Cork wary of ‘unknown quantity’ Laois

CHAMPIONS Cork put their TG4 ladies football title on the line in O’Connor Park, Tullamore this afternoon in the first of the All-Ireland semi-finals.

Opposing them is a Laois team which impressed last week with their emphatic win over Monaghan, on the same day that Galway dismissed League runners-up Meath in a replay.

Appropriately, the semi-finals will involve the four provincial champions.

Laois are managed by Pat Critchley, a former county hurler who also had two stints as senior team manager. He was persuaded to help out with the Timahoe ladies team — where a lot of past pupils from the school where he teaches, Scoil Criost Rí in Portlaoise, are involved. From there, he was encouraged to take over the county team this season.

Too much shouldn’t be read into their 4-11 to 2-7 victory in the quarter-final, he says.

“Monaghan are not as strong a force as they previously were. They are in transition,’’ he explained. “And, even though we had a big score we weren’t clinical enough.

“It will be a big step-up playing Cork. We would need to play a lot better if we are to have hopes of winning.’’

En route, Laois beat Meath twice in Leinster, as well as Kildare, but lost to Dublin in their opening game. “We have a lot of younger players as well as a few experienced players like Bernie Deegan, Angela Casey, Kay O’Reilly and Mary Kirwan.

“We were determined to get out of Division Two this year and we managed that by beating Kildare in the final.’’

Cork manager Mary Collins cannot recall a meeting between the counties at senior level, but she remembers the last time the Rebels played in Tullamore. It was three years ago against Mayo in the All-Ireland quarter-final.

“We went into that game with high hopes, but we were taught a lesson,’’ she commented.

Not surprisingly, management and players took great satisfaction from the win over Mayo in the quarter-final two weeks ago in Portlaoise.

“A lot of people said we stole an All-Ireland off them last year (in a dramatic semi-final, decided at the death by a Juliette Murphy point). It was good to beat them again the last day. That win should stand to us.’’

However, while Laois are something of an unknown quantity, she insists that there’s no question of underestimating them. “I only saw them on television, but they looked very impressive. They play a fast game, with the half-backs going forward a lot — something like the way we play ourselves,’’ she added.

“We will be taking them very seriously.’’

The Cork team will show one change from the side which started in the quarter-final. Briege Corkery, who made a big impression when brought on in that game, comes in at corner-back in place of Laura Power.

The game is timed for 5pm and will be preceded by the junior semi-final between Clare and Sligo (3.15).