), E Lowry; M Keogh (0-1), C Murphy, E O’Carroll (0-5, 3f). Subs: T Collins for M Keogh, D O'Connor for S Byrne, R Munnelly for C Murphy, C Healy for B Byrne, D Connolly for E O’Carroll.

Armagh - B Hughes; P Burns, A McKay, B Donaghy; G McCabe, C O'Neill, S Sheridan; N Grimley (0-1), O O'Neill; M Shields, C Cumiskey, S Campbell; R O'Neill (0-5, 3f, 1'45), C Turbitt (0-1), J Duffy. Subs: A Nugent for M Shields, J Og Burns (0-1) for J Duffy, J McElroy for G McCabe, J Hall for C Cumiskey, J Clarke (0-2f) for O O’Neill.

Referee - J Henry.

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