Laois hurling manager Niall Rigney offered no excuses for his side in the aftermath of Saturday’s game, as the Portlaoise man feared his team may not be able to get the win they need to remain in the Liam McCarthy Cup.

Speaking after watching his charges go down by eight points to the Ulster side, Rigney feared the winning mentality Laois are lacking at present will be the undoing of them, “Maybe these lads just can’t get past the winning post, maybe it’s something in their heads, that they can’t get by it, that they don’t know how to win in a Laois jersey.”

As for the performance he had just witnessed, the manager admitted his disappointment with what he had just seen, “Things just didn’t work out for us today. We won’t make excuses, they weren’t a good Antrim team, but they had plenty to spare over us, and I’m very disappointed with our performance to be honest.”

“We were well prepared for the game, it’s something I work very hard on doing, is preparation for games. We can’t make excuses, we just didn’t perform. We didn’t perform to the way they were asked to perform or told to perform.”

Looking ahead, Rigney felt the future of this side depended on the players themselves, “That’ll depend on the lads themselves and whether they want to make excuses about today. I had to tell them a few home truths after the game, things I was disappointed about, and I told them and I wasn’t shy about telling them.”

“I’ve great time for these lads, they gave a marvelous effort against Galway, and an equal effort today, but they didn’t do what they were tuned in to do, or at least what I thought I had them tuned in to do.”

Laois now have three weeks to prepare for their biggest game since 2006, when they had to travel to Mullingar to face Westmeath in the exact same scenario. The times may have changes, but Rigney admits the objectives remain the same, “When I met the lads, we had three games to get one win, and now we’re down to the last game and we need a win.”

“If we don’t get it, we’re back down to the Christy Ring and that’s it, we’ll just have to move on and accept it.”

-Leinster Express

Filed under: Laois Hurling