Dublin's decline as a championship force in recent years was underlined at Croke Park yesterday.

Having moved smoothly into a six-point lead after the first quarter of their Bank of Ireland Leinster football semi-final, they subsequently ground to a halt and were in dire need of a charitable whip-around by both Laois and referee Seamus Prior in order to salvage a draw.

Tom Carr's team probably won't feel any overwhelming remorse as Prior's occasionally erratic awards - which flecked an otherwise authoritative performance - didn't always benefit them but television pictures seemed to indicate that Ian Robertson had picked the ball off the ground before scoring the injury-time equaliser.

To their credit and despite all the adversity, Dublin had kept plugging away and performed the not inconsiderable feat of launching a revival even though they were playing appallingly.

Laois must be kicking themselves and if not, they should be. They had a complete grip on the match and after a fine second-half performance, went four points clear with only a minute left in the match when Hughie Emerson kicked his second point of the afternoon.

They had momentum and Dublin were in a wretched state of disarray. After falling behind for the first time in the 42nd minute, they had lost the experienced Paul Curran with a broken collarbone, missed a penalty and shot 10 wides amidst ever-increasing desperation and while playing into a stiffening wind.

Within a minute of Emerson's apparent insurance point, Dublin somehow got back into the match. A move between Enda Sheehy and Ciaran Whelan ended with Robertson moving through the centre and drilling a goal. Damien Delaney then missed a chance of a point for Laois and Dublin capitalised: Enda Sheehy initiated a seven-man move which culminated in Des Farrell putting Darcy through on goal.

Although the Dublin forward was swallowed up by the converging defence, the ball wasn't cleared properly and Jason Sherlock, a second-half substitute, pulled it back across the goal. Robertson picked it up and fisted the equaliser. Referee Prior then whistled time. Dublin had registered only four points between the 16th and 69th minutes and had been outscored 0-14 to 0-4. The first half was odd. With little wind advantage to Dublin, they had racked up a 0-6 to nil lead by the end of the first quarter, with the tally including five well-crafted points from play. The defence was coping well with Laois's re-arranged attack in which Emerson moved to centre forward and Damian Delaney to full forward with Chris Conway in the corner.

Eventually Laois scored. Captain Tony Maher picked off a point after a sustained bout of pressure. Dublin proceeded to concede six points without reply.

Laois manager Tom Cribbin augmented his rising reputation by performing some radical early surgery. Chris Conway and Tom Kelly had hardly featured and were substituted in the 21st and 26th minutes by Mick Lawlor and David Sweeney respectively.

The replacements had a sensational impact. Lawlor, dropped for the match, responded like a demon. Operating from centre forward, he devoured breaking ball and carried the ball at speed down what looked like his own private road.

Paul Curran struggled badly and had to switch with Paul Croft - but Lawlor's impact was undiminished. Sweeney, for his part, scored two points in the second half. Stephen Kelly contributed an important vignette with two points in two minutes at the expense of a bothered Tomo Lynch. Maher had the chance of a goal in the 35th minute when Emerson and Lawlor combined to put him in the clear but he shot wide.

Dublin led by a point at halftime, 0-8 to 0-7, thanks to two late first-half scores - a free by Gavin and a good, individual point from Farrell. This advantage survived only 15 seconds into the second half when Lawlor levelled.

By now, Sherlock had come into the attack with Farrell moving from centre forward to full forward and Robertson to the right corner. Despite a succession of chances, Dublin's game fell to pieces, and they fell three points behind, 0-9 to 0-12.

The best chance appeared to have been wasted by Dublin when a debatable penalty was awarded for a 59th-minute tussle between Robertson and Declan Rooney. Full back Paddy Christie took the kick and became the fifth Dublin player to fail to goal a penalty in the last 12 seasons - only one has been converted.

Christie's wasn't a bad kick but Byron saved athletically to put the ball over for a point. Laois were galvanised and for the next 10 minutes looked like they were about to bridge a gap back to 1981, when they last beat Dublin in the championship.