Laois resilience leaves McNulty purring after semi win

Laois manager Justin McNulty hailed his side’s resilience as they battled back to beat Antrim and reach the Tailteann Cup final.

Trailing by three points with 20 minutes to go in Sunday’s semi-final at Croke Park, Laois outscored their Ulster opponents by 2-05 to 0-03 in the final stretch to clinch victory and a return to Croke Park for the decider on 13 July when they will face either Sligo or Down.

The way in which his team hauled themselves from a deficit and into a position to win the game pleased McNulty.

“I’n thrilled with the manner in which the fellas dug it out in the second half,” he told RTÉ Sport’s Siobhan Madigan.

“They got a goal just after we hit the crossbar. We’d turned over, we’d lost our captain to a black card. It looked like, ‘Jesus, this isn’t our day’ but the fellas dug it out.

“They showed huge resilience, huge fortitude, huge determination, hunger and desire. I’m thrilled that they demonstrated their character, who they are as footballers, who they are as men, who they are as a team. Absolutely delighted.

“And we know there are areas for improvement in their performance and that’s an exciting place to be coming into the final.”

While the Tailteann Cup may be the secondary competition, the backdrop and opportunity to win a trophy was more than tantalising for all the sides involved, he added.

“You ask any of the four managers coming into these games today what they wanted to do and all the players, they wanted to play as often and for silverware in Croke Park at HQ where since you were a little boy or little girl, when you were knee-high, you dream about playing here and these boys get an opportunity to do that and win silverware. It’s special,” McNulty said.

Antrim manager Andy McEntee outlined their own side’s disappointment in falling short at the semi-final stage for the second year in a row.

“We found ourselves in this position last year, truth be told having played a little bit better than we did today, and ultimately we’ve come up short again,” he said.

“But that’s life. We didn’t play well enough in the important parts of the game.”

On Antrim’s progress and the potential going forward, he said: “They’ve put in a huge effort in the last couple of years, I can’t complain about that.

“I think physically they’ve made big progress but there’s still a gap there to where we want to get to, where they want to get to.

“So I guess to quote somebody, ‘Work done but more to do.'”