Laois can maintain dominance over Kerry if midfield click

THE clash of Kerry and Laois in the first of the All-Ireland MFC semi-finals at Croke Park tomorrow is the first meeting between these counties since 1996 when they met in the final.

Victory went to the O'Moore County that year for the first time with a team that included Brian McDonald, Noel Garvan, Kevin Fitzpatrick, Chris Conway and Stephen Kelly, all of whom were members of this year's senior team which won the Leinster title for the first time since 1946. Kerry's team that year included current seniors Aodán MacGearailt, Mike McCarthy, Tomás Ó Sé and Ian Twiss. Laois won the Tomás Markham Cup for the first time on a 2-11 to 1-11 scoreline.

This year's Laois team are said to be exceptionally talented and coach Seán Dempsey doesn't deny it. "While losing the Leinster final to Dublin was a huge setback, we managed to recover well and beating Tyrone, who were fancied in many quarters this year, was just the lift we needed. We played both Tyrone and Cork in challenge games earlier in the year and I rated Cork slightly the better team. So when we met the Ulster team in the championship I was reasonably confident we could take them.