Mick Lillis said Laois can take "green shoots" of optimism from their 2-21 to 2-10 defeat to Dublin after a stirring second-half rally in Nowlan Park.
The Dubs absolutely scorched out of the traps, with Dean Rock goaling after just 11 seconds and Diarmuid Connolly rippling the net again four minutes later.
A total annihilation looked on the cards when John O’Loughlin saw red after tangling with Michael Darragh Macauley on 27 minutes, but Laois regrouped at the break and produced a commendable display in the second period, with Paul Cahillane and Stephen Attride notching maximums to give the scoreline some respectability.
“We’re disappointed," Lillis told RTÉ Sport afterwards. "We didn’t come down to make up the numbers. We came down to give a real good account of ourselves.
"In the second half I think we did that in difficult circumstances, with a man short. In the first half we were poor, particularly at the start. It wasn’t the start we had planned for and it put us on the back foot big time.
"We came down to give a real good account of ourselves."
“We played a lot of good football in the second half. Our ball retention was good. Getting the ball successfully into the inside line was very difficult because they had the numerical advantage in there and they’re all good defenders, but we gave a decent account of ourselves.
"It doesn’t mean we’re happy to lose, but at least we’re happy to come out of the game saying, ‘ok there are some green shoots maybe and we can play ball’."
Jim Gavin praised his side's composure when Laois came out all guns blazing. The All-Ireland-winning manager is taking their title defence one step at a time as Dublin look to build towards another glorious September.
“It was a very comprehensive first-half performance," he said. "We expected Laois to come back hard at us, which they did in the second half, but I think we rallied well and closed the game out well.
"Laois got a lot of bodies behind the ball and they broke hard against us. They’ve got quality players. We know they can punish you if they get space which they did.
“We’re just happy to be through to the Leinster semi-final.”
