’Ugly’ win not enough for unhappy McNulty

Laois manager Justin McNulty admits the underwhelming performance by his charges in scraping over the line against Carlow will not be good enough to progress in the second round of qualifiers.

The hosts were lethargic throughout and had a 20-minute cameo from substitute, Michael John Tierney to thank for edging the victory over a gutsy Carlow outfit.

“We won ugly,” admitted McNulty. “Coming into the game, if you’d have asked us would we take that, we’d have taken your arm right off you. Obviously, (we’re) not happy, not happy at all with the performance. How could we be? But to win under those circumstances in a derby game, you’d have to take it.