You can’t say ex-Laois manager Mike Quirke didn’t go out with a bang

"Do you think that affects me more than the hurt that we feel in the dressing room? Do you honestly think that?"

Tempers normally fly high after games, especially when the side you're managing is on the losing end. Players get the brunt of it normally, but every now and again, a journalist maybe asks the wrong question, or doesn't get their point across quickly enough and it just tips the manager's already bubbling cauldron of frustration over the edge. After being beaten comfortably by Westmeath in the first round of the Leinster Championship, Midlands reporter Jack Nolan wanted to tell Laois manager, Mike Quirke, a particular statistic from the match, and it didn't exactly go down well. "We have a stats man back in Laois who keeps the stats and he just Tweeted there, that this is the worst Laois second half performance since 1909..." "What do you want me to say to that?" interrupted Quirke.

"Do you think I don't understand that Jack? Do you think some fella on Twitter saying something, do you think that affects me more than the hurt that we feel in the dressing room? "Do you honestly think that? Can I ask you that question? You're talking to me about something on Twitter, I couldn't give a flying fiddlers what's on Twitter.

"What I care about, is the players in the dressing room, and I know what we have invested into this as management and players. "We haven't got our reward, because we haven't been good enough. Do I know why? No, no I don't. "I know how good we were in the first half and I know how bad we were in the second half. If we knew why, by Christ I would try and do more of what we were doing in the first half. "We've done everything we can and it hasn't worked out, but telling me something on Twitter, saying it was the worst performance of all time, is about as insignificant to me today as it could possibly be." When asked about the fact that they only managed two points in the second half, Quirke's response was simple and swift.

"Pathetic. Whatever word you want to use, it was not good and we understand that. We put in as much as we could into the first half, and tried to replicate that as best we could in the second half.

"For whatever reason, we were unable to do it." Mike Quirke also announced yesterday that he is stepping away from his role as Laois Senior Football manager. In a statement released by Laois GAA, the Kerryman said he made the decision in order to give the county board ample time to find his successor.