What will it be: Leinster SFC 1st Round preview … (Leinster Express)
Posted on May 30th, 2007 by Editor
AFTER spending the last six months on a diet of challenge matches, O’Byrne Cup and National League games, the Laois senior footballers will take their first steps into the championship summer this Saturday.
Bank of Ireland Leinster SFC
Steven Miller reports
Already Laois have got their first break of the season with the news that the game will be played in Tullamore and not Longford; the result of that Health and Safety report carried out on O’Connor Park could well be worth a couple of points to Laois given Longford’s good recent displays on their home patch and their poor form on the road in this year’s league.
Exactly how this season will end up for Laois is, as usual at this time of year, hard to know. Will they take a significant stride forward from the last four years and get beyond the All Ireland quarter-finals? Will they take a step back from their current state of stagnation and exit the championship in the qualifiers in some godforsaken provincial ground on a Saturday evening? Will the handful of U-21s on the panel make a name for themselves? Have the stars of 2003 another gear?
For this Laois team, reaching the Leinster final is an absolute necessity, the minimum requirement. The side of the draw they’ve been lucky enough to find themselves on has no Dublin, Meath, Offaly or Kildare and the one team on Laois’ side that has consistently caused the county problems, Westmeath, are already waiting for the qualifiers’ draw. Put simply, anything less than a big day out in Croke Park in July would have to be viewed as a failure (and obvious sign of decline) for Liam Kearns and his team.
For all the football this team has played since 2003, they should have more to show for their efforts than that solitary Leinster title. To get back on the steps of the Hogan Stand this year, the Laois seniors should take example from the U-21s; reach the final without hitting top form and peak for the Leinster final on July 15, more than likely against Dublin.
By now Laois’ league run has been well forgotten and given the extensive injury list that went with them all through the campaign, the team that takes the field in Tullamore on Saturday won’t have lined out at any stage during the spring.
What’s crucial - if Laois are to make progress this year - is that there’s a marked difference in approach from the Micko era. Given that the personnel are going to be almost identical to the last four years, Laois are going to have to be a little bit different this time around.
What’s likely to change? Well, there shouldn’t be as much short passing for one. The likelihood of Brendan Quigley playing full-forward as a target man will mean that Laois should be programmed more towards getting good, direct ball in towards the goal to a player who can win ball and supply it to the likes of Beano and Munnelly, whose own game should benefit from not having to continually scrap for hard ball.
If Laois take the best elements of their play in recent years (ie ball retention) and also add a reasonable long-ball tactic they will make themselves more difficult to play and defend against.
Another thing that Laois should be is more aggressive. There were signs during the O’Byrne Cup and league of Laois showing a hardened edge and last week’s challenge game against Kerry was, by all accounts, a narky game where Laois really stood up to the likes of Darragh O’Se and Paul Galvin.
The probable placing of Tom Kelly at full-back and Darren Rooney at centre-back should significantly change the defence too and, with a good level of organisation, Laois’ back-line should be as good as what is out there.
And that’s where Saturday’s game will be won. With Longford’s defence extremely vulnerable, Laois should be well capable of putting together a match-winning score in the region of 1-13 or 0-15. Their forwards are good though and the Barden brothers, Paul and David, along with last year’s All Star nominee Brian Kavanagh are dangerous and will be a good test of Laois’ newly-constructed defence.
Manager Luke Dempsey will have his side well prepared and his track record against Laois is good. He’ll be confident too that this Longford team is better than the Carlow one he was in charge of in 2004 that gave Laois a very uncomfortable afternoon in Dr Cullen Park and with a 70-minute performance here they could cause another upset.
But, like that game three years ago, Longford are coming off a season in Division 2 and while they’ll see Saturday’s game as their main stumbling block towards a Leinster final, it’s hard to see them playing well enough for long enough to win.
Laois might be tested but they won’t be beaten.
32c
Steven Miller reports
Already Laois have got their first break of the season with the news that the game will be played in Tullamore and not Longford; the result of that Health and Safety report carried out on O’Connor Park could well be worth a couple of points to Laois given Longford’s good recent displays on their home patch and their poor form on the road in this year’s league.
Exactly how this season will end up for Laois is, as usual at this time of year, hard to know. Will they take a significant stride forward from the last four years and get beyond the All Ireland quarter-finals? Will they take a step back from their current state of stagnation and exit the championship in the qualifiers in some godforsaken provincial ground on a Saturday evening? Will the handful of U-21s on the panel make a name for themselves? Have the stars of 2003 another gear?
For this Laois team, reaching the Leinster final is an absolute necessity, the minimum requirement. The side of the draw they’ve been lucky enough to find themselves on has no Dublin, Meath, Offaly or Kildare and the one team on Laois’ side that has consistently caused the county problems, Westmeath, are already waiting for the qualifiers’ draw. Put simply, anything less than a big day out in Croke Park in July would have to be viewed as a failure (and obvious sign of decline) for Liam Kearns and his team.
For all the football this team has played since 2003, they should have more to show for their efforts than that solitary Leinster title. To get back on the steps of the Hogan Stand this year, the Laois seniors should take example from the U-21s; reach the final without hitting top form and peak for the Leinster final on July 15, more than likely against Dublin.
By now Laois’ league run has been well forgotten and given the extensive injury list that went with them all through the campaign, the team that takes the field in Tullamore on Saturday won’t have lined out at any stage during the spring.
What’s crucial - if Laois are to make progress this year - is that there’s a marked difference in approach from the Micko era. Given that the personnel are going to be almost identical to the last four years, Laois are going to have to be a little bit different this time around.
What’s likely to change? Well, there shouldn’t be as much short passing for one. The likelihood of Brendan Quigley playing full-forward as a target man will mean that Laois should be programmed more towards getting good, direct ball in towards the goal to a player who can win ball and supply it to the likes of Beano and Munnelly, whose own game should benefit from not having to continually scrap for hard ball.
If Laois take the best elements of their play in recent years (ie ball retention) and also add a reasonable long-ball tactic they will make themselves more difficult to play and defend against.
Another thing that Laois should be is more aggressive. There were signs during the O’Byrne Cup and league of Laois showing a hardened edge and last week’s challenge game against Kerry was, by all accounts, a narky game where Laois really stood up to the likes of Darragh O’Se and Paul Galvin.
The probable placing of Tom Kelly at full-back and Darren Rooney at centre-back should significantly change the defence too and, with a good level of organisation, Laois’ back-line should be as good as what is out there.
And that’s where Saturday’s game will be won. With Longford’s defence extremely vulnerable, Laois should be well capable of putting together a match-winning score in the region of 1-13 or 0-15. Their forwards are good though and the Barden brothers, Paul and David, along with last year’s All Star nominee Brian Kavanagh are dangerous and will be a good test of Laois’ newly-constructed defence.
Manager Luke Dempsey will have his side well prepared and his track record against Laois is good. He’ll be confident too that this Longford team is better than the Carlow one he was in charge of in 2004 that gave Laois a very uncomfortable afternoon in Dr Cullen Park and with a 70-minute performance here they could cause another upset.
But, like that game three years ago, Longford are coming off a season in Division 2 and while they’ll see Saturday’s game as their main stumbling block towards a Leinster final, it’s hard to see them playing well enough for long enough to win.
Laois might be tested but they won’t be beaten.
Filed under: Laois Football