Doubts and the doubters well abolished with Saturday’s victory

THE Laois train is well and truly back on the tracks after a brilliant display of will and determination against Antrim on Saturday afternoon in O’Moore Park.

After a hugely positive league campaign it took just one poor result against Carlow for the doubters to come out of the woodwork, but those doubts were well abolished in Saturday’s victory.

Antrim are currently in a freefall with Davy Fitzgerald at the helm and their loss against Down in the first round a week previous has left them in a precarious position, but a dog is at its most dangerous when wounded and there’s no doubt that Davy had them chomping at the bit coming down to Portlaoise.

However, Laois were also wounded and they bit back hard as Cillian Dunne had the ball in the Antrim net within the first minute.

Dunne was one of three changes to the starting team from the game against Carlow and while there were some big calls there from Tommy Fitzgerald, they certainly paid off and his decisions were thankfully justified.

Along with Dunne coming in to make his first ever championship start ahead of Jack Kelly, Picky Maher was brought in in place of the injured Diarmaid Conway and perhaps the most unexpected change of the lot saw Eoin Reilly make his first championship appearance for Laois in a decade as he replaced Cathal Dunne in the goals.

The swaps also saw a positional change as Ryan Mullaney slotted back to his more natural position at half back after his recent jaunt in the forwards came to an end at half time against Carlow when he was shifted back.

Picky Maher was always going to be a starter once back to full fitness and he put in a brilliant display in scoring fourteen points, young Dunne hit 2-1 and Eoin Reilly’s main asset for the best part of two decades has been his pin point puckouts, and he hasn’t lost that ability as he picked out men all across the field and also got himself involved in the open play when the chance allowed.

Martin Phelan remained in place in the forwards from the Carlow game and brought his usual high level of work rate while also chipping in with a couple of points and Mossy Keyes was a constant threat, though Cormac McFadden had his number in the Antrim goals.

At the back, Fiachra C Fennell put in one of his best displays in a Laois jersey and cleared a mountain of ball while the Antrim forwards will be having nightmares about Ian Shanahan’s pace.

Another big positive was the impact off the bench as James Keyes slotted two points and Mark Dowling struck a point and assisted Dunne’s second goal while Gearoid Lynch brought some much needed physicality into the midfield.

After a bad start to the campaign Laois are back on track but things don’t get much easier as they travel to Westmeath next weekend for Round 3 for another do or die clash.

That’s the trouble with the Joe McDonagh Cup and it’s a big reason why a semi-final is being introduced next season.

If you lose a game early on every game from then on is do or die.