Fitzgerald cannot hide his personal delight nor his respect for his players

LAOIS boss Tommy Fitzgerald was in good spirits after seeing his side clinch the Joe McDonagh Cup on Saturday afternoon after an impressive victory over Carlow.

Never one to get carried away even on the best of days, Fitzgerald downplayed the performance itself, but he was full of pride for the group.

Speaking after the win he said, “It wasn’t the best performance ever, the hurling was scrappy but it was pure desire and want and massive work rate, that was incredible.

“It was probably the winning of the game, I don’t think we hurled well, there was a lot of handling errors and mistakes but in terms of pure desire and work rate and want, it was top class.

“The first day we felt we were outworked in Carlow and the numbers backed that up, there’s been a big focus on that over the last two weeks.

“There’s nothing scientific, just pure heart and desire and the bit of hurt over the last few years probably helped us get to that level today.” 

Fitzgerald’s pregame plans were thrown up in a heap when James Doyle had the ball in the Laois net very early on, but he praised the response from his team.

“You can have all the best plans in the world, then a ball lands in the net in the first minute,” he said.

“They responded well and settled well, it wasn’t a classic game but we stuck at it and we worked really hard. I’m just so happy for the lads and proud of them as well.

“More than anything what really shone out for us on the sideline was the pure desire from the lads and their work rate, all the figures at half time were well up on where we were in previous games.

“After conceding 1-1 early on, we went on to hit the next five points in a row. They had a lot of wides, you have to factor that in but there was a lot of pressure, and Picky (Stephen Maher) got a really big score early to settle us.” 

Fitzgerald elaborated further on his admiration for Maher and what he brings to the team, stating, “He’s a real big game player, he’s proved that in the past and I’d have full trust and faith in him.

“We’ve been trying to mind him for the last couple of weeks and get him ready for today. We knew we’d need him and to be fair to him he stepped up and I’m really happy for him.” 

Maher’s Clough/Ballacolla clubmate Cillian Dunne picked up the Man of the Match award with an outstanding display which saw the youngster scoring 1-6 from play on his Croke Park debut.

Fitzgerald told us, “I sent him a message last night telling him ‘you’re made for days like this’ and he backed it up today.

“I’m so happy for him because he came in at the start of the year and his attitude has been fantastic. He works so hard every day, he’s a fantastic young fella.

“Sometimes you get your rewards when you put in the hard work so I’m delighted for him. He got a couple of class scores, the one under the Hogan Stand was top drawer.” 

While the forwards steal the headlines the backs often win the games and Fitzgerald was quick to point out the backs were excellent for Laois on Saturday.

“I have to hand it to the backs, I thought they were outstanding as a unit, they really defended manfully. We snuffed out a lot of chances, they have very dangerous forwards.

“We had a plan going out, Fiachra (C Fennell) played a certain role and the lads around him stood up. It was a real steely and defiant performance from our backs.” 

Laois finished out the game very strongly and Fitzgerald has placed a huge emphasis on the use of his panel this year which came to the fore on Saturday with the subs making a huge difference when they were utilised.

“Every one of those lads made the team better when they came in and that’s what we’ve been preaching all year,” said Fitzgerald.

“We do have a lot of competition, a lot of lads around the same level and it’s very hard to pick week in week out and to get the balance right. You want to get the impact off the bench as well and we got that today, Jack (Kelly) was in fine form.

“I’m delighted for him because he came back in this year after being away from it and his attitude has been top. It means a lot for him today to come on and play his part in it too.” 

Fitzgerald was a part of the backroom team in 2019 when Laois won the competition, but he said it feels more special as the head honcho.

“There’s a lot more pressure as manager and I certainly felt that last year and at times this year. It’s a massive relief, this is what we’ve been striving for the last two years since I came in, I’ve huge pride in the lads and they stuck to the task.

“They’re a great bunch of lads and great Laois men, so I’m happy for them.” 

Now that there’s no All-Ireland Preliminary quarter-final to prepare for they players can now enjoy the celebrations after their win and Fitzgerald reckons, “They won’t have to be told twice! They deserve it, they’ve worked so hard and they experienced the hurt the last two years and it’s a horrible place to be.

“To come back from last year, I think they’ve earned this one and they’ve earned the right to celebrate it too.”