Ryan Murray rescued a point for Antrim with the very last kick of their Division 3 contest against Laois at MW Hire O'Moore Park.
That score came just two minutes after debutant goalkeeper Matthew Byron looked to have crowned his first ever league appearance for the home side with the winning score.
In truth, neither side could argue that they deserved a victory after both produced some decent football in patches, but also went through long fallow periods, particularly in an error-ridden second half that produced just six scores, two of them in stoppage time.
Like most of today’s games, the wind was a key factor, and in the early stages, Antrim used it to great effect.
Odhrán Eastwood, Murray, Paddy McAleer, Jamie Gribbon and Rúairí McCann all kicked sublime scores from distance, and in between a turnover at midfield was ruthlessly punished when Michael and Rúairí McCann combined to set up Eastwood for a good low finish.
1-05 to 0-02 to the good after 21 minutes, Laois gradually worked their way back into things, with Evan O’Carroll leading by example in attack. The big Crettyard player earned a couple of frees and then leapt to meet a Gary Walsh dead ball with a decisive punch to cut the gap to the bare minimum.
Rúairí McCann hit back with another excellent point from the right wing but 1-06 to 1-04 looked like a meagre lead to try and defend into the breeze, even more so with Ricky Johnston off the field for the first eight minutes of the second half due to a black card.
It certainly looked like Laois were on course for back-to-back victories when Mark Barry and Gary Walsh pointed in that period to draw them level, but instead of kicking on from there, the Midlanders lost their way and struggled to get their key attackers on the ball.
Five second half wides were something of an issue, but two of those were long pass attempts that overshot the mark, while another was a hotly disputed free from Gary Walsh that was initially given, before being chalked off after a conversation between the match officials.
Eoin Lowry and Michael McCann traded scores, the only points kicked between the 43rd and the 72nd minutes, before Matthew Byron drew the biggest cheer of the day after stroking his 55-metre free between the posts to give Laois just their second lead of the night.
Having scored just twice in the last 50-plus minutes of play, Antrim had one last chance to salvage a draw, but after working the ball up to the right-hand side, it looked like all the odds were stacked against Rúairí McCann as he stood over a free on the left-hand sideline. However a lapse in concentration in the Laois defence saw Ryan Murray dart into space untracked, and he duly popped a pressure kick between the sticks from 30 metres out to salvage a draw.
Laois: Matthew Byron (0-01, 0-01f); Trevor Collins, James Kelly, Alex Mohan; Seán O'Flynn, John O’Loughlin, Gareth Dillon; Kieran Lillis, James Finn; Cormac Murphy, Eoin Lowry (0-01), Patrick O’Sullivan; Mark Barry (0-02, 0-01f), Evan O’Carroll (1-00), Gary Walsh (0-04, 0-04fs).
Subs: Brian Byrne for Murphy (60), Ross Munnelly for Dillon (64), Alan Farrell for Finn (65).
Antrim: Oisín Kerr; Eoghan McCabe, Ricky Johnston, Peter Healy; Paddy McAleer (0-01), James Laverty, Marc Jordan; Michael McCann (0-01) Kevin Small; Ryan Murray (0-02), Jamie Gribbon (0-01), Rúairí McCann (0-02); Tomás McCann, Odhrán Eastwood (1-01), Conor Murray.
Subs: Martin Johnston for R Murray (12, temp), Martin Johnston for Gribbon (ht), Dermot McAleese for R Johnston (43), Patrick McCormick for T McCann (50), Patrick McBride for Eastwood (50), Eunan Walsh for McBride (60).
Referee: Niall McKenna (Monaghan).
Earlier in Division 3, Limerick returned to the top of the table as they left Aughrim with a 1-14 to 1-09 win over Wicklow.
The Garden County started well with goalkeeper Mark Jackson on target twice from frees but Josh Ryan hit the net for Limerick and the visitors would land the next five scores to lead 1-05 to 0-03 after 23 minutes.
Eoin Darcy responded with a penalty for Wicklow as they trailed 1-08 to 1-03 at the break.
The sides shared 12 points in the second half with Hugh Bourke weighing in with two of those as Limerick, who lost Brian Donovan to a red card, earned their third win of the campaign.
