"We will keep playing go forward football and we won’t be sitting back" - Laois boss Billy Sheehan

Laois football manager Billy Sheehan saw his side caught at the death in their Division three league encounter against Antrim on Saturday night but admitted after the game that you have to take the rough with the smooth claiming that both teams had chances to win the game.

"Every point is important. Overall, we have to be fair about things, they came back and got the score when we thought we had it won but a draw was probably a fair result in the end.

"They had opportunities in the first half that they didn’t take and we had opportunities in the second half that we didn’t take. You have to take the good with the bad and we will rock on to next Saturday."

When quizzed if he would have taken a draw before the game, Sheehan wasted no time in replying that the don't set out to draw, they want to win every game.

"100 percent no. We were beaten by Dublin and Westmeath this year but we thought we would win the games. We don’t settle for draws. We got a draw and we have just got to take it.

 "The lads are great and they are giving me everything. People might say that’s easy to say but they are. They stuck at it tonight and came forward for what looked like the winning point.

"In fairness to our boys, we didn’t drop back against the wind and we scored 1-4 against it.  They only got two points playing against it. We also felt Gary (Walsh) could have got a penalty in the first half.

"We will keep playing go forward football and we won’t be sitting back."

There was drama at the end as Matthew Byron kicked what looked like being the winning score only for Antrim to come down the field and kick a leveller after they took a quick free and Ryan Murray slotted the ball over the bar to force the draw.

"They kept going and that’s all I can ask of the lads. Matthew stood up at the end. He played well and stepped up and kicked a great free. It is great to have him there along with Danny Bolger and Niall Corbet in competition.

"We were really disciplined. I think we turned them over something like 15 times. Unfortunately, mentally, we slipped up at the end and they kicked the score.

Laois battle hard but stung at the death by Antrim equaliser

Referee Niall McKenna was a central figure in the game and Laois certainly came out the wrong side of some questionable calls. Evan O'Carroll in particular came in for strong attention from the Antrim rearguard and Sheehan was adamant that his charges are not a team that go down soft and play for frees before going on to explain that he thought O'Carroll in particular should have got more frees in the game.

"Evan is not a player that will do down, we don’t want any of our players going down, that’s not acceptable. Every time we felt there was contact with him, the first player that was marking him wasn’t brought back on (after black card) due to the fact there was five direct fouls on him. I think there was another six in the second half. That’s 11 fouls and I’d say we only got four frees from them."

Laois now move on to play Fermanagh on Saturday in their rescheduled round three game that was due to take place last weekend.

Kelly's wonder goal earns Crettyard draw with Park Ratheniska in Kelly cup

KELLY CUP ROUND 2