Critchley’s green shoots lift Laois
Coaches of the county’s various underage hurling teams have been taking calls from unknown numbers. A trickle at first and then a steady flow. From Tipperary, Cork, Limerick, Kilkenny. The hurling strongholds.
What do they want? Games.
This may not seem like much but, make no mistake, it is seismic. The game’s powers never looked to Laois before when it came to filling their calendars, but the tide is rising fast in the one county where even the neighbours don’t have a sea view.
It seems a ridiculously fast pace of change for a county that has suffered unmerciful hammerings at underage and senior grades as recently as last year, but the signs of progress have been there for anyone who looked beyond the tattered garden in plain view and ran a finger through the rich soil below.
Liam O’Neill, the current GAA president, got the sliotar rolling just after the turn of the millennium by launching his ‘Hurling for Laois’ programme, but it was Pat Critchley who injected the pace and urgency required.
The county’s one and only hurling All Star, Critchley’s nurturing of the county’s sporting buds — whether GAA or basketball — is legendary in the region and it is his Setanta and Cuchulainn underage programmes which have ploughed this new path.
Numerous former players and qualified coaches have been dragooned into the process and the most obvious fruits of their labour will be on display in Croke Park tomorrow when the Laois minors play in a first Leinster final since 1991.
With Seamus Plunkett’s seniors hoping to add to a promising summer portfolio against Davy Fitzgerald’s Clare in Ennis this afternoon, the landscape is, for now, unrecognisable from the wasteland of old.
“It just wasn’t working the way it was,” says Critchley, who manages the minors. “We’re in a much stronger place now, although we still have a long way to go. We have got to have minors who are competitive every year and we weren’t doing that. By competitive we mean that they are getting to semi-finals every year and then you have to hope that the groups that are strong enough to win their semi-finals do that. That’s what these lads have done this year. We’re not there yet but this kicks it on. Other players and coaches can see that it is working and a lot of them from the younger age groups will be there on Sunday and will see that there is light at the end of the tunnel.”
That there most certainly is.
For 20 years Laois teams had been a non-entity at the Tony Forristal Cup, but then the county claimed three B titles in four attempts — losing the final the other year — and have since graduated to the A grade.
The current U16s have played and beaten the likes of Waterford, Dublin, Limerick, North Tipp and Mid Tipp. Kilkenny they drew with. In all, they have lost just once this year.
The buzz surrounding the U15 side is even greater. Kilkenny, Tipperary and Limerick have all been bettered and Cork were beaten 4-18 to 2-11, with 4-14 of the winning total claimed from play.
This is revolutionary stuff after years of dejection and two decades playing second fiddle to football and the minor team which will spearhead this charge at HQ tomorrow is among the vanguard of Critchley’s Setanta graduates.
All bar a few started out as U10s in a programme designed not just to improve skill levels but foster a camaraderie among youngsters in a county where club rivalries have so often boiled over.
When talk turns to tomorrow’s decider against Kilkenny, the words returned focus on what needs doing to win rather than what would be if they won.
In Laois, there can be no getting ahead of themselves.
“We have been getting support from the county board but we could do with more resources,” says Critchley.
“We have quality in the system, coaches and players, but we can’t afford any glitches. There’s no point in having a good team every 20 years. You can’t win anything in that scenario.
“When we had good teams in previous years we took our eye off the ball so this is a great chance to drive this home.
“We have got to hold our nerve even if there will always be the Doubting Thomases.”
