Justin McNulty hails Laois' character in heartbreaking Tailteann Cup final defeat to Down

The Laois GAA footballers were on the wrong side of the result in the Tailteann Cup final against Down in Croke Park on Saturday. 

Two points separated the sides at the end with a late Mark Barry goal giving Laois some sort of hope with three minutes to go but Down held on in the end, just about.

Laois manager Justin McNulty spoke after the game and he began by saying how proud he was of his group of players to stay plugging away even after Down had built up a lead as the game approached the end. 

“Proud that the team, even though we weren't firing all over the pitch, still were able to claw ourselves into a position where we could maybe have stolen at the end. Very much against the run of play was going because Down probably were dominant for periods in terms of their ability to score freely on occasion. So for us to still sustain that scoring damage which they did, for us to have got in a position to steal at the end. I think that's a testament to the effort and the character of the fellas but still, we're hugely disappointed that we didn't potentially get a few of those big scores. When we hit full-time injury time, it was there for us and we didn't nail it,” he said.

McNulty reflected on the missed chances that his side had but also noted that Down had chances of their own so it balanced itself out in the end.

“We had a goal chance in the first half as well which we didn't kill and a few of those near-misses probably were the difference. Down might also say the same they’d a lot of wide as well, so it was evened out probably in that regard,” McNulty said.

Mark Barry’s goal in the 71st minute was one of the finest goals that’s ever been scored in GAA HQ and McNulty felt that it was a case of the ball falling to the right man in the right place at the right time.

“The right man got it at the right time and he had the bravery to go for it. It wasn't an easy goal to take, so a wonderful finish, and it clawed us back into the game when we were sort of floundering at that time. We were creating opportunities and that was one of the ones that came off obviously and it put us in a position to really give them a fright. We have to give credit to Down, they kept their composure and they saw it out,” he said.

The Laois manager reflected on what Laois selector and former player Ross Munnelly said to the players in the dressing room after the game. Munnelly can see the potential that this group of players has and that they’re only at ‘60%’ which can only be a positive moving forward. McNulty also knows that eight scores won’t win many matches let alone finals in Croker.

“Ross Munnelly was talking inside there and talking about the potential of the group and what Ross said was we're only 60% of where this group's potential is at. That's where we have to see huge areas for improvement and demand more of ourselves because that performance wasn't really good enough to win a final. You don't win many finals in Croke Park when you only score eight times, so we need to be much more efficient up front,” the Laois manager said.

The first-half saw both sides win their own kick-outs but Down decided in the second-half to press Laois’ restarts which saw John O’Hare leave his goals and act as a distraction for his opposite number Killian Roche. It worked to be fair to them as it prevented Laois from getting up the pitch as easy as they did in the first period.

“It was 100% each half-time, so they obviously caused a bit of disruption. We caused a bit of disruption there as well but probably a few little breaks went their way and didn't go our way. So yeah, it was effective from that regard,” he said.

McNulty ended the interview with somewhat of a challenge for his players in that he wants them to have the desire to improve on their potential.

“As Ross said, we're operating at 60% only and we know we have huge areas for improvement. It depends on whether the fellas have that desire to go and find that improvement which is there to be sought for,” McNulty said.