'You're never as bad as you look when the wheels come off'- Justin McNulty after Laois' 14-point loss to Wexford

Laois suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Wexford on Saturday evening, as Justin McNulty’s side were comprehensively outplayed at Wexford Park, with the hosts running out 14-point winners.

After the final whistle, the Laois manager acknowledged the scale of the challenge his team faced and accepted that Wexford took firm control of proceedings, leaving Laois unable to influence the outcome in any meaningful way.

“I think a combination of factors. Wexford were on fire, and we didn't fire. Probably we started relatively well, created a few chances that we didn't take, left a goal chance behind us and then allowed them into the game. They got a grip of the game, and they were good. They were physically superior to us tonight on the evening, given the way the game fell. They were more athletic, they were faster, but that wasn't because they are necessarily that, it's just because of the way the game landed. They were fully deserving of their victory. Fair play to Wexford; they out-thought us and out-fought us,” he admitted.

McNulty was forthright in his assessment of Laois’ display, stressing that the responsibility for the disappointing outcome ultimately rests with himself and his backroom team.

“You're never as bad as you look when the wheels come off. The wheels did come off on our performance from many perspectives, and ultimately, that responsibility lies with me. The management team has to get the team ready to perform, and we didn't perform consistently over the 75-80 minutes this evening. I need to give myself a serious kick up the behind to figure out what went wrong in terms of the way I approached this match and the way the team were prepared for this game. That responsibility lies with me. That flat performance, the management has to take responsibility, and I take full responsibility for that,” McNulty said.

Adding to Laois’ frustrations on the night was an injury setback, with Crettyard's Evan O’Carroll forced to leave the field midway through the second half after picking up a hamstring issue.

“It's a worry, yes, he has tweaked it, but he hasn't torn it or anything. He's tweaked it so it's a concern, of course, but it's something we’ll monitor closely in the coming days, and hopefully he'll be back ready to rock for the next game,” he said.

The Laois boss also made a change between the posts at the interval, introducing Courtwood’s Matthew Byron in place of Killian Roche in an effort to alter the dynamic of the contest.

“We just felt we needed something, a different dimension to our game. We wanted to try a longer range, which Matthew has. It was a slight improvement in the second half, but nothing major. The performance wasn't good enough across the board, across the whole match, and there aren’t too many of us, including me, number one, that are happy with our performance,” he commented.

READ ALSO: Laois footballers left reeling as Wexford hand out Division 3 hammering

Following two outings against sides promoted to the division, Laois find themselves with a single point from four available. Their upcoming clash with Sligo in Portlaoise on Valentine’s Day is now shaping up as a pivotal fixture if Laois are to remain a Division 3 team in 2027.

“We thought we were under pressure to perform this evening, and we didn't do that, so we need to change things up and get a performance that we can be proud of. We're not worried about the result the next day, but we want a performance we can be proud of. We can't be proud of this performance this evening. The boys are all hurting; they've put an enormous effort in. These days happen in sport, you've just got to face up to them and look yourself in the mirror and see where we can make improvements. I think our boys are all willing to do that, and if we do that, we can change things up,” McNulty concluded.