McNulty acknowledges the roles played by Munnelly and Carroll 

LAOIS manager Justin McNulty praised his players’ resilience after they snatched a dramatic 3-18 to 3-16 victory over Offaly in Saturday evening’s Tailteann Cup clash in Newbridge. A last-gasp penalty from Mark Barry sealed the win, and McNulty was quick to commend his side’s determination to fight through adversity.

“I think after the body blows that those fellows have taken this season, it's a testament to their character to be able to come out and deliver a performance like that. The thing I'm most impressed by is the fact that during that game, we gave away a huge amount of turnovers and we were punished badly for them. They scored 1-11 off our turnovers, which were largely unforced.

“It would have been very easy to throw the head up and say flip, this is not my day, we'll just pack it in here and give up. It could have been so easy to do that. But, they didn't, they dug in, they found something deep inside themselves, and they just eked out a result there. They had to work so, so hard for it.

“Mental toughness is a very cliched term, but did our boys exhibit mental toughness in spade loads today. I'm very blessed, lucky and fortunate to be involved with a group of players like that who have that strength of character to be able to do that; it's phenomenal. That sort of mental toughness could take you anywhere,” he said.

The Laois boss believes that mental resolve doesn’t develop overnight and credited the full squad for their contributions across the season, especially amid an ongoing injury crisis. He admitted that an even greater test lies ahead.

“It's more than just today as well. We've had lots of injury problems, and we've had to go deep into our squad. This year, when we brought the group together, we talked about how we're going to need our full squad, and the boys have bought into that.

“Fellas who haven’t had game time are now playing, starting and delivering big roles for us; that's hugely positive. But we do know, we're not in fairyland here, we know we've got a huge, huge challenge ahead of us next week. We're going to be playing against a number two-seeded team.

“It's going to be an away draw, so it could be against a big gun and it's going to be a really, really tough proposition. But we'll go with a positive frame of mind and see where it takes us,” he added.

One of the key tactical changes saw Damon Larkin deployed at full-forward, a move that paid off handsomely. McNulty was quick to highlight where that decision came from.

“Diarmuid (Carroll) and Ross (Munnelly) deserve all the credit on that one; that was their move, and it worked incredibly well in terms of getting the goal. Then Damon came back into midfield and did a big steadying job in midfield as well. So yes, he was a threat, he created a different dynamic to the team totally in that role, and it's something we may deploy again. So we'll just see where that goes next week,” he noted.

Laois also reaped the rewards of their work on their own restarts, with Larkin’s second goal originating from a Killian Roche kick-out. McNulty praised the preparation and collective responsibility shown by the squad in that area, while also pointing to a need for improvement in disrupting the opposition on their restarts.

“The fellas are doing immense work in their own time to study formations, study kick-outs, and see what works best. That paid off as Killian nailed them very effectively, but it's a group effort, and they take ownership of it, and they're delivering on it.

“With the framework put in place by Ross and Diarmuid, that's something they should be very proud of but they know it's going to have to be improved, it's got to be better next week and we're going to have to be much more expert in interrupting and interfering with the opposition's kick-out, which probably could have been better today,” he said.

The game’s turning point arguably came with a string of two-point scores for Laois in the second half. McNulty singled out the players who stepped up in those moments and insisted those scores kept their hopes alive.

“Fair play to Michael Doran, he's not long in the panel and for him to come in and show that maturity, it's a credit to him. We're lucky to have him, and it takes guts to step up and take those chances. The boys did that very effectively, and only for them, we were beaten, simple,” he remarked.

As the final whistle blew, there were emotional scenes as the players celebrated with their loved ones. McNulty admitted it was a heartening moment, but stressed the importance of staying grounded.

“It was great to see the players out there enjoying the aftermath with their families, with joy in their hearts and pride. That's something that the Laois people should be very proud of, the performance that this team delivered today, and we're not getting carried away. We expect to be in a competitive scenario with Offaly all the time and now it's move on to the next one. We haven't time to clap ourselves on the back, we've got to very quickly shift our focus onto a tough, tough proposition next weekend,” he said.

Following a disappointing performance against Wicklow in Round 2, McNulty had asked his players to look inward. He was pleased with how they responded on Saturday.

“The players asked the questions themselves, the players knew that they were better than the performance they delivered against Wicklow. They were hurting, and they were, to a degree, ashamed. They wanted to rectify it, and they did that in bucketfuls today, and it's a testament to the character of the fellas, and they know that today's performance won't be good enough for next weekend as well. They know that with that level of turnovers, we’ll be on a wing and a prayer to try and get over the line the next day, so we have to tighten up hugely. Otherwise, we're no hopers next weekend,” he warned.

While acknowledging the mistakes that gifted Offaly many of their scores, McNulty finished by once again commending his players for refusing to give up.

“We knew we were the masters of our own downfall for many of the scores that they scored consecutively. We were in control at half-time because we were only one point down. We knew we were still in the game so we were just focusing on performing in the second half and staying in the game.

“We knew we had to work our scores and to be fair, the players did that effectively. We made it way harder for ourselves than it needed to be, but as I said, it could have been a game where we could have just laid down and said it's not our day, but the players dug deep and dug it out,” he ended.