Collier happy with the win, but more work to be done

THE Laois Camogie team bounced back from their Leinster final defeat in style on Saturday as they got their Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Premier Junior Championship campaign off to a winning start with a 2-14 to 2-6 victory over Wicklow at Laois Hire O’Moore Park.

Despite the result, co-manager Pat Collier was keen to highlight the difficult playing conditions and noted areas for improvement in the performance.

“Tough conditions today, heavy wind down the field. In the first half, it took us 10 minutes to get going and we went in nine up at half time. I think we won by seven or eight, so happy enough. We gave away a soft goal in the last minute, but we made a lot of changes and we had a couple of girls under the weather.

“Wicklow put up a good performance, they worked hard and in these conditions, a match can go either way. We're thrilled to get it, we needed to start off with a win after last week. I’m just delighted the girls stayed competitive to the end and we're looking forward now. We’ve a two-week break, we could do with it. We’ve a few girls back in and to prepare for Roscommon, which will be a huge test,” he said.

Coming off the back of a narrow Leinster final loss to Carlow just seven days earlier, Collier stressed the importance of returning to winning ways immediately.

“Anyone who plays the game, when you lose a match, the first thing you really want to do is you want to get back and play another match and try and move on. Last week, Carlow took their chances, the better team on the day. You have to get your scores. It's about what's on the scoreboard at the end of the day. We are delighted that we had a match this week and it wasn't two weeks, so it's good to be back, get a win, and we just move on now,” he commented.

While happy with how Laois defended, the Laois boss admitted they lacked a killer instinct in attack and acknowledged there is still plenty of work to do.

"It's the same old adage as last year with this team, for me, and we are working hard on our finishing, but like today, we left three goals behind us in the first half. It just won't work against the likes of Armagh and Roscommon, you won't be in the hunt if you don't learn to take those.

“As I say, a few girls are only back in a week or ten days, so we've huge work to do at that end of the field. At the other end, I'm happy, they're solid, not conceding a lot, and like we did make a lot of changes near the end there. We've plenty to work on and it's an eight-week window now with five games. We need to get back to an All-Ireland semi-final, and we want to get back to Croke Park,” he said.

Next up for Laois is a familiar opponent in Roscommon on Saturday 7 June, a side they beat in April to win the Division 3A National League title.

Collier is expecting another closely contested battle.

“Roscommon are a good team, we beat them in the league final. We played them last year a few times; this year, they have a few players back too. When Laois take on Roscommon, I don't expect there'll be much in the game,” he ended.