Darren Strong brought a decade of service with the Laois footballers to an end in January, but thoughts of the county jersey couldn’t help but continue to invade his thoughts.

LAOIS hurlers got the short straw when they were paired with Cork in the opening game in the All-Ireland qualifier series on Saturday week, with team manager Brendan Fennelly admitting that “the only consolation” was a home game in Portlaoise.