Niall Rigney was both delighted and relieved after Laois retained their Liam McCarthy Cup status with an impressive victory over Carlow in last Saturday's promotion/relegation play-off. The Portlaoise man, who is to continue as manager next year, said: "They had a nervy start but the situation we were in it was always going to take that five or 10 minutes to settle. "I stressed it during the week and I stressed it before the game that the start would be vital. We didn't start as well as we would have liked, but when we got the first goal from Willie Hyland's 21 yard free, we seemed to pick up the pace, and goals wins matches." Tweet

Most Read Stories