'It was a game that was there for us'- Laois' Justin McNulty reflects on missed opportunity

The Laois senior footballers now face into a four-week break before the Tailteann Cup, after Kildare brought their Leinster Championship run to a halt with a five-point win in Newbridge on Sunday.

It was a game that ultimately slipped away from Laois after periods where they had been firmly in control, leaving plenty of frustration in its aftermath as attention turns to the second-tier competition.

Laois manager Justin McNulty felt his side just couldn’t get the scoreboard to reflect what he believed was plenty of dominance for the O'Moore County in Newbridge.

“It was a game that was there for us, we probably dominated the match for long periods in the first half, completely owned the kick-out, owned the possession and yet we weren't winning on the scoreboard. When you have that period of dominance, you have to make hay and we didn't make hay and then they punished us on turnovers, and we didn't hurt them,” he said.

The decisive spell came early in the second half, when Laois failed to register a score for 15 minutes after the restart. With the game level at half-time, Kildare used that period to push on and establish a five-point cushion they would not relinquish.

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“They grew in confidence as we missed our opportunities to punish on attacks and they took their opportunities for the most part. Obviously, they left the penalty behind, but we had good goal chances as well. They made it count on the scoreboard and we didn't, they made it count in terms of possession completions, and we didn't often enough and they punished our turnovers,” McNulty said.

Laois did have individual moments of quality, particularly through Arles-Killeen forward Paul Kingston. Introduced to the starting 15 after largely featuring from the bench during the league and again against Offaly, Kingston made a significant impact with a rapid scoring burst that saw him finish with 1-3, including 1-2 in a 90-second spell. However, McNulty felt the broader attacking structure still lacked consistency.

“Paul (Kingston) has that capacity and unfortunately we didn't punish them enough. Whether the scoring opportunities were there and we were in positions to create scoring possibilities, we didn't connect our passes often enough. We got caught in possession on occasion with turnovers which weren't necessarily forced. We just made it easier for them to defend and we should have been moving the ball faster and against stronger opposition that's been our downfall. We just need to be better at that otherwise we won't improve as a team,” he said.

There was also the absence of Park-Ratheniska's Simon Fingleton to consider, though McNulty was clear in not attributing the defeat to personnel alone.

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“Simon was a big loss of course but they were down players as well so we can't say if we'd Simon playing we would have won the match. It's next man up and we can't always plan for full strength every day out and of course Simon's a great player, he’s a loss, but that's not the reason we lost the match,” McNulty added.

Laois must reset for the Tailteann Cup, where they will wait four weeks to learn their Round 1 opponents. Despite the disappointment, McNulty believes there is a foundation to build on if lessons are taken on board.

“The boys can take confidence. There's no question we were in that game, bar a little bit of clinicalness in possession. We can look forward with confidence to the Tailteann Cup but only if we rectify the reason why we didn't win that match today and come determined to go and be as competitive as we can every day we go in the Tailteann Cup campaign,” he said.

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In the wider Leinster Championship picture, the result carried extra weight given events elsewhere, with Westmeath producing a surprise win over Meath, last year’s Leinster finalists and All-Ireland semi-finalists, in Tullamore earlier in the day.

McNulty finished by reflecting on the sense of missed opportunity felt inside the Laois dressing room.

“The boys in the dressing room, they're gutted. They know that the game was there for us if we had performed to the level that we're capable of. We didn't take it, simple as,” he concluded.