ALL-IRELAND SFC QUALIFIER ROUND THREE Laois 1-13 Leitrim 1-11:LAOIS MANAGER Justin McNulty left Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada a very relieved man on Saturday as his side narrowly escaped with their championship campaign intact.
Laois were pushed all the way by a determined home side buoyed by a partisan crowd of 5,232.
After his side had taken a massive step towards victory when Kevin Conlon rattled the net after 24 minutes, Leitrim co-manager George Dugdale was left to rue the concession of a soft Conor Boyle goal in first-half injury-time that coast his side dearly.
“We are obviously proud but devastated I suppose. Moral victories are really no good to us. We made a few mistakes and it cost us dearly and we paid the penalty in the end,” he said.
“We possibly lost it more than they won it. We made the mistakes and got punished. We could have gone in six points up at half-time and we didn’t.”
McNulty on the other hand was just relieved to see his side reach the fourth round of the qualifiers, despite shooting 17 wides along the way.
“We are very lucky to get into the next round because it was an unbelievable performance by Leitrim. I have to commend them for the effort they showed throughout in terms of their performance,” said McNulty.
For long stages it would have been McNulty pruning his cuticles as Leitrim stunned his side with their fast-breaking style. And when Conlon rounded off a slick move worked through Emlyn Mulligan and Ray Cox to hit a super goal in the 24th minute, Laois faced their greatest challenge of the season.
However, the momentum of the match swung in Laois’s favour in first-half injury-time as the home side conceded a soft goal.
Barely on the field, substitute MJ Tierney took on a speculative point attempt, but it failed to carry the requisite distance. After emerging unscathed in a similar challenge earlier, Leitrim keeper Cathal McCrann decided to boldly attack the ball instead of holding his ground.
However, the move proved fatal as Boyle was quickest to gather the scraps after McCrann spilled the ball under duress. The wing-back’s goal proved crucial: instead of taking a healthy lead at half-time, Leitrim held just a 1-8 to 1-5 advantage.
Laois soon set about cutting that deficit. With their wides tally quickly mounting in the opening 10 minutes of the second-half, points from Colm Begley and Billy Sheehan were a welcome boost as McNulty’s troops pulled within one score.
The impressive Conlon drilled over a point as Leitrim responded in the 49th minute, but four unanswered points in six minutes gave Laois the belief that they could shake off their stubborn hosts.
Two of the four came from Ross Munnelly as he took on the posts while his team-mates began to pass on the responsibility, but from then on there could only be one winner.
McNulty will have plenty to ponder after this stuttering display and the wides tally will surely infuriate him, but in public he was steadfast in defence of his forwards. “No I’d be concerned if we stopped going for it: we kept going for it. That shows courage. When the boys keep going despite the fact that they missed several easy chances before, that takes courage,” said McNulty.
LAOIS: E Culliton; K Meaney, C Healy, J Kavanagh; P McMahon, J O'Loughlin, C Boyle (1-0); B Quigley, C Begley (0-2); R Munnelly (0-3), P Clancy (0-1), D O'Connor; B Sheehan (0-1), G Walsh (0-2); C Kelly (0-2, 0-1 free). Subs: P O'Leary for Kavanagh (24 mins); MJ Tierney (0-2, both frees) for O'Connor (31 mins); D Strong for McMahon (59 mins); D Conway for Kelly (61 mins); D O'Connor for Sheehan (69 mins).
LEITRIM: C McCrann; P Maguire, F McMorrow, C Clarke (0-1); A Wynne, E Williams, D Beck; D Sweeney, S Moran; G Hickey, E Mulligan (0-6, frees), P Brennan; R Cox (0-2), J Glancy, K Conlon (1-2). Subs: R Lowe for Moran (58 mins); C Ryan for Brennan (58 mins); B McDonald for Conlon (63 mins); K Conlon for Glancy (65 mins).
Referee: R Hickey(Clare).
