Denis Connerton was already looking to the All-Ireland SFC qualifiers after his Longford team were hit for four by Laois yesterday.

The concession of four goals either side of half-time proved fatal to Connerton's hopes of pulling off a first Leinster SFC victory as Longford manager.

"We prepared very well for the Leinster championship this year and thought we were in a very good place coming into it," he told RTÉ.

"Unfortunately, that's not how it has turned out. It's disappointing for us and our players. We're into the qualifiers. We'll have to lift ourselves and that will not be easy but that's my job now.

"Robbie Smyth was outstanding with 11 points and he deserves something out of that game, but unfortunately we hadn't enough of those heroic performances on the day. You need those if you want to be coming to a ground like Portlaoise and beating them."

He continued: "We scored 16 points and would have been quite happy coming here to do that.

"But the four goals we conceded in the space before and after half-time, I think it added up to three minutes of play, and that is footballing suicide. That's what killed us off and there was no way back after that. We handed the game to Laois in that time.

"We thought we had got a point and that little bit of controversy, our lads seem to lose their concentration for a little bt of time. Laois' execution of their opportunities was top-class. I think they only had three wides over the course of the game and we had 10."

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