Plunkett builds Laois propulsion

Another two weeks have still to crawl by before the ball is thrown in between Waterford and Cork, a game which will signal the start of the 2014 All-Ireland SHC in most people’s eyes.

Try telling that to any of Antrim, Laois, London, Carlow or Westmeath though.

For the past fortnight, these counties have been contesting the opening battles of the summer in Leinster’s new round robin and it continues tomorrow, with Laois hosting Carlow and London making the trip to Antrim’s Páirc Mac Uilinn.

The system has been criticised by Antrim manager Kevin Ryan for the workload it imposes on teams at a time of year when the Kilkennys of this world are decompressing with club fixtures before regrouping as units to finetune preparations for the fare to come.

The timing was only one source of annoyance for Ryan, who labelled the entire concept as unfair on counties who, he said, deserved to be seated at the same table as those designated as the game’s elite.

You can see his point.

Ryan mentioned Carlow, in particular, a side that has run Offaly and Wexford close recently. Westmeath have put the frighteners on Galway and Waterford while Laois are just five weeks removed from a heroic four-point loss to Clare, having played most of the game with 14 men.

With only two sides squeezing through to the Leinster SHC proper, there are going to be significant casualties but Laois manager Seamus Plunkett exuded an air of equanimity this week as he discussed their changed circumstances.

“I would qualify one thing first: we ran the All-Ireland champions and Limerick and Wexford close in league matches, but we are not blind about that. We know that in a month’s time, the level they will be playing at will be much higher than they were in the league.

“The round robin makes it difficult in that sense because we didn’t have a break from the league. We only had four weeks and we decided to train straight through it, so you don’t get the chance to set up a championship environment as such. You hope you hit the ground running.

“We didn’t get the chance to play any challenge games because there were club games going on in the middle of all that as well so, yes, it is difficult to manage it at times, but the other side of that is that we are all delighted to be playing games as well.”

Laois were inactive the first week but began their campaign last Sunday with what proved to be a fraught afternoon in Mullingar, when they trailed Westmeath by a goal at half-time before coming through on the other side, with twice that advantage after the 70 minutes.

One of the theories floating about then and since is that Laois are well attuned to the task of frustrating the bigger guns but that they struggle to adapt when the focus against sides with lesser arsenals demands a more attacking approach.

Run a finger down the county’s ‘scores for’ the last 10 years and their efforts going forward are certainly a cause for concern but then this year’s crop yo-yoed between the lowly seven points managed against Cork on a tempest of a day and the 2-19 they claimed against Clare.

“Regardless of what team you play, you would always be looking at an opposition’s strengths and weaknesses and your own game plan,” said the man they call ‘Cheddar’.”

“You certainly can’t underestimate any team by not going out and giving due respect and planning for that game.

“Different teams have different ways of playing to different systems and you have got to reflect that. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t and you have to dig out results. I have to credit the players for that last Sunday.

“That was to do with Westmeath playing very well. They really closed the space down well and made it hard to hurl. We worked our way through that. We didn’t panic and kept going through the second half doing what we did.”

Carlow at home tomorrow holds out the odds of another victory given the recent difficulties of the visitors who have lost two and drawn one of their last four games, but Plunkett greets that kind of talk with an understandable caution.

Likewise the assertion that finishing top of the round robin table would offer an ‘easier’ quarter-final against Wexford rather than Galway and it isn’t hard to understand where such wariness comes from, given Laois’s recent history.

Their last three exits from the All-Ireland have seen them ship a total of 17 goals and 73 points to Cork, Limerick and Clare and, for all the county’s progress under Plunkett, the collective angst and fear such trimmings leave behind will take much longer to dissipate.

Yet the hope is that the wave is only just beginning to build.

The minors reached a first Leinster final in 22 years last summer — but promptly froze in the eye of the Cats — and results further down the underage chain are suggestive of a county that has better days to come if their cards are played right.

“That’s a very important part in the development of hurling in Laois,” says Plunkett. “Your flagship team needs to be doing well and attract people to play the game but the development at underage levels is equally important.

“Bear in mind that Laois haven’t won any big games yet. It is important to say that. We have shown potential and that is important to say too. In terms of the seniors, there would be no point in doing it unless the underage and development squads are doing the same.

“When you look at the Kilkennys and Tipperarys and Corks, the big, big advantage they have over most other counties is the massive surfeit of quality players and that is one of the objectives we need to work on and we are doing that currently.

“Whether we get there or not, only time will tell.”