Mark Barry of Laois during the Tailteann Cup launch at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
After their 27-point defeat to Dublin in the Leinster SFC Quarter-Final, the Laois footballers were given a week off from inter-county training to better recover from the mental ordeal.
A defeat of that magnitude was the last thing this group of Laois players struggling for confidence needed.
They have a lot of talented players in their ranks, but they just can’t quite seem to generate any momentum since successive League relegations in 2021 and 2022 saw them drop to Division 4.
Even this year the manner in which they were denied promotion from Division 4 on the head the head rule by Wicklow must have been very deflating.
Momentum counts for so much in sport, and while Laois have been stalled they’ve watched teams they recently considered their peers soar to new heights.
“I think in 2019, we were beating Derry away in the Championship and then you see the trajectory of both teams up to now,” says Laois forward Mark Barry.
“So I suppose, yeah, confidence, if you get a bit of momentum behind a team it's mad what you can do because Derry have gone from Division 4 to Division 1 basically in four years with three promotions in those four years.
"If you look at a team like that, there's not too much wrong, or off it, it's just a case of getting momentum and confidence in the squad when the wins come and hopefully that'll be the case for us in the next few weeks.
“Again, first game of the league last year, we would have beaten Louth, up in Louth. To see them get promoted last year, and to do so well in Division 2, and to be in a Leinster final this Sunday...definitely we would think that there's not much between ourselves and Louth. We're just hoping to rectify that on the pitch, that's all we can do.
“We would think that we have the footballers. We would think that we play a nice brand of football and we're not going to shy away from that or change our methods. We do feel that we're good enough to get back up to Division 3 next year hopefully and Division 2 after that, or so forth.
“But, yeah, it's on ourselves now. The confidence might have taken a bit of a dint but we know within our group that we do have the footballers there and we all know the quality that's in our squad so it's a matter of getting it out on the pitch.”
Laois footballer, Mark Barry.
The Tailteann Cup may yet be the vehicle Laois football needs to finally get some traction again.
They’re in challenging group with Cavan, Offaly, and London, but Ward is relishing the chance to prove this group of Laois players are as good as any other team in this competition.
“The Tailteann Cup is an opportunity for a lot of teams that are of a similar standard, they'd be Division 3 and 4 teams that on a given day we could all beat each other.
“So I suppose we're going in with a positive mindset. If you look at our group, Cavan would probably be one of the favourites and we've got them the first day. That'll be a good test up in Breffni Park, to see exactly where we're at. Then we've got a local derby against Offaly which we're looking forward to.
“We haven't played them in three or four years. I myself would be only five minutes from the border so it's a good game to look forward to and then London we would have played in the league.
“Over in London, we got a good win over there so it'll be great to get another win. Yeah, we're really looking forward to it, no negative thoughts going in, it's just...as I said, Cavan the first day is all we're talking about at the moment.
“It's going to be a good chance to set the bar for the next few weeks, to see where we're at.”
