Mayo impressed as they carved out a 1-11 to 0-8 victory over Laois at O'Moore Park.

James Horan's men led by 1-4 to 0-6 at the break, with Alan Freeman getting the goal on the stroke of half time.

Laois had led by 0-5 to 0-3 after 20 minutes and looked comfortable but the Connacht champions gradually got on top at midfield, with Freeman becoming dominant on the 40.

Ross Munnelly and Barry Moran traded the opening two points in the eighth minute as both sides struggled to get going. Alan Dillon was on hand to put the visitors in front by the tenth minute.

But a run of four in a row from Munnelly, John O'Loughlin and David Conway (2) put Laois ahead by 0-5 to 0-2.

A Conor Mortimer free closed the gap to two but Conway's third point of the night made it double scores.

However, the victors finished the half strongly with Freeman's three-pointer and a point from Mortimer, who was showing no ill-effects from his long injury lay-off.

Laois had a couple of early wides in the second half before Conway hit one on the target but Mortimer (2) and Freeman made it 1-7 to 0-7, with Keith Higgins having an excellent match at the back for Mayo.

Wing back Darren Strong's point drew Laois closer but Mayo replied with two more points, including a great one from Enda Varley. And Mortimer's fifth point made it 1-9 to 0-8. Varley got his second and Freeman brought his tally to 1-2 as the winners finished strongly with four unanswered scores.

Mayo - D Clarke; L Keegan, G Cafferkey, K Higgins; P Gardiner, D Vaughan, R Feeney; S O'Shea, P Harte; K McLoughlin, A Freeman (1-2), A Dillon (0-1); C Mortimer (0-5), B Moran (0-1), A Moran. Subs: E Reilly for Cafferkey, J Doherty for Moran, E Varley (0-2) for Harte, D Geraghty for O'Shea.

Laois - E Culliton; C Healy, K Lillis, P O'Leary; D Strong (0-1), S Julian, C Boyle; B Quigley, J O'Loughlin (0-1); R Munnelly (0-2), K Meaney, C Begley; P Cahillane, P Clancy, D Conway (0-4). Subs: D O'Connor for Cahillane, MJ Tierney for Conway, B Mulligan for Julian. Tweet

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