"We’re disappointed, we have to lift ourselves again and drive on"- Laois' Willie Maher after Carlow draw

Laois and Carlow had to settle for a point apiece on Saturday as a late Martin Kavanagh penalty ensured that the sides finished level at 1-22 each. It was a disappointing day for Laois as they twice held comfortable leads of six points in the first-half and seven-points in the second period, but could never put Carlow to bed.

Willie Maher reflected on the game as they go in search of finishing in the Rop-2 spots of the Joe McDonagh Cup.

"Very disappointed not to win the match. It feels like a defeat at the moment."

Carlow's late penalty was a dubious call and none of the Laois players knew what the foul was for as Laois had possession and looked to have claimed the victory.

"I’ll do the Arsene Wenger on it, I’ll say I didn’t see the penalty. The reaction inside is that it wasn’t a penalty. Very disappointed with that decision and a couple of others. Look that’s sport, you get on with it. As I said, the lads gave us everything when went to 14 men and to go three points up in injury time on a day where we weren’t scoring that freely, we missed a couple of chances in the first half as well so look we’re disappointed but we have to lift ourselves again and drive on."

The draw yesterday means that Laois have won one, lost one and drawn one out of the first three rounds. They have to play Kildare in two weeks' time while a trip to Tralee awaits Laois in the final round to play Kerry.

"It’s the nature of the McDonagh Cup in regards to the quality of the teams that are in it. Everyone is in and around the same level so the games can go anyway at any time. Carlow is a very difficult place to come and play in. We’re still alive to an extent, win our next two games and see can we put ourselves in a position to go where we want to go."

There was a major turning-point in the game as Fiachra C Fennell was sent off for two bookable offences in the 52nd minute. His sending-off came during a 20-minute period where Laois failed to register a score.

"The momentum went against us and the sending off was in that period too. They used the ball very well, they had a man in front of our full-forward line which seemed to attract the ball. Our use of the ball wasn’t good going into that area."

Maher made sure to end the interview on a positive as Laois out-hurled Carlow for the last 10 minutes which saw them lead by three-points as the fourth-official raised his board to signal four minutes of add

"I’ll finish on a positive, we worked the ball for the last 10 minutes when we looked like we were out and when we were on the ropes and we were nearly down, but we weren’t and we stayed going. We got three brilliant scores and I think where the Carlow man threw the hurl that wasn’t even a yellow so that’ll tell you about the decisions that went against us. We're still in the race and look we know where we want to get to and if win our next two matches and that might see us through."