By Cian O’Connell

Ultimately Ross Munnelly’s career has been about memories and matches. The day, though, that a Leinster Senior Football Championship medal was secured in 2003 brought joy.

For the first time since 1946 the royal blue and white flag was perched on the summit of the eastern game. Significant scalps had been taken en route which added to the sense of satisfaction.

Remarkably Munnelly is still on the inter-county beat with Laois, relishing the adventure and challenge of operating at the highest level.

At the end of Munnelly’s debut provincial campaign with Laois, Dublin and Kildare were beaten, but the Arles/Kilcruise clubman recalls entering that summer nursing a degree of trepidation.

“It couldn't really have gone any better in terms of the Leinster Championship,” Munnelly admits. “Going into the first round of the Championship we were a small bit nervous against Wexford because we had been beaten by Tyrone in the League Final.

“So to bounce back so quickly, to play in the first round as a group we were hoping we'd hit the field, to take up where we left off in the League Semi-Final. We got that win against Wexford. It was fairly convincing.”

Next on the agenda was a derby that went the distance with neighbours Offaly. “We ended up getting a couple of scores towards the end to draw the game,” Munnelly remarks about a tight encounter at O’Moore Park.

“We beat them in Tullamore. That was a real defining moment in the season. Having drawn the second round at home, then going to Tullamore. It was mad because the crowds trying to get into Tullamore that day, the game was delayed by 15 minutes.

“It was a really warm, sunny day for the game. We got on top of Offaly and ran out winners in the end. That really set us up to go on to have a bit of a platform in Leinster. From there on it was magical moments as we went through Leinster.”

The enthusiastic manner in which Mick O’Dwyer stitched a team together is what endures in Munnelly’s mind. He was the newcomer, arriving behind a decorated crop, who had sampled All Ireland minor glory. Other older players also supplied valuable guidance. The cocktail worked against Kildare.

“It was really good,” Munnelly replies. “We had, up until Jim Gavin, probably the greatest GAA manager of all time. I'm sure Kerry will make arguments that he still is and so on.

“He provided such a belief base for us. He made us feel as a group that we were going to achieve something. That if we worked hard it would fall right for us.

“When you have that experience on the management team, and a couple of guys who played for Laois for 10 years at that stage, and a crop of guys who came through the first couple of All Ireland successes, you had a really god mix.

“It is always a help when you have someone standing in your dressing room that is able to say to you that 'I think you are able to beat this team, I have managed them, and I know where we can make gains'.

“Thankfully we were able to do that. It definitely was a help from a psychological perspective. It was more reassuring for him to say to us that he knew these players, how good they were, but he also knew how good we were. He felt we were going to beat them.”

By then Kildare were a seasoned Croke Park outfit, packed with accomplished players, who had delivered on the grand stage. Laois, though, weren’t overly concerned or perturbed by the fact it was their first Leinster decider in 12 years.

“Back then you had a lot of guys, who had made their names at minor level in Croke Park,” Munnelly remarks.

“So Croke Park was a place a lot of the players associated with good memories, with some of their best performances. That helps when it is an environment you are going into. It is familiar, you have been there, done that so it is just a regular game.

“Going to Croke Park is no big deal after that. I do think that helps approaching a big game. With the magnitude of the Leinster Final, going up that day we were stopped on the motorway for what felt like ages with the traffic going up so early.

“Obviously Laois and Kildare were travelling along the same road. There was never an anxiety around getting to the stadium or any sense of nervousness. I think a lot of our players felt at home in Croke Park, why wouldn't they because they had been stunning minors throughout the 90s in it.”

Munnelly was delighted to be arriving shortly after a celebrated crew. Timing can be everything in sport and so it proved in 2003 when Munnelly pinched 1-1 making a key contribution as the Lilywhites were outfoxed.

“They were at the top of their game with incredible fitness levels,” Munnelly says about those who had given Laois such an injection of hope during the 90s.

“When you look at the core of that team at the time a lot of those guys were off the All Ireland minor team and the Under 21 team that got to a final. The players themselves were used to performing at the top level, used to going to the end of competitions.

“When you add in some of the more experienced players into the group mentality all of a sudden you have experience, but a fearlessness mentality within the group.

“Back in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 under Micko there was a sense that in every game we went into, if we performed we had a right good chance of winning.

“It is hard to put a value on what it is worth, but there was a combination of things. It was the Micko factor along with the combination of players that were there at the time.”

Now 17 years later Munnelly remains part of Mike Quirke’s Laois panel, still relishing being involved with Laois. That is so vital for Munnelly, the enjoyment aspect.

“Yeah, over the years playing I probably wouldn't be able to count on two hands the amount of nights I didn't want to go training,” Munnelly responds.

“For me I've been very fortunate whether it be the depths of winter or the sunny evenings playing Championship matches in the summer, I thoroughly enjoy the challenge of each of those environments. For me it has given me great satisfaction and it has given me a great goal over the years. I enjoy it now as much as ever.

“In many ways it is more testing now. With more young players on the scene you have to come up with different ways of reinventing myself, changing my game to make sure I have something different to offer.

“That I can contribute every time I put on a jersey. My attitude is I always have to be adding value in whatever role the management wants me to play. It takes a lot of thinking and changing, to be able to adapt and tweak your game, that you are still in a position to do so.”

A couple of promotion winning campaigns hinted at Laois’ potential. The promise and emergence of new players, alongside the fact that Laois have reached two EirGrid Leinster Under 20 Finals on the spin provides nuggets of optimism.

“Going to Division Four was tough on us because for the previous 13 or 14 years we had played all of our football in Division One and Two, then we suffered back to back relegations which was difficult to take,” Munnelly acknowledges.

“We went through a period of rebuilding, some younger players have been coming into the group, adding to it and really driving it forward.

“At the moment we have guys in first and second year in college, Sean O'Flynn and Mark Barry, lads like that coming into the set-up. Not alone are they good players, but they are good leaders, driving the thing on.

“They have incredible fitness levels, their attention to detail in training is so good. That inspires the rest of us, to see young players coming in with this kind of an attitude, commitment, and expectation. When you have that it does get everyone else in the group to find those extra inches.

“That is what we are enjoying at the moment, young players like that coming in and setting their own expectations and not being shy about demanding high standards off more established players.

“It is a combination of things, once you have that competition the whole thing keeps going and opens the door to get another young player each year. It keeps the level going in the right direction, you have a hunger in the group that every night you go training there is a massive competition for places. That improves our football.

“When we have gone out to play games we've had strong panels where we can bring people in off the bench. We have more strength in depth and it is making a difference when it comes to close games.”

Throughout his near two decades service for Laois that has been one of Munnelly’s trademarks. Nailing a critical score at a key time, the 2003 Leinster showpiece on the Jones Road provided the perfect illustration of that.