Laois manager John Sugrue was pleased with his side’s attitude in the second half of their win over Down in Newry on Saturday night as they turned a five-point deficit early in the second half into a six-point win.
Laois trailed by 0-10 to 0-5 shortly after half time but goals from Colm Murphy and Paul Cahillane, a fine individual performance from Evan O’Carroll and the introduction of Donie Kingston and Colm Begley changed the game in Laois’s favour.
“A lot of good input from a lot of players tonight,” he said speaking afterwards as they got their Allianz Football League Division 3 campagn off to the ideal start.
“Some guys who’ve come back into the panel after a few years away. Some lads who’ve started for the first time in a while. Overall (I’m) happy with the squad effort.”
Referencing the half-time switches that saw Begley and Kingston come in for debutant Adam Campion and Damien O’Connor, Sugrue said an overall change in attitude was key to Laois getting on top.
“We had to change things up because we weren’t getting (from Down) what we expected as to how they set things up. So that’s part of it. You have to be able to adapt. The boys to be fair to them adapted very well and they really went at Down in the second half.
“As much as anything, maybe our attitude changed. Maybe we brought a bit more aggression and a bit more directness to our play.
“They came on and we changed shape at the same time. The boys do add the impetus. They have experience and quality. There’s no doubting that.
“Maybe the change of shape and the introduction of the two guys turned the tide a little bit. Lots of guys worked very hard out there and lots of guys who upped the ante in the second half in terms of aggression and tackling.
“We were probably a little bit slack in the first half. We expected something slightly different out of Down tonight and I’d say hand on heart it took us until half time to set up a bit better.
“I think at half time, they had one from play, two marks and the rest were frees. We gave away a lot of soft frees in that first half.”
While Down started the game as slight favourites and overall favourites to win the division, the Laois boss wasn’t reading too much into that.
“Favourites are decided by bookies and generally bookies don’t know a whole pile about football so I wouldn’t take much notice of favourites,” he added.
“Our job is to come up and try and get two points and thankfully we’ve managed that. We’ve mission accomplished tonight. (But) we’ve six more rounds left – it’s a long journey. This is day one.”
With Louth up next week in Croke Park (Laois losing home advantage for breaking the training ban last April), and Sligo in O’Moore Park the following weekend, Sugrue knows he’s going to need to use his full panel.
“This is a squad game. We have to go out and try and get as many fellas playing as we can. Keep the squad fresh. Lads are travelling a lot. They’re working during the week so we need as many legs as we can.
“There are lads in Laois who are mad to play and have a bit of quality about them. Shane (Nerney), Robbie (Pigott) and Colm (Murphy, Sean Byrne, Adam Campion came in.
“They’re guys that are putting their hands up for jerseys. We can’t deny them that.
“We came up here with a goal in mind and they stayed working towards that for the full game. That’s all we can ask for.
“Another tough test next week. Division 3 is going to be tougher than Division 4 naturally enough. We’ve to keep our eye on the ball.”
Looking forward to Croke Park, Sugrue added with only a slight touch of sarcasm: “It’s great. Ourselves and the Dubs are sharing it now apparently. I wouldn’t refuse it. It’s not a bad field!”
“It’s a good focus point for both teams. Louth will relish it too. We have to play our game, try and get our two points if we can and we got to bring the right intensity and right mindset to that game.”
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