LAOIS BOSS MIKE Quirke described their second-half display as ‘horrendous’ and ‘pathetic’ as they exited the 2021 championship yesterday at the Leinster quarter-final stage.
Laois lost out 3-20 to 1-10 against Westmeath in Tullamore, largely due to the drop in standards in the second half.
They had been in front 1-8 to 0-10 at the break but only scored 0-2 in the second half and conceded 3-10 to record an emphatic defeat.
Midlands Sport / SoundCloud
“It was horrendous, yeah,” admitted Quirke when speaking to Midlands 103 after the game.
“Very good first-half, played very well. Probably should have been in a much stronger position than we were. Still felt we were in a good position, very similar to Down a couple of weeks ago. Had done well in the first half and never played at all in the second half.
“It was a big scoreline at the end, they ran over us, they ran through us. The sending-off didn’t help obviously in the last quarter but the game was slipping away from us even at that stage.”
The paltry scoring total stood out as the most glaring issue in the Laois display and it capped a disappointing season as they got relegated to Division 3 of the league.
“Pathetic, whatever word you want to use, it was not good and we understand that.
“The bottom line lads is it wasn’t good enough. We haven’t been good enough all year. That’s as a management, as players, everybody is the one collective. It’s not their fault, our fault. None of us have been good enough in what we’ve tried to do.
“What I care about is the players in the dressing-room and I know what we’ve invested into this as a management and players, and we haven’t got our reward because we haven’t been good enough.
“Do I know why? No I don’t. I know how good we were in the first half and how bad we were in the second half. If we knew why, by Christ I would try and do more of what we’re doing in the first half. We’ve done everything we can and it hasn’t worked out.”
You can listen to the full interview here.
– First published 06.30, 5 July
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
