Rogers explains Laois refusal

FORMER All-Ireland minor winning captain Craig Rogers has turned down an invitation from manager Justin McNulty to rejoin the Laois senior football panel.

Rogers, 25, was contacted by McNulty on Tuesday but informed the former Armagh defender that he has no interest in a return to inter-county football.

He admitted snubbing the O’Moore County senior set-up was a difficult choice but he was left unhappy with a lack of game-time earlier this year and quit McNulty’s set-up last March.

“I don’t have the interest at the moment. The way things finished up, I don’t have the interest in going back in and I’ll turn it down for the moment. The door is 99% closed where I’m coming from.”

Rogers, a final year student at IT Carlow, is studying for a GAA degree and a ten-week placement next summer may take him abroad.

“The club is the number one concern at the moment – I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on both.

“Justin McNulty rang [Tuesday]. He asked me was I interested in coming in but it’s not the best idea at the moment. It’s great to get the call and ultimately I do really want to play for Laois.

“But the way things finished, I’m still a bit sour over the thing. And it’s a massive year for Portlaoise. We’re trying to do as well as we can and dividing my commitments is not the best way to go.”

Rogers, who had been a Laois senior since 2007, recalled: “I was in a situation where I thought I should be playing and involved but they [Laois management] thought differently.

“If I wasn’t in their plans for their style of play, it was better to go back to Portlaoise rather than staying on the bench and getting no football at all.”

Rogers, who admitted the call from McNulty took him by surprise, revealed: “To be honest, I had thought in the last couple of weeks that if I did get a call, that I’d turn it down.

“You always want to play for your county and better yourself but I’m better off to turn it down and stay with Portlaoise.

“We’re doing alright. Obviously our ambition is to go as far as we can. We’ve let ourselves down badly in the last two years and there are scores we want to settle. And it’s important to the players involved that we do it for the late Peter McNulty. And it’s hard to go from a set-up like that, having your best friends and people so close, into the county.

“It’s difficult to go from one to another and be successful in both. But it’s a brutal hard decision. I said no for now but the way Justin operates, he considers that a no and if I have any interest in going back, I have to contact him.

“I’m 25 now, at an age where you need to push on and do something but I’d need maybe three-four months in the gym, purely building myself up to get to where I’d want to be for intercounty. I’m not strong enough for that at the moment and there’s no point doing the winter training if I’m not getting any stronger and only half-fulfilling my potential.”