Laois joy as Royals fall short

The lasting memory of this game, and indeed Seamus McEnaney’s reign as Meath manager, will be the sight of the Corduff man scampering across the pitch to inform his players there were three minutes of additional time.

With neither the fourth official nor the public announcer revealing what was remaining, it was left to McEnaney, donning the “maor foirne” bib, to notify his team they still had time to stage a recovery.

Ultimately, they didn’t, despite Peadar Byrne’s late goal, and to add insult to injury, Meath will likely incur a fine for their manager’s pitch encroachment.

Wexford’s Liam Dunne had surely given McEnaney the idea after donning the high-vis top to communicate with his players earlier in the Leinster SHC. But it had subsequently been outlawed by Central Council.

Fines will mean relatively little to McEnaney and Meath now they are almost certain to go their separate ways in the coming days.

The six-day turnaround will be pointed at for this defeat but that would be an injustice to a Laois team that were cuter and cleverer than their opponents.

Not everything Laois did was by the book. They indulged in systematic fouling, taking turns to stop Meath by hook or by crook.

The foul count of 30-13 against Laois indicated the disparity between the sides’ willingness to participate in the dark arts. Laois picked up eight yellow cards to Meath’s two and were fortunate not to see at least one man sent off.

It’s not that Laois are on their own in this situation; the vast majority of the remaining eight teams in the championship embrace the idea of team fouls. But in front of a 9,140 crowd at O’Connor Park, it was more than apparent that this was their way to go.

They were the better team, undoubtedly, and with a fourth consecutive win, they face Dublin with a degree of confidence.

Laois manager Enda McNulty admitted it’s been a huge turnaround from their early exit out of the Leinster championship in May.

“Coming home the evening Longford beat us, it was difficult to see us in this position, but the team kept believing and kept working hard,” he said.

“When you get a group of guys together with that belief, it is amazing what you can achieve.”

Laois took full advantage of the significant wind factor they had in the opening half. They may have kicked five wides but they led by seven at the break, 1-9 to 0-5.

While the opening 10 minutes saw tit-for-tat scores, Laois opened the shoulders thereafter, Meath only scoring another two points for the remainder of the half via Brian Farrell frees.

Laois posted three scores without reply in four minutes and a goal followed in the 25th minute when David Gallagher fouled Colm Kelly after the forward had made himself a nuisance in forcing the goalkeeper to fumble the ball.

Ross Munnelly, who was limping after the game, stepped up to take the penalty and slotted it home, having already kicked three points. Two Colm Kelly points against another Farrell free gave Laois a sizeable cushion at the break, which McNulty readily acknowledged.

“We had a great start and we had a handsome lead at half-time. You would have to give great credit to Meath who fought back at us in the second half.

“They got a few scores and only for some stern defending, they could have stolen it. We are just happy to get the win and I felt that we deserved the win.”

That they certainly did but McNulty’s men won this game in the opening five minutes of the second half, when they put up another three points.

Billy Sheehan had a goal chance with his run through but pointed and he was followed by further scores by Munnelly and Padraig Clancy.

“There was a period in the second half where they scored three or four points — that was a crucial period,” admitted Seamus McEnaney.

“There was plenty of time for us to recover. We should have kept chipping away with points. It was disappointing that we didn’t float the last few balls in on top of Joe and see if we could get a goal.”

Ten points down, four Meath points without answer cut the deficit to six before Colm Begley arrested it. A couple of MJ Tierney scores, one of them a delightful kick from play, kept Meath beyond touching distance before Byrne’s goal, a twice-deflected shot following a bamboozling array of hand-passes.

That was it, though. Their plot to foil Laois a last-eight spot was too little and too late.

McNulty afterwards dismissed Laois were now among the elite after reaching the quarter-finals.

“I don’t necessarily agree because we had a handy enough draw and we haven’t met any of the big guns up to now.

“Monaghan were a bit of a big gun, but Meath were the first real big guns we met so the draw favoured us. I don’t think the quarter-finals is as far as Meath can go. We are there to compete. We have very little time to recover ahead of next week. We are there to compete.”

Scorers for Laois: R Munnelly 1-4 (1-0 pen, 1f), P Clancy, C Kelly (1 45), MJ Tierney (1f) 0-2 each, D Strong, B Quigley, D O’Connor, B Sheehan, C Begley 0-1 each.

Scorers for Meath: B Farrell 0-8fs, P Byrne 1-0, M Burke, G Reilly, E Harrington, S Bray (f) 0-1 each.

Subs for Laois: D Conway for Walsh (49), MJ Tierney for Kelly (52), P McMahon for Sheehan (58), P Cahillane for Conway (inj 63).

Subs for Meath: P Byrne for Forde (21), E Harrington for Keogan (inj 26), J Queeney for Ward (46), T Walsh for Carroll (51), M Collins for Gillespie (58).

Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan).