Conroy looking to set up battle of the new breed

NIALL CONROY is another of the young breed of inter-county football managers prepared to give his time to his county.

At the age of 39, Alan Mulholland as coach, steered Galway into this year’s ESB All-Ireland minor football championship final last Sunday with a splendid victory over Kerry.

Tomorrow Conroy, 10 years Muholland’s junior, will be endeavouring to do the same when he takes Laois to Croke Park to joust with Derry in the second semi-final of the minor championship.

The Derry coach makes no secret that he was not a happy man despite beating Cork in the quarter-final recently, and will be looking for a much improved performances from his charges tomorrow.

“We never got out of the blocks in the first half against Cork. Maybe it was the occasion and the surroundings, or the lack of atmosphere — the game was played at 11.30am — but it looked all up for us at half time when we were five points behind,” said Conroy.

“The break allowed us to regroup, do a bit of straight talking and thankfully we got our act together for the second half. We enjoyed our share of good fortune also, but unless we play for the full hour tomorrow, Laois won’t be as accommodating as Cork were, and let us off the hook.

“The changes we made worked well against Cork, but they brought with them a bit of a headache when it came to picking the team for the semi-final. The lads we brought on against Cork improved the situation no end and we felt they deserved their chance.

“Hopefully we have made the right choices, but you never know with minors. However if we can put a 60 minute game together we’ll be there at the finish. I know it’s going to take a big performance to beat Laois but we are quite capable of that.”

Derry have made three changes from the quarter-final game. Cailean O’Boyle replaces Conor Nevin; Aidan Heron takes over from Paul Heaney while Neil Forrister comes in for Ciaran McFeeley.

Positional switches see Christopher McKaigue move from midfield to right half back; James Kielt goes from centre forward out to midfielder to form a new partnership alongside O’Boyle with Heron now leading the attack.

Laois saw off the challenge of defending champions Roscommon in the quarter-final playing some great football. From very early on in the competition they were being spoken of as potential champions and its been a case of so far so good for them.

Derry were denied a victory in the Ulster final by a controversial umpiring decision, and Cork team manager Mick Evans who watched that final, felt the Oak Leaf County were the better team. Tyrone were beaten by Kerry in their quarter-final who were subsequently knocked out by Galway in the semi-final.

DERRY: A. Warnock; M. McKinney, C. McWilliams, D. Bell; C. McKaigue, JF Bradley, B. Henry; J. Kielt, C. O’Boyle; S. Cleary, A. Heron, D. Mullan; N. Forrister, G. McGeehan, L Moore.

LAOIS: C O’Shea, R Kehoe, J Mulahare, J O’Connor, K Lilis, C Boyle, Z Tuohy, D Lowry, J O’Loughlin, S Ramsbottom, E Kelly, B Smith, J Doyle, C Meredith, D Kingston.