It is not everyday a manager has the luxury of taking off his captain with a game sewn up at half-time. Then again, not every team scores four goals in one half of a Championship semi-final, but that’s what transpired for Pierce Laverty and Down boss Conor Laverty at Croke Park on Sunday.
Indeed, the Saul clubman watched on as his colleagues bagged another four goals past a rudderless Laois side, winning 8-16 to 2-12 to set up a Tailteann Cup final meeting with Meath on Saturday, July 15.
After a first half brace, Liam Kerr completed his hat-trick early in the second half while Danny Magill helped himself to two goals with Pat Havern, Odhran Murdock and Rory Mason also hitting the net.
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Despite many Down players making their first appearance in Croke Park, Laverty felt the open spaces of HQ suited the Mournemen.
"It's an unbelievable feeling. For such a young group and so many of the group, including myself, it was our first day out in Croke Park, so to get a win like that there on your first day in Croke Park is hard to beat,” said Laverty.
"That's some going for your first day out. We've pace to burn in our team, the likes of Liam Kerr, big Odhran Murdock, Danny Magill, Ryan Johnston - their athleticism is unbelievable.
"I found that there was quite a lot of space out in Croker there and it suited our team down to the ground.
"With the pace we have, we can break and catch teams on the counter-attack and we did that.
“We knew Laois have more experience of Croke Park, we knew they like to kick the ball, and at times they did kick the ball they got joy out of it. We were trying to put pressure on the ball coming in and if we did that then we were in good shape to win the game."
Laverty knows things won’t be as straight-forward when they lock horns with Meath in the decider.
The Royals had to hold off a stubborn fightback from Antrim to prevail by two points in Sunday’s first semi-final and Colm O’Rourke’s side also defeated Down in the group stage.
"They beat us that day in Parnell Park and they absolutely deserved to win that game,” added Laverty.
“We'll put our work in over the next three weeks and put ourselves in a good position to win the game.
“We probably wanted to be a bit more compact at the back in the second half and not leak as many scores.
"We scored eight goals and whatever but we still conceded 2-12. We want to be limiting that to no goals and probably below 10 points for the next game.”
Meanwhile, Billy Sheehan is set to ponder his future as Laois manager.
The O’Moore men were hit for 4-2 inside the first 17 minutes and failed to score from play in the first half and conceded a further four goals in the second half, eventually losing 8-16 to 2-12.
Kevin Swayne and Mark Barry (penalty) tagged on goals for Laois, but they offered no consolation on a bleak afternoon for Sheehan’s side.
“I spoke to the county board a couple of months ago. I have three kids, eleven, nine and six, and this is probably taking up 50-60 hours of my time every week but I will do what is best for Laois football. It never has been about me,” stated Sheehan.
“I’ll sit down with the players but I know where my situation is and I know where Laois football is.
"The narrative out there is going to be, ‘get rid of the management’ but the management, including Chris Conway, Tommy Mulligan, Gerry McGill and Paddy Dunne, they will all do what is right for Laois.
“Let’s leave the dust to settle but I can guarantee people that the right thing will be done for Laois going forward.”
He added: “The buck stops with the management and it doesn’t stop with anyone else. It stops with me.
“I wouldn’t throw a sleight at any of the players. It stops with the management and that’s what needs to look at themselves first.”
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