Munnelly welcomes Parkinson and Kavanagh back to squad

LAOIS forward Ross Munnelly has welcomed the return of his 2003 Leinster SFC winning team-mates Colm Parkinson and Gary Kavanagh into the panel and claimed manager Justin McNulty has assembled a panel reflecting the best the county has to offer.

The Arles-Kilcruise man was introduced as a second-half substitute for Kavanagh in Sunday’s O’Byrne Cup first round defeat to Wicklow in Portlaoise and was able to link up with Parkinson on a couple of occasions in the last 10 minutes. And Munnelly was delighted to see a couple of familiar faces back in the O’Moore County set-up as McNulty decided to bring them out of the inter-countywilderness.

“Myself and [Padraig] Clancy were starting to look around and say, ‘Jees, is there any more of us left?” laughed Munnelly. “It’s great to see them back and it’s good to see the mix between the younger and older fellas. There’s a bit of banter and everyone is pushing each other in training so please God we’ll progress a bit in 2011.”

McNulty will whittle down his panel from a training group of 36 over the coming weeks with the Armagh man likely to name an almost completely different team for Laois’ O’Byrne Shield game against Athlone IT next weekend. Eight rookies were handed their senior debuts against Wicklow and more will soon be blooded as McNulty has trawled the county for the best talent, hoping to blend experience in the likes of Munnelly, Parkinson and Kavanagh with young tyros like Darren Maher and Robert Kehoe.

“It’s great for the county to see so many young players coming and getting a chance,” said Munnelly. “That’s what it’s all about. If you want a good team you have to give everybody a chance. Definitely everyone who’s up to playing for Laois at the minute is in there or thereabouts. A lot were on show against Wicklow and there were a lot of good performances.”

Munnelly faced McNulty when Laois beat Armagh in the 2003 league semi-final but has only met him on a few occasions since he was appointed Sean Dempsey’s successor in August. However, there was a generic sense of relief among the Laois management and players that they were able to get their season off and running on Sunday when several counties were forced to postpone their opening games.

“It’s nice to get back out and get your first game under the belt. We’d a good fight-back there in the end but unfortunately Wicklow just had a little more in the end. It’s just great to get a bit of mileage into the legs and lungs again. I’m delighted 2011 has kicked off and I got some game-time.

“With the break over the winter, you don’t get to do an awful lot so you’re going to see a lot of rustiness. The squad in general is just happy we’ve a game under our belts. We have another one next week and it’s a case of focusing on the first league game from here on in.”