Saturday, March 29, 2008
IT HASN’T been a rewarding league for the Laois footballers. They’re still hunting a victory, and tonight’s clash with All-Ireland champions Kerry doesn’t seem an encouraging place to get your first win.
Tough enough with a full side, but for Laois manager Liam Kearns, this spring has been all about trying to replace the core of the team.
"We’ve lost seven or eight very experienced players since the start of the year," says Kearns. "Some of those might have been expected — Fergal Byron was 34, for instance, and you couldn’t expect him to go on forever, but the critical ones were probably Tom Kelly and Joe Higgins.
"Obviously Joe has come back to the panel, but he hadn’t been available up to this, and losing him, Fergal, Chris Conway, Ian Fitzgerald and Kevin Fitzpatrick didn’t help. They all played in the Leinster final win in 2003 and were a huge loss, so we were faced with rebuilding a team, basically. And doing that in Division One."
Not only did Kearns lose some experienced men, he lost some big men. The combined loss in both strength and nous has cost Laois dearly in the closing stages of games.
"I’d be very happy with the performances so far, if we’d had a bit of luck, we could have four or five points on the table. We’ve been level with every team we’ve played so far going into the last 10 minutes — Tyrone beat us going into added time, we drew with Mayo and had the chances to win that one, while the only game we left ourselves down was against Derry. We were level going into the last 10 minutes but managed to lose by six points.
"That was the one game I wouldn’t be happy with, but considering we’ve a new goalkeeper, a new full back, a new centre back, a new midfielder, a new centre forward and a new full forward, it’s not too bad.
"We’ve moved Brendan Quigley from midfield into full forward and Kevin Meaney has come into midfield; John O’Loughlin, who’s 19, and Cahir Healy, who’s 21, have effectively replaced Tom Kelly and Joe Higgins in the backline.
"Taking all that into account, we’re fairly happy with the performances. We’re playing the best teams in the country and what’s probably killing us is inexperience coming down the stretch."
It’s not all bad news. If the worst comes to the worst, Kearns sees some good company in the next tier down.
"If we’re relegated to Division Two, it’s not the end of the world. Look at the teams there already — Dublin, Cork, Meath, three of the teams which contested the All-Ireland semi-finals. It’s not the end of the world if we go down there providing we’re making progress, but we feel if we win tonight, we may avoid the drop.
"We have to travel to Donegal, and that’ll be a tough game, but we’ve a home game against Kildare in our last match, and maybe five points will keep us up. But the main thing I’m looking for is a performance against the calibre of players my lads will meet this evening."
Coming up against his native county is nothing new to Kearns, who brought Limerick within a fingertip of the Munster championship.
"I’ve coached against Kerry plenty of times," says Kearns. "Limerick beat them in the league one time but we didn’t beat them when it counted, in the Munster final. That’s what we were aiming for and we didn’t quite do that. We played them in the semi-final of Division One the year we drew with them in the championship, and they beat us by a point that day as well.
"They’re the best around, I think that’s generally accepted. While their forward line doesn’t look to be at full strength, with Darragh Ó Sé coming back, that looks like their full team, up to number nine anyway, the All-Ireland-winning team. Then again, they’ve won nearly all their matches with the forward line they’ve been putting out. Kerry are Kerry."
As a Kerryman, Kearns knows all about expectancy. It’s not as much of a burden in the midlands.
"Expectancy in Laois probably related to the team of Mick O’Dwyer’s era. When I went up there, I didn’t really think I’d be building a team, I thought the bulk of that team would be around for another three years or so.
"Now last year we gave the experienced guys a shot in the Leinster final and against Derry in the qualifiers, and we came up short, so there was going to have to be changes anyway to improve things. But that didn’t include losing the likes of Tom Kelly and Joe Higgins, obviously. Still, that’s the reality of our situation now. I’m delighted Joe is back and I haven’t given up on Tom Kelly either — the door is open to him if he changes his mind."
Kelly would be a welcome addition to the Laois dressing room. Big midfielder Noel Garvan is recovering from an ankle operation and is on a rehab programme aimed to bring him back for the championship, two months away. Ross Munnelly has a nagging hamstring problem, while Michael John Tierney will have a fitness test later today: "He’s very important to us, obviously, he’s one of the better free-takers in the country," says Kearns. "Brian McCormack got three points for us against Tyrone but he’s in Shanghai at a family wedding."
The manager’s staying positive. "My players are looking forward to the game tonight," says Kearns. "They haven’t been found wanting against any of the teams we’ve played, and we’re looking forward to playing the All-Ireland champions in our own backyard. If you didn’t look forward to that, what would you look forward to?"
* NFL Division 1: Laois v Kerry, Portlaoise, 7.30pm.
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