The time is right for us to make history

WE HAD the luxury of naming an unchanged Championship 15 for the first time since I came to Laois ahead of tomorrow’s Croke Park sell-out.

But in most other areas, the Laois footballers have evolved considerably since their first Leinster title success against Kildare in 2003.

The personnel has changed to some degree, as have expectations among the squad.

There was the difficult experience of losing a Leinster final last year to contend with and being well beaten in the qualifiers by Tyrone. The latter setbacks were indirectly responsible for last winter's problems, but the 30-man panel for tomorrow has given complete and total commitment.

That has brought an O'Byrne Cup success and a third Leinster final appearance in-a-row. More importantly, though, it has exorcised the demons of last summer and proved to everyone in the camp that they now belong on the upper rungs of football's championship ladder.

I'm sure many thought I'd walk away after last season, that I couldn't take Laois any further. I never agreed. We played three Championship games in 14 days and lost injured players at a freakish rate culminating with Beano McDonald's broken leg against Tyrone.

But once I satisfied myself that the players' own pride had been hurt, the right decision was to regroup and re-emerge. Didn't Kerry suffer complete humiliation in the All-Ireland semi-final to Meath in 2001? But they made the finals of 2002 and 2003, and won back their All-Ireland last year. Quitting is not an option down there, and it has never been for me.

We've already made staggering progress. I didn't expect to win Leinster two seasons ago, but defeating Meath, Dublin and Kildare on the way meant that three more psychological hurdles had been overcome.

This year, the defeat of Offaly - irrespective how lucky it was was another psychological barrier dealt with. So, does anyone think that the Laois players are going to be fazed by the din on Hill 16 tomorrow.

The gradual player evolution has been helped by regulars holding their end up in other positions such as Joe Higgins at corner-back, Noel Garvan and Pauric Clancy at midfield. Darren Rooney has been a godsend at full-back, while the introduction of McMahon and Begley in defence, Sheehan and Brennan in attack has allowed a phased changing of the guard.

Success came too soon for the class of 2003, I am convinced of that. Two years on, there is a nice-looking blend of youth and experience and everyone is aware there is one more blot to erase in Leinster the fact we've never beaten the Dubs in a provincial final. Three attempts, three losses.

The winning and losing of it? Well, I'm encouraged by the form of Clancy and Garvan in training. You cannot escape the conclusion that their battle with Ciaran Whelan and Shane Ryan will tell a tale. 'Beano' McDonald is still working his way back how I dearly hope we're still involved in a month's time when he should really be back at full throttle.

It'll be some bun-fight, with 80,000 witnesses, but it's not the only show in town. Anyone who fancies a punt at the bookies might be tempted to check the odds on a draw in the Qualifier between Derry and Limerick in Castlebar. It has the look of a battle of wills between Derry's insistence that they are more than a Muldoon-Bradley support act and Limerick's sense that they are drinking in the last chance saloon.

They regained their equilibrium with the defeat of Carlow. Now they have no on-the-rebound-from-Kerry excuse. If they can hold the Derry duo up front, they may score a psychologically important win which will bring them one step away from the quarter finals.

Speaking of which, there's every chance that the beaten Leinster finalists could end up playing the Ulster champions in the last eight.

Another reason to create Laois history tomorrow