IAN O'RIORDANlistens to the managers give their takes on the drawn encounter
ALL SMILES in the Press Room under the Cusack Stand.
Whatever about the quality of football on display for much of normal time, there was no denying the excitement in extra-time – and relief was the soundtrack to the managers’ quotes afterwards.
“No, I certainly didn’t think it was gone,” said Seán Dempsey of Laois, referring to their position towards the end of both normal and extra time.
“I knew we had time. The lads were after coming from five points down and I felt that the three points wasn’t beyond us once we dug in and could get moving.
“There’s no lack of belief in the dressingroom. We got off to a slow start in the first half and again in the second, I don’t know what I’d put that down to, maybe just that Meath got ahead of us at those stages. Overall, I’m disappointed we didn’t win because we came up here to win the match.”
Having said that, Dempsey seemed happy enough about the replay – confident Laois will win out on Saturday evening: “We’d no challenge match arranged for next weekend so this’ll have to do. And whether it’s Wexford or Dublin it’ll set us up rightly for them.”
Clearly Laois will need to deliver a more consistent 70 minutes: “We were trying to get the perfect ball in but when we started to move it in that bit quicker, we were more effective, particularly when Pádraig Clancy went on. At the other end there were some great defensive block downs, from Cathal Ryan and Cahir Healy.
“It did take the 22 players and we feel we’ve cover for every position on the pitch, and we have people on the sideline that we have no hesitancy putting in.”
Meath’s Eamonn O’Brien was also content with the second chance. “I suppose that we’re relieved that we’re still in there, still standing,” said the Meath manager. “But the effort and endeavour from both teams was excellent. I suppose it would have been a pity if either team had lost, and the fairest result probably was a draw.
“The effort from our lads and the effort from Laois was excellent. For amateur players to be able to play with the intensity that they did for almost 90 minutes is I suppose a mark of the effort they put it. I thought it was wonderful.”
There’s no doubt Meath were in the better position to win: “We were the four or five points ahead, but needed to kick on,” admitted O’Brien. “With that type of lead a goal chance will always leave you not out of reach. A goal puts it back in the melting pot. It’s whoever gets momentum at that stage, and Laois got it today with the goal. We were glad to hold on. That’s disappointing, but there were a lot of tired limbs, in wet conditions. We’ll look at it and see what happened, but this is not a game you can strategise for.
“The players have to do it in the moment themselves, and make it up, or whatever the word is. Do it intuitively. And that’s the way football is. You can’t set out a plan and say it will go exactly to that, some bog plan that I design. It has to happen on the field and in the moment.”
