‘Competition for places keeps things lively each week’ – Dempsey

PORTLAOISE captain Ben Dempsey spoke ahead of their county final clash with Portarlington this weekend. He said preparations are smooth and they are keeping things as normal as possible ahead of the big day.

“Preparations are going well, yeah. Look, it's another game, you can't think of it too much as if it's going to be the last or it's going to be the end game. You just have to prepare as normal and keep everything normal,” Dempsey said.

When asked about the weight of the captaincy role on his roles, Dempsey said it doesn’t affect him at all because of the wealth of experience and knowledge that surrounds him in the squad.

“You go in, and you see the likes of (Paul) Cahillane, (Kieran) Lillis, all these guys who have won so much and they've been there and done that. They're always with you, they're always giving you advice before or after training, games, anything. Everyone helps each other out and there's so many leaders there that you don't really think about that much.” He also commented on the importance of the youth in the team with himself included. There’s great competition for places within the team which keeps things lively each week.

“It's a great thing to see and I was only thinking about the other day, someone mentioned to me that seven or eight of the minor team that played in the final a few years back and there's only more lads to come and there's lads itching from the bench to get on as well. In a few years to come, I'm sure they'll all be there as well.” Portlaoise have been a team to watch this year as they have brought back a style of football which hasn’t been seen in a few years. They have been playing some admirable football and Dempsey says the management ‘have been brilliant with everyone’.

“We're playing a kind of more traditional style of football this year and it's kind of man-on-man kind of stuff. Everyone's taken to it really well and Aidan and the management team that he's brought in have been brilliant, they're so good with everyone that everyone's all in for it and everyone's itching to get on that team as well. The way we're playing, space is being awarded to the forwards. When you give lads space, we have some of the best one-on-one players in the county, and they're showing it at the moment.” Discussing his inter-county career this year, Dempsey says ‘you’re learning the whole time’, he thoroughly enjoyed the season with Laois and looks forward to what’s ahead.

“It's been fantastic, and you're learning the whole time. When I went in this year with Laois, the lads in there were top class as well. They're giving you advice every single day, and it's the same when you go back to Portlaoise here. You just want to grow and keep going, and hopefully we'll get over the line now in two weeks.” Dempsey is aware of the challenge Portarlington will bring to the County Final as they are a great team. He also reflected on the frustration of last year’s one-point loss to St Joseph’s and how they want to right those wrongs and not make that mistake this year.

“Portarlington are a great team and they've probably been the best team in the last four or five years. So, we'll put our heads down now and we'll work hard and hopefully, we can get the better of them. Last year was very frustrating, obviously we knew we left a lot behind us. It’s more so kind of a chip on the shoulder now, coming in this year, that you want to just right the wrongs. You want to completely just get out of that mindset and just get back and just win it this year.” Portlaoise have dominated all year with commanding wins all through Championship, but their semi-final was slightly different as they only edged O’Dempsey’s by four points having been hot favourites. Dempsey mentioned that Portlaoise were just ‘happy to get the win’. They will look ahead and put their focus on the game against Portarlington in O’Moore Park on Sunday.

“A semi-final is a semi-final at the end of the day. They're there to be won, but the weather didn't help either. It's always going to happen in these months. But you're happy to get the win there and then head down and work hard for next two weeks for the final then as well.”