It was a familiar tale of a narrow defeat for Antrim in O’Moore Park on Sunday, but their loss to Laois was a world away from their earlier outings in the League.
The Saffrons have gone toe-to-toe with some of the finest teams in the country and haven’t been found wanting.
They pushed Kilkenny all the way in Nowlan Park, lost by four to Dublin in Corrigan Park and almost drew with Waterford in their last outing.
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Laois ought to have been an opponent of more comparable ability. Yet, as they have done in recent times, Antrim faltered when burdened with the tag of favouritism and they again struggled against Seamus ‘Cheddar’ Plunkett’s side, despite playing with an extra man for 50 minutes.
Jack Kelly picked up a straight red for striking with the hurl after being fouled by Daniel McKernan midway through the first half.
Antrim’s inability to make the extra man count was one of a number of grievances for Darren Gleeson, who bemoaned his side’s poor first half showing.
“We led late on when we had the opportunities to win the game and we didn’t take them,” said Gleeson.
“I suppose the root cause was our first half performance. We set up, we had a plan in place, we didn’t execute it, very poor tracking - we were very loose in the first half.
“We seemed to curl up when the opportunity was there to play and it’s very disappointing. But you have to give credit to Laois.
“They saw where they were going and focused on the match that was there and came and executed it with 14 men.
“Playing against 14 men, our use of the ball wasn’t up to the standard it should be at. It was a very disappointing day. That felt like a relegation final, but it wasn’t.
“That’s coming down the line now and we just have to prepare for it.”
Cha Dwyer’s injury-time point secured a 1-20 to 1-19 win for Laois on a day when the visitors amassed 18 wides.
The Leinster side led by six at the break with Dwyer scoring their goal early in the first half.
A Neil McManus goal following a great solo run from substitute James McNaughton brought Antrim back level inside the closing 10 minutes and they briefly took the lead when wing-back Paddy Burke landed his second point of the contest.
After shipping a couple of heavy defeats to both Kilkenny and Waterford, Laois couldn’t settle for a draw and struck the final two points of the game via substitute PJ Scully and man-of-the-match Dwyer.
Although there is one round of fixtures still to be played on Sunday, March 20, Antrim will be in the Division One relegation play-off at the end of March against either Offaly or All-Ireland champions Limerick.
Despite being frustrated by his side’s display, Gleeson has urged Antrim to pick themselves up and prepare for their vital play-off game later this month.
“It is extremely frustrating when you are watching it,” added Gleeson.
“Numerous unforced errors, turnovers, silly frees given away. It is like all the other games that we didn’t win - they were all in our own hands.
“I think the ability is there, but we’ll have to look at it and go again. We can feel sorry for ourselves now or we can drive on - I’m a ‘drive-on’ kind of person.”
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