Laois' survival in Division Two has come at a price as they have a major defensive crisis ahead of the Leinster SFC.

The Midlanders produced a brilliant display against Down to retain their second tier status, but full back Denis Booth received a straight red card during the match and as it is his second sending off of the year, he will miss the county's next two competitive matches.

This is added to the fact that first choice full back Mark Timmons looks set to be sidelined for the entire year as he struggles to overcome a bad hamstring injury.

Laois face Wicklow in the opening round of the Leinster SFC on May 18th with the winners facing Dublin in the Leinster quarterfinal and manager Tomas O'Flatharta must set about finding a new full back before the first game.

"Our two full backs are gone at this stage," O'Flatharta told the Leinster Express. "Mark Timmons is going to be out for four or five months with a bad hamstring injury and Denis got a red card, and I felt it should have been a yellow card, so we will have to manufacture a full back in the weeks ahead." Tweet

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