Laois saved their Allianz HL Division 1B skin when scraping over Kerry in tonight's relegation play-off at O'Moore Park.
Extra-time was required to separate the sides and it was Eamonn Kelly and his players that sidestepped the relegation trapdoor thanks to their 1-30 to 4-20 success.
Their win was made all the more remarkable by the fact that they played most of the contest with 14 men after Neil Foyle was sent off early on.
A Kerry goal scored by substitute Mikey Boyle forced extra-time after the regulation 70 minutes had finished with a scoreline of Kerry 4-14, Laois 1-23.
Captain Ross King led by example for the winners and finished with 0-13 (7 frees) to his name.
Four of those points came during the first period of extra-time.
The Kingdom fought back to regain parity but late scores from Aidan Corby and Paddy Purcell swung the keenly contested match in the O'Moore County's favour.
Padraig Boyle his 1-3 for the Munster men while Patrick Kelly found the target with 1-4 but their efforts proved to be in vain.
Laois - E Rowland (0-1f); L Cleere, L Bergin (0-1), C Healy; L O'Connell (0-1), C Dwyer (1-1f), R Mullaney (0-1); R King (0-13, 7f), P Purcell (0-3); C Taylor, J Lennon (0-1), B Conroy; W Dunphy (0-3, 1sl), N Foyle, S Maher (0-2). Subs: C Collier (0-1) for L O'Connell, A Dunphy for B Conroy, P Whelan (0-1) for J Lennon, S Downey for R Mullaney, S Bergin for S Maher, A Corby (0-1) for L Cleere, J Lennon, E Lyons for W Dunphy, J Kelly for R King.
Kerry - M Stackpoole; J O'Connor, T Murnane, S Weir; D Collins (0-1), B Murphy, D Dineen; P O'Connor, J Goulding (0-1); M O'Leary, P Kelly (1-4), S Nolan (0-4, 3f); J Buckley (0-1), J Conway (1-0), P Boyle (1-3, 1-2f). Subs: M Boyle (1-0) for J Goulding, C Harty (0-5) for M O'Leary, K Carmody (0-1) for S Nolan, M O'Connor for J Conway, P Lucid for P O'Connor.
Referee - P Dwyer.
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