By William Dunne

Despite only registering a solitary victory and finishing last in this year’s Division 1B Hurling League, Laois salvaged their Allianz Hurling League Division 1B status following a cracking relegation play-off against Kerry.

That win was the first of three on the bounce for Eamon Kelly’s side and on Sunday, they’ll face the Kingdom once more to see if they can maintain their 100% win rate in the Leinster Senior Hurling Round-Robin.

Although Laois aren’t guaranteed qualification, Kelly is putting a greater premium on performance than he is the result.

“It’s all about the performance,” Kelly said at the launch of the Leinster Senior Hurling and Football Championships at the Pearse Museum.

“We won against Westmeath and we discussed it as if we lost the game because our performance was shocking.

“(We were) probably lucky to get a win that day. To me, performance is everything. If you start getting consistent performances you have something to build on.”

Laois have beaten both Meath and Westmeath in the Round-Robin so far and are well placed going into the clash, but Kelly isn’t getting ahead of himself and says they are only focused on the next game.

“All we are thinking about is Kerry at the minute. Technically we’re not through. We have to still get something out of it.

“We don’t want to be looking on our phones finding out score differences or any of that situation so that’s all we’re focusing on at the minute is the Round Robin.

“Listen, if the bigger teams are there to come that’s the prize at the end of that great, but at the minute we are not looking there,” he said.

The benefit of the Round Robin format for the teams that qualify for the Leinster Quarter-Finals is that three matches against evenly matched opposition gets their hurling up to speed.

“I think it’s actually, for the weaker teams, it certainly is a huge advantage,” said Kelly.

“The proof of that is on Sunday - any of the four teams can qualify. It's great that you're getting competitive games and it gets you ready for whoever comes through so you're maybe in a better position to go into play a quarter-final.”

Kelly is an advocate for the use of psychology in the game and is excited with the young squad he has around him.

“We've an exceptionally young squad. We've 13 Under 21s and we've only a handful of guys over 23. Confidence for them is everything and being able to figure out situations if they happen on the field. That's why I think sports psychology is huge.”

Kelly puts faith in his younger players and working with youth is something he is enjoying as Laois manager.

“I always say if it's a 50/50 call between a 19 year old and a 29 year old, I always go with the 19 year old.

“He has no preconceived ideas and they are willing to listen to you. You're actually blooding somebody that's going to add something in the long term. I'd always go with the youth.”