Current predicament is a sobering reality check for Laois ladies

Laois's third defeat in five outings in this year’s Lidl Ladies National Football League Division 3 has left their survival hopes hanging in the balance following Sunday’s loss at Laois Hire O’Moore Park. With just two rounds remaining, the O’Moore County are now firmly under pressure in the battle to avoid relegation.

Manager Stephen Duff did not shy away from the gravity of the situation afterwards, expressing deep frustration at both the performance and the recurring mistakes that have cost his side dearly in recent weeks.

“It just wasn't good enough. It's on all of us, it's on me, it's on the players, it's on everyone. It's not good enough; we're not getting a tune out of these players at all.

“We looked for a reaction from last week, but we didn't get it. Our own individual errors cost us goals again, turnovers, dropping short, everything. Cheap goals. So yeah, it's a hard one to take. I'm not sure what the answers are right now. It's very hard to take, we just have to stay focused on doing the right thing for Laois.

“That's all we spoke about this week. It wasn’t about us; it was about the people in the stand, it was about the people who brought us to where we are today, and the people who represented the jerseys before us, and we’re letting them down. That's where we're at,” he said.

Laois salvaged momentum late in the first half, striking the final three points to draw level by the interval. However, any platform built before the break was quickly dismantled as they conceded two goals inside the opening four minutes of the second half, a decisive blow from which they never recovered.

“We were blessed to probably be in the game at half-time, to be honest. I thought they were much the better team. They were playing together as a team, while we were playing as individuals at times.

“So yeah, to have that lifeline of being still in it at half-time and then having the two sucker punches of goals, you just can't afford that at this level, it's not club level. We have too many people making individual errors, and it's costing us too much,” he added.

Such was the sting of the result that Duff admitted it cut deeper than last year’s All-Ireland final defeat.

“It's bitterly, bitterly, bitterly disappointing. It's a lower moment right now than losing an All-Ireland final, and that was a low moment. We have to get back to the drawing board. We've got three weeks now to lead-in until Antrim away, which will be a really, really tough game and they’re flying it.

“We've just got work to do and we've got to come together as a group and do the right thing for Laois, whatever that is. We just need to finally figure out what that is and do it,” Duff said.

With difficult fixtures against promotion-chasing Antrim and Louth to come, Laois know the scale of the challenge ahead.

“We have the players, we have the structure, we have the support, so we can go and do it, but right now we don't look like doing it. Maybe the break's coming at a great time for us. I don't know, but we've got a couple of girls playing college semi-finals now, and it'll make the workload a little bit harder.

“We just have to find a way to get a result, whatever that result will be, because Fermanagh are going to get a result somewhere, so we have to find a way to get a result. Laois has never been in Division 4, and we should never be in Division 4, so we're going to fight tooth and nail for that, whatever way that looks like,” he commented.

When asked whether he ever envisaged Laois being dragged into a relegation battle so soon after reaching the All-Ireland final in 2025, Duff admitted the current predicament is a sobering reality check, but insisted reputation counts for little in a division as competitive as this one.

“Getting to the All-Ireland final was great, but I think some of us still lived in that moment for a couple of months this year and thought we were going to walk this Division 3.

“I listened in the Killeshin to how we were going to walk out of Division 3. This league is very competitive, there are good teams in it, as we're seeing, as we're learning and as we're finding out. We're not good enough to be able to take our eye off the ball, and we've taken our eye off the ball. I'm as responsible for that as anybody else, so the buck stops with me, so I have to take it on the chin,” Duff concluded.