A 55th-minute Donie Kingston goal helped shoot 14-man Laois through to the second round of the All-Ireland Qualifiers tonight.
Longford manager Luke Dempsey will be disappointed by his side's poor shooting during this Pearse Park tie as he watched his side strike 13 wides in all.
Indeed, the former Westmeath manager announced his resignation after the game, having had serious questions with the Longford County Board's scheduling of recent Club Championship matches in the county.
Laois only led by 0-05 to 0-04 at the break but they finished well, Kingston top-scoring with 1-03.
A second yellow card for defender Padraig McMahon late on failed to unsettle the O'Moore men as they advanced to the next round.
Although Longford dominated possession in the opening half, Laois were not keen to let them capitalise on this dominance, with Darren Rooney and Tom Kelly forming a good partnership down the middle of the visitors' defence.
A Brian Kavanagh point tied the game for the third time, 12 minutes from the interval.
But with Longford also misfiring badly, this was still anyone's game and a third point from MJ Tierney had Laois ahead by the minimum at half-time.
Laois engineered a strong start to the second half, and following a defensive lapse by Longford centre-back Arthur O'Connor, Ross Munnelly grabbed the first score after the restart.
He then opened up a two-point lead for his side for the first time in the game.
It took Longford ten minutes to score their first point of the second period, with Paddy Dowd on target, but following quick scores from Francie McGee and Kavanagh, Longford had crept into a 0-07 to 0-06 lead by the 49th minute.
Longford continued to pile on the pressure and although Kavanagh was wide from a free, Paul Barden sent the home crowd into raptures when his point opened up a two-point buffer.
But Laois were not finished yet, as substitute Billy Sheehan fed Kingston for Laois's goal which saw the O'Moore men edge ahead.
That proved to be the match-winning score as Laois beat Longford in the Championship for the second year running - they had five points to spare in last year's Leinster quarter-final.
Laois: M Nolan; C Healy, D Rooney, C Ryan; P O'Leary, T Kelly (0-01), P McMahon; B Quigley (0-01), J O'Loughlin; R Munnelly (0-01), B Brennan (0-01), B McCormack; MJ Tierney (0-03, 3f), C Parkinson, D Kingston (1-03, 1f).
Subs: C Kelly (St Joseph's) for Parkinson (26-29 mins, blood sub), B Sheehan for Munnelly (50), C Kelly (St Joseph's) for Tierney (58), P Lawlor for Parkinson (66), D Murphy for O'Leary (69).
Longford: D Sheridan; D Brady, N Farrell, C Conefrey; S Mulligan, A O'Connor, DC O'Reilly; L Keenan, P Dowd (0-02); D Farrell, P Barden (0-02), D Masterson; F McGee (0-04, 1f), P Berry, B Kavanagh (0-03, 2f).
Subs: K Mulligan for D Farrell (46 mins), P Foy for Berry (64)
Referee: Tomas Quigley (Dublin).
