Analysis: Many in Laois must have assumed after producing so many superb minor teams it was only a matter of time before it translated to senior level. Granted, with the help of Mick O'Dwyer they have reached three Leinster finals but they still do not have the calibre of player to make the breakthrough against the standard set at the All-Ireland stage.
Armagh are unquestionably that standard.
O'Dwyer should stay on if only because the potential exists more in Laois than anywhere else, but he will know this short-passing football philosophy is not good enough to win an All-Ireland.
When I played under Micko we always had the highly effective option of playing the ball into the Bomber Liston, and with players like Mike Sheehy or John Egan feeding off this sort of possession you can always steal scores. We are talking sheer class here. This sort of target man was non-existent in the Laois forward line.
In contrast, Armagh were willing to let the ball go long into their tremendous full forward Ronan Clarke. Clarke kept Armagh in the game during the early Laois dominance and along with Steven McDonnell forms a hugely formidable partnership.
I have hands-on experience of how deadly McDonnell can be from the International Rules series in Australia. After struggling for form during this year's championship and early on Saturday, he instantly rediscovered the killer instinct when Clarke put him in for the first goal.
It was the sign of a player completely focused on his game that he never panicked when the scores weren't going over. Corner back Joe Higgins was the victim in all this as he simply could not contain the Killeavey machine after the break.
Laois got the perfect start and it was clear Micko told them to run the legs off Armagh but it was also obvious that no one can play the game at 100 miles per hour for 70 minutes, especially without a target man. The ball travels quicker than any player.
Even when they got some frees they could have slowed play down and weighed up the situation. Instead they went at Armagh and eventually the Ulster champions enveloped them. If Kerry or Tyrone had that amount of possession they would have made it an insurmountable task. Armagh's four-week break was evident at the start.
Pádraig Clancy played his heart out in midfield but unfortunately he was all alone as Noel Garvan, one of this year's most dominant performers, had one of those nightmare games when everything passed him by. It cost Laois untold amounts of possession that instead was sent into Clarke by Paul McGrane and Philip Loughran.
After 20 minutes Laois needed to be at least seven points ahead. It meant when Armagh settled into their usual rhythm it quickly became apparent how far Laois are off this level.
The hunger is still there for Armagh. This is because Joe Kernan has freshened up his team with players like Aaron Kernan and the two Mallons, Brian and Andy. The absence of Kieran McGeeney was hardly felt at all as Martin O'Rourke covered the centre-back position admirably.
O'Rourke was ably assisted by the refusal of the Armagh defence to allow one of their own to ever be isolated. It meant Ross Munnelly and Billy Sheehan tirelessly ran into cul-de-sacs all afternoon.
A lot of Laois players are young and they can learn from this if they can stay together through yet another long, hard winter. Take Munnelly for example. He clearly spent a lot of time in the gym over the previous year and is now matching strength with his high level of skill. They all need to, and can, go up another notch.
Armagh have been down this road so many times so they will be aware that they tend to follow a quality performance with a flat one. We will see if this can be addressed.
At this stage they would probably prefer to see Dublin coming through the replay against Tyrone, although it would be fascinating for the rest of the country to once more witness the war of attrition between the Ulster neighbours.
