‘Spirited’ Laois fall just short

I HAD a friend from Portlaoise visit at the weekend, and when he landed at the door on Sunday he was listening to the second half of the Leinster SHC meeting between his native county and Galway. Round about the time I met him Laois were some six points ahead of the Tribesmen and looking like they might just pull off what would have been one of the biggest shocks in Championship hurling ever.

By the time we had said our hellos and I’d enquired about his journey their lead had been halved, and I left him with his internet radio and his growing despair as Galway pared away at the Laois lead until they caught they, passed them and beat them in a thrilling / agonising finale.

It was hard not to feel my friend’s pain at the final whistle but as I reminded him with no great pleasure, his first mistake was to actually entertain the thought that Laois might actually have won.

Of course, the underdog occasionally runs away with the bone of victory but the problem for supporters of the underdog is that they get sucked in by the hype and the hope prematurely.

To add insult to injury my friend predicted that the usual hollow platitudes would ensue.

How Laois were ‘spirited’ and ‘plucky’. How it was a great moral victory for the Midlanders. How nobody would want to meet them in the Qualifiers after that display. That this result would bring Laois hurling on in leaps and bounds.

The usual aul guff that does a disservice to a team that have played as well as they could have and are still beaten.

A loss is a loss is a loss.