Mark Timmons was Laois' saviour as they came from behind to defeat New York 1-13 to 1-09 in O'Moore Park this afternoon.
Things looked bleak for Justin McNulty's men as they trailed by a point and were down to 14 men with 50 minutes on the clock.
But Timmons came up clutch with a goal soon after and Laois saw it out from there. They will now advance to play either Down, Sligo or Kildare but will need to improve dramatically.
Laois started the game well as a brace of frees from Paul Kingston and one each from Mark Barry and Evan O'Carroll kicked them ahead.
New York had replied with a Shane Brosnan score in between and then rocked Laois with a goal in the ninth minute.
Bobby O'Regan found himself in acres of space and looked to be going for a goal but his shot dropped into the top corner of the net - deceiving Laois keeper Killian Roche.
That levelled things and Laois were lucky shortly after when Roche left a kick-pass short to Timmons with O'Regan pouncing - he was fouled by the Laois defender but managed to get the ball over the the bar.
The sides traded points from there until half time with a Killian Butler free giving New York a 1-06 to 0-08 lead.
Laois drew level when play restarted as Rioghan Murphy pointed from a very tight angle and then went ahead when Barry did the same.
But then disaster struck for Laois in the 48th minute when Shaun Fitzpatrick, a first-half sub, picked up a second yellow card for a late tackle and Laois were down to 14 men.
Butler levelled it from the resulting free and then kicked them ahead after 50 minutes. Laois levelled through Paul Kingston and then New York had a golden goal chance but Jack Reilly shot wide when one on one with Roche.
And two minutes later, in the 57th minute, Laois had the ball in the New York net. Damon Larkin misplaced a handpass to Timmons but the ball broke away from Cian O'Dea and Timmons gathered it before planting the ball in the bottom corner.
Butler reduced the gap to two with 63 minutes played but Barry replied four minutes later.
Roche made it safe in the five minutes of injury time that followed as Laois live on.
Laois: Killian Roche (0-03, 3f); Dylan Kavanagh, Kieran Lillis, Mark Timmons (1-00); Seamus Lacey, Brian Byrne, Simon Fingleton; Damon Larkin, Conor Heffernan; Mark Barry (0-03), Evan O'Carroll (0-02), Kevin Swayne; Rioghan Murphy (0-01), Niall Dunne (0-01), Paul Kingston (0-03, 3f) Subs: Shaun Fitzpatrick for Kavanagh (26), Ciaran Burke for Lillis (56), Mikie Dempsey for Dunne (69), Niall Corbet for Murphy (75)
New York: Joseph Grace (0-01, 1f); Shane Bolger, Noel Hatton, Jamie Boyle; Shane Brosnan (0-01), Cian O'Dea, Robert Wharton; Liam Kearney, Emmet O’Connghaile; Tiernan Mathers, Mikey Brosnan, Eoghan McElligot; Killian Butler (0-05, 5f), Jack Reilly (0-01), Bobby O’Regan (1-01). Subs: James Walsh for Reilly (22), Jack Reilly for Brosnan (46), Adam Loughlin-Stones for Mathers (60), Niall McCarthy for Bolger (63), Sean Reilly for McElligot (69)
Referee: David Murnane (Cork)
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