Laois 0-12 Armagh 0-13

A point in the third minute of stoppage time from Ryan Henderson saw Armagh record their second league win of the campaign at O'Moore Park tonight.

Armagh led by 0-09 to 0-05 at half-time, with Steven McDonnell (0-07) inspirational for the visitors, who had Vincie Martin shown a straight red card ten minutes before the break.

Laois lost their captain Kevin Meaney through a second yellow card, but regrouped on the restart to hold Armagh and level the tie with three minutes remaining, but Henderson's third point was the match-winning one.

The sides were evenly matched during a promising opening 10 minutes.

MJ Tierney shot Laois ahead but Armagh quickly levelled as McDonnell fired over after some impressive approach work from defenders Andy Mallon and Paul Duffy and full-forward Ronan Clarke.

Armagh went claimed the lead thanks to a McDonnell free, but Laois centre-back Cahir Healy soon thundered forward to bag the first of his two points on the night.

Tierney and Aaron Kernan swapped points, with the Armagh wing forward landing a free at the second attempt, and two efforts from the in-form McDonnell - the first a tremendous shot off the outside of his right boot - edged the Orchard men in front.

They suffered a setback when substitute Vincie Martin, who had just been introduced for the injured Kevin Dyas, was shown a straight red card for an off-the-ball incident involving Laois' Kevin Meaney.

The midlanders took advantage to work a goal-scoring chance for Peter O'Leary, but the wing forward blazed over from close range and 14-man Armagh seized control for the remainder of the half.

Points from James Lavery, Henderson and McDonnell, who took his tally to six, saw Paddy O'Rourke's men turn around with a 0-09 to 0-05 lead.

In injury time, Laois were also reduced to 14 men when Meaney picked up his second yellow card for a foul on Kernan.

Donie Kingston came on as a substitute despite playing for the Laois Under-21 side earlier in the day, and he had an immediate impact, landing the first point of the second period.

The Portlaoise crowd roared their side on as Tierney floated a free over and Colm Begley and Billy Sheehan added points from play as Laois got back on terms.

With both sides playing in fits and starts, it was then Armagh's turn to dominate as Malachy Mackin, McDonnell and Henderson sent over three points in a row, with Duffy and Mallon again doing the donkey work.

In a fascinating finale, Laois again mustered a battling response as they kept possession well and teed up chances for Darren Strong, Kingston and the very effective Healy to convert.

But Armagh kept pushing for scores and just as it looked like they might settle for a draw, they maintained possession and Henderson found the target from a difficult angle to leave O'Moore Park stunned.