Michael Maher 'devastated' after London agonisingly bow out of Tailteann Cup

London manager Michael Maher was "devastated" after his side just missed out on a place in the Tailteann Cup knockout stages.

A strong second-half showing against Laois on Saturday was ultimately foiled as a late point from Niall Corbet denied London victory, and sent them out of the competition as they finished bottom of Group 1.

A win would have put London third and into the preliminary quarter-finals at Laois' expense but it wasn't to be and, speaking to RTÉ Sport at full-time, Maher admitted he was crestfallen.

"The game was in the palm of our hands and same emotions as last year. We were there with 30 seconds to go and then all of a sudden you're not there. I'm just devastated is the only way to describe it," he said.

Maher outlined the less than ideal build-up London had contended with leading into the Tailteann Cup.

"We're training on a rugby pitch most of the year and it's only when the clocks go back (that) we get to train on a football pitch," he said.

"And the difference it's made to us in the last six weeks... we were five weeks without a game in the run-up to Offaly and we under-performed, understandably so. No team would be up to speed at that stage and the improvement to Cavan was serious and the improvement from Cavan again to today... look, I thought we were the better team in the second half.

"I thought we had the game wrapped up and had we kept the ball or had that ball gone over the bar, I think it's game over.

"I'm really proud of the guys. It's just now can the county drive on and go to the next level and be in a position to really compete all the way through the year?"

Laois manager Billy Sheehan admitted his side were a touch fortunate to escape with a second draw of the group stage.

"We were lucky in the