Laois senior football boss John Sugrue paid tribute to forward Evan O’Carroll following Sunday’s win over Carlow.
The Crettyard man lost his dad Micheal in the week leading up to the game but came off the bench and played a key role as Laois ground out the win.
O’Carroll kicked a point and won several frees for Laois in what Sugrue described as a ‘fitting tribute’ to his dad.
He said: “Tough day for Evan but that fella has been standing up inside in the dressing room this year and doing a big job for us.
“He has had an injury or two which has set him back but please god he will be challenging hard for a Leinster final place.
“It is a great sign of a man, a great sign of the steel inside of a fella. I think it was a fitting tribute to his Dad that he came out and finished the game for us.”
Looking back at the game itself, Sugrue revealed he was just thrilled to get the win.
He said: “Happy overall to be into a Leinster final. Happy to have gotten ourselves through that game.
“It wasn’t pretty for long stretches of that game but we managed to get through it. They are hard opponents to play against so we are happy.
“I don’t think anyone in the country can look at Carlow and say that they don’t know what is coming. If they do, then they are not looking at the game properly.
“It took a long time to break them down and it took a long time to get our few scores ahead. At times in the second half, they got a little bit close for comfort.
“But we’ve got another game in Leinster and we wanted to stay in this for as long as we could.”
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