Whisper it, Laois are making up ground to hurling’s top echelon

When Laois ran Clare to four points in the Allianz Hurling League Division 1 quarter-final, the general reaction was surprise mixed with the usual praise-masquerading-as-condescension.

The feeling was they were great to be getting so close, but to anybody who had been paying a closer eye to developments in the O’Moore County, it was merely further evidence of hard work continuing to pay off.

Laois begin their Leinster SHC preliminary campaign away to Westmeath tomorrow (3pm) and are regarded as strong favourites to progress to the championship proper, but it has not been an overnight success. Since 2005, the county has been operating the Setanta Programme, where children from the age of 10 upwards have had their skills developed.