Laois hoping to finally land a knock-out blow on Tribesmen

Do Laois fear Galway? No.

Do they genuinely believe they can breast the tape ahead of their western opponents? The jury remains out, though recent history would suggest not.

Rewind to Sunday, June 1 of last year, Laois lead Galway by six-points with 19 minutes remaining in their Leinster quarter-final contest at O’Moore Park. The summer’s championship has barely taken flight and yet the biggest shock of the hurling season is little over a quarter of an hour in the distance.

And then materialises the all-too-familiar tensing of the underdog. Galway sneak in front three minutes out and hold on for a 1-22 to 0-23 victory.

It was a similar story the previous summer, Laois unable to hold the inside lane turning the bend for home – 2-17 to 1-13 they fell.

The two defeats rankle with Laois selector and Limerick native Ger Cunningham. Twice they had pushed the tribesmen onto the ropes, twice did they fail to deliver the knock-out blow.

What’s to say this third instalment won’t be any different?

Cunningham, who guided Newtownshandrum to All-Ireland club glory back in 2004, believes a corner was turned in the historic victory over Offaly two weeks ago. The mental fortitude of the Laois hurler bears no resemblance to where it was 12-months ago, to where it was three weeks ago.

“The big test is we didn’t really believe the last two years. When it came to the crunch, we couldn’t get over the line,” he says.

“It was a combination of Galway pushing on and Laois tensing up. Galway would like to think they pushed on, but from our point of view, we made crucial mistakes at crucial stages during the game. We handed scores to Galway that deflated us. We’d like to think we have that bit of belief and bit of confidence that in year three we wouldn’t crumble like we did.”

Mind you, the carrot dangling in front of the Laois hurlers this evening couldn’t be bigger: a first Leinster final appearance in 30 years and a place, at the very least, in the All-Ireland quarter-final.

“People have said to us since the Offaly win that anything ye get for the rest of the year is a bonus. I can assure you the players aren’t thinking like that. I can assure you Cheddar won’t allow those words be spoken or, indeed, mention of moral victories.

“He hasn’t put three years of his life into this for another moral victory. Those performances against Galway over the past two years hurt him more than anybody else because he doesn’t do moral victories.”

Cheddar Plunkett’s charges, as noted, arrive into O’Connor Park this evening off the back of a famous 0-29 to 0-21 win over Offaly, their first championship victory over the Faithful hurlers in 43 years and their first real scalp under the present management.

“That was the biggest result for Laois hurling under Cheddar. The target since we came in was to take down one of the bigger teams. It was a huge day for Laois hurling. It was huge justification for Cheddar and all of the work he has put in, and also for the work put in by the players over the last three years.

“The win ensured talk surrounding Laois hurling was positive, focused on matters on the field and not what had happened off it. It was just unfortunate what happened in the build-up to that game. Did it help? Nobody knows. I honestly believed that performance was coming.

“There is a greater pep in the step across the board, from supporters to management to players, it is just a different outlook. For the Laois hurlers, in the middle of June, not to be facing into qualifiers is a breath of fresh air. Truth be told, the week after the Offaly game there was still a little bit of Offaly hangover. We all still like to wallow in the victory for a while. It was difficult to bring everyone back down to earth, particularly when we achieved what we did in light of what went on in the build-up.

“Cheddar hit us all with a fair slap of reality last Tuesday night and we weren’t long in refocusing for Galway. We know what is on offer here.”