‘Laois are a work in progress’
PART one of the plan has been completed but Laois manager John Sugrue insists his side are “very much a work in progress” as they prepare for a tilt at national silverware in today’s Allianz FL Division 4 final clash with Carlow in Croke Park.
The O’Moore men have emerged from the fourth tier with a perfect record, winning all six of their matches. Their victory against Carlow last weekend meant their scheduled clash with Antrim won’t be played but the Kerry native is happy to have emerged from the basement division.
“It is difficult, the atmosphere tends to be a little subdued around it and the crowds a little smaller than your average inter-county game,” Sugrue said. “And to be fair to the players, it’s a tough place to be in the bottom division with teams who have been languishing down there a while, it’s a tough place to be, your heart would go out to them.
“But look, we have been lucky. We really concentrated on the league this year and we got out of it. There are teams down there like Carlow who got promoted with ourselves and have really got their house in order big time in the last few years, and they have fully earned their right to come out of it.”
And while Carlow celebrated their first promotion in 33 years, Sugrue agreed that his side won’t get much credit for promotion but insists they were in the division they deserved to be. “There’s always that talk but you get down there for a reason,” he offered.
“For me, it’s a good sign of the boys to get themselves back out of there. They put in big work and addressed their major issues to some degree from the last few years so it’s good to get out of there. Given the trajectory of the last couple of years, I’m not sure that people can expect a whole lot more than what we have tried to do to date. We are improving and learning and most definitely a work in progress, we are nowhere near where we needed to be.”
Last weekend’s game against Carlow was a dour affair but Sugrue is expecting more from Turlough O’Brien’s men who had nothing on the line that day.
“It was a good, tough game and to be honest with you Carlow hadn’t a whole pile riding on the game, they were already promoted and yet they came out in a very positive mindset and really went at the game. So you’d have to say they gave us a very stiff test and we’d expect that and more with it this weekend.
“Genuinely, I’d say teams who are in a poor run of form have to look at the Carlows, the Clares and the Tipps who have really grabbed it and the management too who have grabbed the whole thing and thrown it forward and got them somewhere as opposed to staying where there were.”
After this afternoon, Laois will take a break before ramping up preparations for their Leinster SFC clash with Wexford in May.
“With regard to the summer, Laois’s record has been quite poor in Leinster in the last number of years. We will focus on trying to get a first win over Wexford. I think in Leinster there is great chance if you are well-organised and wellprepared and focused any team can beat any team bar the likes of Kildare and Dublin.”