Longford manager Glenn Ryan cut a happy figure after his side claimed their first Championship win over Laois since 1968.

The hosts trailed by 0-9 to 0-3 at half-time but a 40th minute Paul Barden goal brought Longford back into contention.

They continued to put Laois under pressure, holding the visitors to three second half points, including an injury-time Colm Kelly free, as Longford held out for a historic win.

Ryan said that all of the plaudits should go to the players for their efforts in delivering this victory.

"I'm delighted for the players to have got over the line, it's been a difficult couple of years for them in this competition," he said.

"They have been trying to get over the line for so long and there is no doubt that we had to work very hard.

"We didn't work hard enough in the first half. We played better football in the second half, but also we got that bit of luck that we required to get us over the line."

Six points in arrears at the break, the introduction of Paul Kelly and Padraig McCormack certainly helped for Longford while midfielder Bernard McElvanney was moved closer to the goals.

"It was easy enough at half-time what we had to do, because we weren't playing the game that we should have played. 

"We knew that if we could get to a level of play or anything near it we would have possibly been able to give them a better game than we were doing.

"The only thing we were talking about at half-time was to try and be competitive in the second half. 

"We knew that we could we might give ourselves a chance (of winning) and we did." Tweet

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