Plunkett appeals for hurling backing in Laois

Official Championship records for 2015 will note another first round qualifier exit for Laois though manager Seamus Plunkett believes the season has the potential to be of historical significance, if they build on it.

Mon, 06 Jul, 2015 - 01:00

Paul Keane

By beating Offaly in the Leinster championship, for the first time since 1972, Laois shone a light on what is possible for emerging counties and Plunkett launched a passionate appeal for the baton to be seized by this crop. “There is an opportunity in Laois to do something absolutely brilliant,” claimed ‘Cheddar’.

“I’ve been saying it for three years, it’s time for somebody here to wake up and decide how things are going to be done better.

“Because certainly what has been done in the last 30 years is not working. We need somebody to look at this differently and to take advantage of the opportunities arising. And I’d be saying the exact same thing about Westmeath and Carlow and all these counties. They are giving everything they can to improve themselves and that’s not easy.

Plunkett believes more can be done to attract sponsorship and revenue from local businesses to fund hurling’s development though he maintained it’s not strictly a financial issue. “It’s more than that. It’s about a complete vision for hurling. How are we going to promote the game? What is the objective here? Is the objective for the next 40 years to have an All-Ireland championship where only a few counties can win it?

Because we’ve had that for the last 40 years. If that’s what they want, let them stand up and be honest and say it and we’ll all go away and do something else.

But if the vision is to support people like us , let them stand back and say what has worked before isn’t working and let’s do something different.

Plunkett declined to speculate on his own future: “The critical thing is what the Laois team and Laois hurling want to do. Does it want to stand still? Or do we want to want to keep pushing to find different ways to improve? That’s what is really important in the next couple of years.”