‘Hungry’ Fergal’s fighting father time

HE is 33 now, 10 years at this championship lark, but Fergal Byron maintains the hunger has never left him.

Kevin Fitzpatrick made his All-Ireland debut alongside the Courtwood keeper in a four-point defeat to Kildare back in 1997. Tom Kelly, Beano McDonald and Colm Parkinson joined them a season later, but Byron has years and experience on them all.

Of all the men currently playing inter-county football in this country, he has the third most consecutive championship appearances under his belt but the one Leinster title Laois won back in 2003 has served only to whet his appetite.

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t. I have a family and my job would be demanding but I love it and I want to do well and win another Leinster title. Everyone here has that hunger. Lads don’t put in the effort that it takes for an inter-county footballer for 10 months of the year to not have the hunger and I’m no different to anyone else.”

Age doesn’t play on his mind. His reactions are as quick in training and on Sundays as they ever were and he finds comfort in the Premiership where some custodians do their best work midway through their thirties.

His opposite number for the Leinster semi-final, John Cooper, was 37, but the Wexford man has called time on his playing days in the last week and Byron admits that the window of opportunity to win more silverware with Laois is closing.

“From my point of view, time is running out. You’re never guaranteed to be in a Leinster final every year. It gets harder and harder every year and Meath are starting to come back now and other teams will be chasing the pack. This is our fourth Leinster final in five years and we haven’t really made the impression that we should have made.”

Whatever about the years to come, he is grateful to have another shot at the title Sunday. Last year, Laois approached the provincial semi-final against Dublin with their chests puffed out but fled back down the M7 in disarray after a shattering defeat.

Everyone knew 2006 was Mick O’Dwyer’s last throw of the dice with the county. At the time, Byron thought it was the team’s too. “I think we did. The previous year there was only a point in it and two years previous to that we beat them in a Leinster semi-final. At that stage I thought we were up there with Dublin and last year … 14 points … nearly a point a man was a huge beating to get really.

“We got the wagon back on the tracks quickly enough last year against Tyrone and we were within a kick of a ball of getting another crack at Dublin in an All-Ireland semi-final and we didn’t do it. That was a bit of a disappointment because the incentive there was to play Dublin again.”

It’s a year later than they would have liked, but their shot at redemption has finally come around again.

Dublin have had their critics after a tame win over Offaly in the semi-final but at least Paul Caffrey had the positives from the Meath games to temper any disappointment arising from that.

Laois have no such crutch to lean on after two insipid displays against Longford and Wexford that highlighted a number of areas of concern, lack of form among most of their forwards being the biggest.

“If anyone looks at us at the moment they’d say there’s a huge gap but we’re not going to focus on last year too much. It hurts inside for a lot of lads still and if Liam Kearns has to say anything to us to motivate us from that point of view then we shouldn’t be here in the first place.

“We know it’s going to be a huge ask on Sunday because everyone can see how physically strong Dublin are and their work ethic and work rate throughout a game is quite good, although they quieten down for a few minutes in each half.”

Quiet is how you would describe Laois as a county in the run-up to Sunday. Few give them a chance of upsetting the odds and most of the travelling fans are looking to an exceptional looking bunch of minors for something to cheer about in the curtain raiser against Carlow.

Compared to the buzz about the place prior to their last three decider appearance, the place seems almost eerie but Byron is willing to go with Liam Kearns’ low key approach if only because it has taken much of the pressure off.

Failure might be the forecast but that simply isn’t an option according to the veteran goalkeeper. “It’s about winning Leinster first of all, especially after being in three Leinster finals prior to this and only winning one. Laois have to win Leinster again this year and after that it’s about progressing past the quarter-final because that’s been a huge hurdle for us.

“If we beat Dublin, we’ll be straight into a quarter-final and you give yourself and opportunity to take that monkey off your back then but until such time as that happens, we can’t think any further than the next day.”