Laois young guns take toll

Laois 0-17, Westmeath 0-12

Not, of course, because he sets any great store on the O'Byrne Cup, a competition in which he studiously failed to win even a single match until this year.

No, if Micko felt an inner glow, it was because some of Laois' fine young talent is coming to the water. None of the six backs yesterday started last year's Leinster final. Up front, teenage sensation Donie Brennan looks like he'll survive despite the choking pressures of expectation.