We must start beating the top teams

When Laois came within a couple of minutes and a couple of points of beating Galway in the Leinster quarter-final a few weeks ago (1-22 to 0-23) the general consensus was the westerners had regressed in the last year, would be eaten alive by Kilkenny in the semi-final (this Sunday in Tullamore, 4pm).

Last year, then as reigning Leinster champions, Galway had again met Laois in the quarter-final, were again truly tested but eventually won by seven points (2-17 to 1-13). The reaction was that this was an aberration, that Laois has played way above themselves, a reaction seemingly confirmed when Laois were subsequently hammered by Clare in the qualifiers while Galway went on to beat Kilkenny in the Leinster semi-final, though lost their crown to Dublin.

A very shallow consensus, says Laois manager Seamus ‘Cheddar’ Plunkett, unfair dismissal of the efforts of both his own side and of Galway. “If that’s how people are thinking they’re making a mistake, though I’m probably too close to the setup to be objective. We put a huge effort into that game, felt we could beat Galway but came up short. I’d like to think regardless of what team we were playing we’d give that same close game to anyone.”

In fact already this year, in the league, Laois have met several of the leading All-Ireland contenders and on every occasion, did well. Yet after those games no-one was writing off the All-Ireland chances of Cork, Limerick or Clare. “That’s fair comment. There’s a difference between league and championship, we all recognise that, but equally everyone improves at the same pace from one competition to the other. When we took this job 18 months ago we knew we had a long journey ahead of us and we’re still on that journey but most teams are always in development, always in transition. The difference with us was we were starting a long way back. We had a good year last year, won promotion to division 1B in the league and we knew we were stepping up a few levels.

“We played the Munster champions (Limerick, lost 1-17 to 1-13), the All-Ireland runners-up (Cork, lost 0-14 to 0-7 but came close to scoring two goals in a fine second half comeback), the All-Ireland champions (Clare, league quarter-final, lost 2-23 to 2-19 but with 14 players for most of the game). We didn’t win but learned we could compete at that level. It was the same against Galway, we were very very close but couldn’t quite get over the line. That’s our next challenge, to start beating those teams. We have the (All-Ireland qualifier) draw now next Monday and we’re looking forward to that.”

Evidence then of the major improvement that Cheddar and his management team have wrought in Laois this year, suggesting perhaps people have been looking at that result from the wrong angle. In fact, says Cheddar Galway have every chance again against Kilkenny this weekend. “Historically Galway have no fear of Kilkenny, have a better record against them in recent years than any county. I’m sure they’re looking forward to this, in Tullamore especially. Last year when the game was in the melting pot with a few minutes to go Galway went up the field and got the points to win, showed great character in doing so – that character is still there. We had our chances in the last few minutes to nick the game against us and didn’t do so – they were the ones who held out for the win. Galway have an awful lot going for them. They’re potential All-Ireland winners any year, have a number of big players especially down the spine of the team, very good technical hurlers all over the field, have an ability to score from anywhere. There’s so much to like about Galway. With any team when they get things right a game can suddenly be transformed — Galway are some team when that happens for them, a great team to look at also.”

A possible repeat Leinster semi-final win for Galway over the Cats then. As for Laois, surely we’re not going to see a repeat of what happened to them in their next game last year (1-32 to 0-15 loss to Clare)? “That was disappointment mixed up with immaturity, the inexperience of playing teams at that level on a regular basis caught us. We had put an awful lot into that particular game and then not being able to raise our game again a few weeks later – that’s where the experience of playing in division 1B really helped us this year, you learn to just pick yourself up again very quickly and go hell-for-leather again. We’re training as hard and as well as we can – looking forward to it and regardless of who we get, we’ll be ready for them.”