Beware Laois’s forgotten men, warns Plunkett
“The forgotten game? Yes, and what’s even more amazing, there’s a Leinster hurling final on Sunday and that seems to have been forgotten too, all the coverage this week is of Kilkenny/Tipperary. Our own game seems to have been pushed off the agenda altogether. Whether that’s because people see Clare as absolute odds-on winners or what, I don’t know.”
Strange that, given that people assumed the same thing when Laois met Galway in the Leinster semi-final, then pushed them to the limit, conceding only in the last 10 minutes. “That’s true but I can see where people are coming from.
“It’s division one v division three, and Clare also won two All-Ireland U21 titles in the last few years, one of which was against Kilkenny in last year’s final — that was some performance by Clare. People are looking at that, plus the fact the game is in Clare’s own backyard, and all the advantages seem to be with Clare.”
Perhaps not all the advantages — Clare are raging hot favourites and that, says Seamus, can bring its own pressure.
“Davy Fitz now has probably the best group of young players I’ve ever seen in a Clare jersey, and I include the team of the 90s in that, but with that comes huge expectations — before they played Cork in the Munster semi-final people were even talking about All-Ireland titles.
“That kind of expectation can put a lot of pressure on a team and if we manage to stay with them for a while, it could get interesting.”
It could happen too, and don’t let anyone be surprised if Laois were to rattle Clare this Saturday. Carlow nearly took Wexford in Wexford Park last week; Wexford had nearly taken Dublin at the same venue only a few weeks earlier; Dublin have since beaten Kilkenny and are now in a Leinster final — Laois beat Carlow by 11 points in the Leinster championship!
“Look, there is still that small bit of elitism going around but we’d see ourselves as having good credentials as a hurling county. We’re a dual county but our hurling clubs have always done well in the Leinster championship, right from the start, they’ve stood up strong. We have a lot of pride in what we do and when people dismiss that, it can be a little bit insulting. But you just have to get on with it. We are certainly really looking forward to Saturday.
“When you’re beaten in the championship it’s difficult for teams like Laois to regroup. Teams that are traditionally successful have a good idea of what they need to do to get back on track and a good example of that over the years is Tyrone.
“For teams like Laois, it’s more difficult, you’re still not really aware of where you are, you’re still working your way through trying to get a performance, building up a team. It’s going to take time to do that but I’m very satisfied with the way things are going. All of us are looking forward to Saturday, going down to Ennis and giving a good account of ourselves.”
