Disappointed but proud  sums up Stephen’s feelings after the final

LAOIS were left heartbroken on the pitch at Croke Park on Sunday afternoon as the final hooter sounded, signalling the beginning of Tyrone’s All-Ireland celebrations and the end of Laois’s dream.

After the match, manager Stephen Duff reflected on a frustrating day for his side. He acknowledged they were fortunate to be just two points behind at one stage, given Tyrone’s numerous goal chances, including a penalty save by Eimear Barry and a goal-line clearance from Faye McEvoy.

“We were more relieved. We could have been an awful lot further behind. We didn't perform well in the game and it was just frustrating. We knew the power that they had up front.

“Whether the occasion got to some of us or whether it was just a bad day at the office, it just wasn't a great performance. We felt we were coming out in the second half with a point to prove.

“We kept in the game during the third quarter, there was no more than a score in it until the end, when they got the extra score and pulled away.

“Definitely relieved at that stage, probably the overwhelming emotion, but felt we should have been further in that game and disappointed really with how we performed,” he said.

Laois were still in contention with just seven or eight minutes to go, before a yellow card for Ciara Crowley opened the door for Tyrone to strike for a second goal and they then stretched their lead to six points by full-time.

“We probably needed another goal. There were goals there for us, I think, but we played shockingly narrow. The message at half-time was that we had to try and get a bit more lateral running from our inside forwards and get the ball out in front of them into space.

“We felt Tyrone were defending narrow, similar to ourselves, but we kind of played into that, kicking the ball straight at our forwards rather than putting it on the sideline side. We tried even putting Fiona (Dooley) to centre-forward to see if that would pull players back towards their goal because they were pressing us very high and our backs probably were a little bit hesitant on the ball at times.

“We probably could have done with a goal and we were fighting for a goal. Usually, Lauren Kearney coming into a game gives you that spark with 20 minutes to go, and she did and then Katie Donoghue as well,” Duff said.

He also confirmed that Mo Nerney suffered a hamstring injury in the opening minutes and she still managed to kick five points, all in the second half.

“Mo pulled her hamstring in the first 10 minutes, she was struggling the whole way through that game. We got a call that she pulled her hamstring; she felt it pop and it was gone. It was about managing Mo and trying to get her through the game as best we could because we felt there was a chance in Mo and I think she proved that with the points she scored. We're savagely proud of everyone," he said.

Laois had impressed with their ball retention against Monaghan in the semi-final, but Duff admitted they gave away possession too easily against Tyrone.

“It was a tricky situation coming into the game because we only had nine turnovers against Monaghan. Our usual conversation would be that that’s probably maybe too few. We could probably afford to take a few more chances. 16, 8 in each half has kind of been our target.

“We don't want to be an ultra-safe team or an ultra-conservative one, but we knew with Tyrone's ability on the transition that we couldn't give them cheap ball and we did give him cheap ball in that first half. That was the disappointing part of it. There were individual errors at times that cost us, but that happens in high-level sport. Tyrone didn't have their day last year; we were having one of them days today. We take it on the chin and you can't win every day,” he remarked.

Tyrone centre-forward Sorcha Gormley was named Player of the Match and made life extremely difficult for the Laois defence.

“Sorcha Gormley is some footballer; her future is phenomenal. She's going to be one of the best players we've seen in a long time. She's a little terrier and I mean that in the best way possible. She's so hard to stop.

“We had to put Ciara Crowley back on her to try and free up Anna Moore, who may be able to double up on her, Clodagh (Dunne) at times as well. It was so hard for any of them. Ciara ended up getting a yellow card for it and you can't hold it against her because Gormley's put her under so much pressure,” he commented.

Despite the result, Duff praised his forwards for their work rate and believes this group has the potential to achieve more together.

“I think our forwards caused them problems at times. Eva Galvin's running, we got her out wide in the second quarter of the game to try and free up the middle of the pitch and try to get her running. Her running ability is phenomenal. They all died with their shirts on.

“The hardest part was going down to that corner and meeting the Laois people; you feel like you nearly let them down. But anyway, it's high-level sport and we just have to try and focus on what's next and that's keeping this group happy for the rest of the day and making sure they're together as a group and looked after. Hopefully, the Laois people can put their arms around them tonight,” Duff added.

He had always believed this team could reach a final and now hope they can follow Tyrone’s lead and go one better next year.

“I said it at the start of the year that we should be in a final. I said to the county board when I started, semi-final minimum. Anything beyond that is a bonus.

“When you get to a final, you want to win it and I think we could have won it. Tyrone were the best team in the competition, there's no two ways about it. They are the best team in the competition. We were the second-best team in the competition.

“I was confident we could pull off a shock today. I think it was probably a one-score game. I think just the way the game opened up in the last five or ten minutes, they pulled away from us. There's so much to build on in Laois. It's just a hard day for us, but overall, bigger picture, we're going in the right direction again.

“They say you have to lose a final to win a final and if that's the lesson you need to learn, so be it. Louth also did it in the game before us. So look, that's sport. I've been lucky enough to win an awful lot of finals in the last couple of years, so I have to take it on the chin when you lose one too,” he reflected.

Finally, Duff acknowledged how Tyrone’s analysis of Eimear Barry’s kick-outs helped them apply sustained pressure, and how difficult it was to make tactical adjustments in the wide-open spaces of Croke Park.

“It's probably the difference of playing in Croke Park. It's so hard to get a change of message in mid-game. We were trying to get a message onto Eimear because there were pockets of space on the Cusack stand side of the field, a bit longer. We were trying to get Fiona and Jane into that pocket and kind of overload it, and it's just hard to get that message on. She kept coming over to Niamh O’Neill’s side.

“But look, Eimear’s been super for us all year, and we wouldn't have been in the game without her in that first-half. They did have their homework done on us.

“We thought we had our homework done on their kick-out, which was Coyle going long. She didn't go long as often and we probably were happy enough with that. When we did push up on her, she started to go extremely long, and they got scores because she has a really long kick-out. It is what it is. They had their homework done on us, and we had our homework done on them at times too, but the way it played out, they were ahead of us,” he concluded.