Laois manager Peter Creedon believes his side lacked the energy to take the fight to Clare after they lost to the Banner county on Saturday in the All-Ireland Football qualifiers.
Goals from Jamie Malone and Keelan Sexton ensured a comfortable winning margin in the end.
It finished 2-18 to 0-14 to the visitors in Portlaoise and Speaking to Off the Ball's Dave McIntyre after the match, Creedon said: "For whatever reason, we seemed to lack a little bit of energy on the field and it's a strange one in some respects in sport, where sometimes teams are putting huge energy into their preparation.
"We had put huge energy into the preparation for this and the lads were expecting a good performance and for whatever reason, I felt we were a bit flat.
"If the players were honest, they probably felt they were a bit flat as well. Clare are a good team and were well able to take advantage of that.
All Ireland SFC Qualifier Rd 2A
Full Time Clare: 2-18(24)
Laois: 0-14(14)— Clare Gaa (@GaaClare) July 1, 2017
Asked whether his team should have picked it up in the second half given that they should have been further behind at the break he said: "We felt if we stayed in the game, stayed a couple of points behind, Donie or Gary or Ross who came on there would have been good to sneak a few scores down the stretch but look, in fairness, they stuck a goal in off a kick-off and John was kind of harshly sent off. After that the game tapered off.
"All I can say today is that Clare were much too good for us and you're correct, even with the sending-off - I think Clare would have still probably had enough for us on the day and we just have to be honest enough to accept that," he added.
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