Laois GAA's Justin McNulty pays heartfelt tribute to former Laois minor footballer Ciaran O’Neill

The Laois senior footballers had to settle for a share of the spoils in Portlaoise on Saturday evening, with a late Limerick surge forcing Laois to grab a last-minute point to salvage a draw.

Speaking after the game, Laois manager Justin McNulty first paid tribute and passed on his condolences to the family of Stradbally’s Ciaran ‘Nelly’ O’Neill, who sadly passed away on Friday, January 23. O’Neill played on Laois teams up to and including minor level and also played senior and junior for his club. A minute’s silence was observed before the game in his memory.

“There’s a family in Stradbally, a young fella who played Laois minor, Ciaran ‘Nelly’ O’Neill, and I guess that puts the performance and the result into perspective. My thoughts go out to his family, the Stradbally club, the community, and to all the Laois players who played with and grew up with him. That's a big, big blow for Laois, the GAA in Laois, and the Laois family in general, so my sympathies are with them,” McNulty said.

McNulty admitted that his side should have won the game, but said there were plenty of positives to take from the performance that they can bring into the remainder of the campaign.

“Obviously, a match this evening that we could and should have won. A huge performance from the Laois team. We dominated so many elements of the game, kick-outs, turnovers, win-backs, shots, but just didn't convert, and that's what cost us tonight. I’m very, very proud of the effort of the players.

“Very proud as they were outsiders coming into tonight's game, and to deliver a performance like that, given those circumstances, I think the players should be proud. They know that we have improvements to make and all the little tweaks that can be very easily fixed, but the biggest thing was the bravery that the players showed and the trust they had in each other and the trust they had in the game plan, and that's massive for us,” he said.

Park-Ratheniska’s Cian Nolan and Portarlington’s Darragh Galvin made their league debuts for Laois on Saturday evening. McNulty reflected that it wasn’t a question of having faith in them, as he knows what they are capable of.

“It wasn't a question of us having faith in them; the boys put their heads up and demanded a starting place by how they've committed themselves, and how they've applied themselves since they came in. They're very, very proud Laois lads. They want to play, and they want to put their hands up in the dressing room after a match and say I played well and they're determined to do that. I think those lads did, and they should be proud of that, and I think the majority of our players can sit in the dressing room afterwards and say hands up, I had a good game.

“There were a few errors, yes, we can rectify those, missed scores we can rectify that, but the character the guys demonstrated, I think they should all be very, very proud of that, and we can build on that. We know we've got a big, big task ahead of us next Saturday night down in Wexford Park, and we know we need to improve on so many facets of our game, but I think from a team growth perspective, this evening's game was f**ing massive, excuse my language,” he added.

One thing that Laois failed to do was push their advantage beyond three points, leaving Limerick with a glimmer of hope that they could get back into the contest, which they did. Laois missed multiple goal chances and also failed to raise an orange flag, while Limerick scored a brace of two-pointers to keep themselves in the game.

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“You'd be scratching your head, wondering how we weren’t further ahead. I think we had four or five clear-cut goal chances, none of which we converted. Obviously we got one, but we could have had another four or five, it felt, and if you're looking at the stats, you'd be scratching your head in terms of who won the game, in terms of the dominance on kick-outs, the dominance on shots, the dominance on win-backs and that's what I'll be focusing on and nothing else,” the Laois manager said.

Laois started with a new-look midfield against Limerick, with Crettyard’s Ciaran Burke partnering Courtwood’s Rob Tyrrell. Burke missed the full 2025 inter-county season through injury, and McNulty is hopeful he can remain injury-free in 2026.

“Talent's not enough; it has to be about effort and character. Ciarán knows that, and he showed huge character getting back from injuries that he has had, which have plagued him for the last number of seasons. For him to get through most of the game and be a force in the middle of the park was enormous, and credit to him and likewise to Rob. Likewise, to the team who, when that last gasp two-pointer goes over for them, you know, everybody in the park would have said Limerick are going to win this match. But our guys showed huge bravery and trust in each other, and we should have won the match. We know that, but we'll take confidence from the style and the manner in which we played and performed for most of the game,” he commented.

Laois also have a new Maor Uisce in the form of veteran full-back Mark Timmons, with McNulty full of praise for the Graiguecullen man.

“Mark has been a huge servant for Laois football. He knows the game inside and out, to have that wisdom along the line and to guide and direct players as appropriate on the sidelines, what better man, and we're delighted to have Mark back on the scene,” he said.

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Looking ahead, McNulty will bring his side to Wexford next Saturday evening as Laois look to pick up their first win of the campaign.

“We know we have massive improvements to do before next Saturday; we can't begin to think about competing. We need to be on our game so much more efficiently over several facets of the game, but we'll take huge encouragement from the character our guys demonstrated tonight,” he concluded.