Aussie break for Laois skipper Parkinson

Brendan O’Brien

His decision is a serious blow to Mick O'Dwyer's plans Parkinson has been in superb form for his club in the run to Sunday week's All-Ireland semi-final against Crossmaglen.

In Laois, the club champions nominate a county skipper, but Parkinson says his Australian plans were made abundantly clear before Christmas. With the Portlaoise contingent of Laois players training separately on the same nights as their county colleagues, contact between the two camps has been virtually non-existent in the past three months.

Laois selector Declan O'Loughlin admitted that the Laois management was not 100% sure what Parkinson's intentions were, but accepted that the likelihood was the player would not be sticking around.

"We don't know for sure what Colm's plans are," said O'Loughlin.

"Micko hasn't been told anything, but from what I hear it looks like Colm will be leaving.

"There hasn't been a whole lot of contact between the Portlaoise lads and Laois, but they're training away for a crack at an All-Ireland title and we respect that. They have our full support and we look forward to them coming back after the club campaign is over."

Although Parkinson's decision to opt out of the O'Moore County's championship campaign will be criticised in some quarters, he has been backed up by his club and county colleague Kevin Fitzpatrick.

"'Woolly' got a bit of a taste for the travelling over the Christmas when he was off in south-east Asia for six weeks," said Fitzpatrick. "He's been planning this trip for the last few months, saying all along that he was going as soon as Portlaoise's season was over. He's done a bit of travelling and he has the opportunity to go and do what he wants to do. People shouldn't hassle him over that."

The relationship between Parkinson and O'Dwyer has never been smooth. Twelve months ago, the former minor All-Ireland winner was dropped from the squad along with club-mates Colm Byrne and Martin Delaney after the trio missed a training session though all three returned shortly afterwards.

Byrne was subsequently dropped after the Leinster final draw with Westmeath, while Delaney's only championship involvement proved to be as a late substitute in the replay which they lost to the same opponents.

In Parkinson's absence, it remains to be seen who takes over as Laois captain for the year. Portlaoise still have the right to nominate and Kevin Fitzpatrick is the nominated vice-captain.

Noel Garvan stood in as skipper for the O'Byrne Cup final win over Westmeath last month, while goalkeeper Fergal Byron will take the armband at least until Portlaoise's season comes to an end.