Being an average player has led Stephen to be a coach

LAOIS manager Stephen Duff knew when he took on the managers role it was not going to be an easy one. Laois were in a poor place, and he was still very much learning the job. 

“I was in Australia when I got the call. I was at a wedding. I woke up one morning at 4am and had seven missed calls from Emer O’Connor. I said to myself, someone must be dead. I rang her and asked who was dead, and she said ‘no one is dead yet.” “I have always said it is very hard to say no to your county. I have been around the Laois ladies team for the last ten years. It might not have been the right occasion (to accept the job), and other people lost their job.

“I was there in 2022 as a spectator and celebrated in the Killeshin Bar afterwards. I am just so proud to be part of it now and being able to contribute in some way to the success,” he said.

After being relegated this year was always going to be about settling then ship and building from the base up. That started with the national league.

“I said it at the start of the league that as much as we would have liked to get out of Division 3, it wasn’t a priority. It was about finding players.

“There were a lot of new players in the team last year. Some of them had a part to play and they might be left out at the minute, but we had to get through last year to get to here.

“We had to get through the league to get to here. We learned an awful lot from it. We found a lot of young players that we mightn’t have found without going through that league.

“We have four or five starting players that are under the age of 21. While we have some of the players there from 2022, it is a new Laois team. It is a young team that is coming through.

“Everyone got a chance to put their hand up for a place during the league, and no one can crib that they didn’t get a fair chance. That was really important to us,” he said.

In some ways the Leinster final loss to Westmeath was a turning point.

“That Leinster final was probably a watershed moment for the team. We were so disappointed with how we played that day. We were so disappointed by the manner in which we lost,” he said.

“We did a horrible video session after, where we all had to have a look at ourselves and from that day it changed. The girls have been really positive in taking the criticism and learning to apply it.

“Looking back on last year, there was a lack of confidence going into the league and doubts among ourselves,” he said.

Like so many things in life becoming a manager was not really straightforward.

“I remember Liam Lynden, God rest him, saying in the pub one night after training that I’d be a better coach than player.” Doing stats for Ballyfin GAA led to him taking on the coaching job with the Ballyfin ladies.

“We were lucky enough to get to two county finals. We never won it and it still rots me that we never did,” he said.

He joined up with the Laois set up as coach in 2019 working under Dave Gibson.

“I was very green at the time and thought I was a lot further on in my development but I wasn’t.” The next step took him to DCU via a connection made by Laura Nerney.

“I haven’t looked back since. It’s my eighth year coaching with DCU and they have invested a huge amount in me. I love the environment and getting to know the high calibre players who come in really young. I will always be indebted to them, ” he said.

“Then Portlaoise took a gamble on me and the four years with them were great. We lost one game in four years - that is not normal. It was just the right people in the right place at the right time - nothing special,” he said.

So is he enjoying the Laois job?

“I reflected on it in recently and I’d say if I had the chance again I may not take my own county first because you invest yourself so much and you love your own county and when things don’t go well you can take it personally. It can be a lonely place being the manager and everyone knows that.

“But for the most part it is unbelievable and I’m so honoured to have the job,” he said.