Laois manager Liam Kearns was full of praise for Donie Kingston after the teenage sensation fired the O’Moore men past Longford and into the next round of the All-Ireland qualifiers.

The 17-year-old from Barrowhouse marked his championship debut with a 1-3 haul as Laois got their championship campaign back on track with a two-point victory.

“To be honest, Donie has a huge amount of talent. He’s physically very strong, mentally very strong,” Kearns said.

“He’s as good a 17-year-old as I’ve seen at this stage of his career. We thought we’d be taking him off the bench, but he was playing too well in challenge matches, so we were forced into playing him.

“We just couldn’t keep him off the team. He’s too good. Once we got the ball in to him, he kept getting scores and Donie was probably the match-winner for us.”

Kearns’ opposite number Luke Dempsey, who announced his resignation after the game, felt Longford would have prevailed if he had been given more time to prepare the team.

“I have no doubt we would have won today if the preparations had been right,” he claimed.

“Laois’ superior preparations, I can safely say, won the match by two points but you can’t fault our lads for a huge effort. Our preparations were far less than any other county.

“That has nothing to do with my decision to leave. That decision was made at the start of the year. I’ve had four marvellous years but I just feel it’s time for somebody else to take over.”

-Lynn Publications

Filed under: Laois Football