Laois will be in tomorrow morning's SH Qualifier draw after a dramatic 2-14 to 1-16 derby victory over Carlow at Portlaoise.

In the most exciting of encounters, where both sides finished with 14 men (having their respective captains sent off), the visitors reeled off four unanswered points after Marty Kavanagh was lined in the 59^th minute - three of them from Chris Nolan - to lead by one in injury time. But a massive free from goalkeeper Enda Rowland tied the scores up before Neil Foyle lofted over the winner in the 73rd minute.

Eamonn Kelly's men demonstrated tremendous character to emerge victorious, having themselves played most of the match with 14 men and been forced to chase the game pretty much from start to finish by their gallant opponents. Ultimately, second-half goals ten minutes apart from Sean Downey and Foyle saw them through.  

Marty Kavanagh's 15^th-minute major gave the losers a 1-8 to 0-9 interval lead, while Laois had been reduced to 14 men, with their top scorer and talisman Ross King dismissed just twelve minutes in.

Points from Paul Coady and Denis Murphy (free) - after King had opened the scoring - edged the confident Christy Ring Cup winners ahead and the underdogs received a massive boost when O'Moore County ace King was shown a straight red card for something that happened off the ball.

The visitors kicked on with that excellent Kavanagh goal after quarter of an hour, followed by another Coady point. Stephen Maher pulled back a pointed free but Laois trailed by four points at the midway stage in the first half, 1-3 to 0-2. It could have been a different story had Foyle converted an early goal chance for the hosts, but Brian Treacy denied the Borris in Ossory/Kilcotton clubman.

The 14 men could have rolled over but instead they rallied with points from Mark Kavanagh, Cahir Healy and Downey, and Treacy executed another fine stop to thwart Paddy Purcell before Marty Kavanagh posted a minor at the other end.

Purcell and Eddie Byrne traded scores and Maher was on hand to make it a one-point game again on 25 minutes with a nice score from the right. But Diarmuid Byrne and Marty Kavanagh restored the Barrowsiders' three-point advantage before John Michael Nolan cancelled out Healy's second of the game. Purcell's point closed the first-half scoring and left things nicely poised at the interval.

The heroic Rowland denied Kavanagh his second three-pointer upon the resumption and Murphy (free) supplied the first score of the second half as the goal separated the teams once more; Chris Nolan's point had the gap out to four. However, the O'Moore men rallied and were level by the 47^th minute thanks to a Maher point followed by a sensational solo goal from Downey, who ran 60 yards before planting his shot to the net

MJ Nolan had the visitors back in front but the 14 men brilliantly reclaimed the lead by the 54^th minute with scores from Rowland (free) and Cian Taylor, only for Coady's free to tie it up again with 14 minutes left in an absorbing contest.

He'd been denied earlier, but Foyle kept going and got his just reward as he delivered the vital second Laois goal on 57 minutes to propel the battling home side into a 2-12 to 1-12 lead, catching a high delivery before clinically despatching to the back of the net.

The tide threatened to turn emphatically in Laois' favour when Kavanagh received a second yellow card eleven minutes from time but Chris Nolan's brace nevertheless reduced the arrears to the minimum with three minutes left… The same player then won and converted a free before Doyle sensationally thumped over the lead point for Carlow in the first of five added minutes.

Incredibly, Laois reclaimed the lead with injury-time scores from Rowland (free) and Foyle, with the latter proving to be the winner. Plucky Carlow had a late, late chance to force extra time but alas Richard Coady's effort went wide. Laois will now face either Kilkenny, Offaly or Dublin in the Qualifiers.

Laois - E Rowland (0-2f); D Palmer, L Bergin, L Cleere; E Killeen, M Whelan, C Collier; J Kelly, P Purcell (0-2); S Downey (1-1), C Healy (0-2), R King (0-1f); M Kavanagh (0-1), N Foyle (1-1), S Maher (0-3, 2f). Subs: D Hartnett for D Palmer, A Dunphy for M Kavanagh, C Taylor (0-1) for S Maher, A Corby for C Collier, S Bergin for S Downey.

Carlow - B Tracey, A Corcoran, P Doyle, G Bennett; R Coady, D English, R Kelly; J Murphy, D Byrne (0-2); J M Nolan (0-1), P Coady (0-3, 1f), E Byrne (0-1); D Murphy (0-2f), J Doyle (0-1), M Kavanagh (1-2). Subs: D Wall for P Doyle, C Nolan (0-4, 2f) for D Murphy, J Kavanagh for J Murphy, K McDonald for P Coady.

Referee - D Kirwan.

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