Kelly is very aware of the challenge that lies ahead next week

LAOIS U/20 football manager Kieran Kelly saw his side lose their 2026 Leinster championship opener to Longford by five points on Wednesday evening.

In a frank debrief, Kelly addressed where the game slipped away, what improved after the break, injury concerns in the camp, and the knockout stakes now facing his side.

Longford started fast and went in at the break seven points ahead. Kelly acknowledged that the visitors seized the initiative early, highlighting Laois’s struggles on breaking ball as the platform that tilted the contest before half-time.

“Longford did come out of the traps quickly. We have been starting a little bit slow in games. At the end of the day, it came down to breaking balls. They won more than we did, and that gives you a great platform to go forward. I saw the stats there; they're not good, and that was basically the difference.

“When we started winning breaks, because there weren’t too many clean catches there, we started to play. We just didn't win enough of them,” Kelly said.

Laois’s second-half showing and near comeback were strong. Kelly pointed to the front-foot football after the break, noting a pivotal missed free and the fine margins that kept Laois from reducing the gap to a one-score game, while stressing collective responsibility.

“The second half, that's the way we can play football. We were on the front foot the whole time and got scores. I think they were on the rack, and unfortunately, with Ennae (Byrne) with the free, it was very, very unfortunate because Ennae had a great game. That free would have brought it back to two points, and they went up and kicked a score, which is a two-point turnaround. Had Ennae kicked it, you know, that's football, and no blaming anyone. We win as a team; we lose as a team.

“But yeah, the second half, you’re going to take positives from it. We're far, far better, but you can't give any team that lead at half-time and then try to switch it. We left ourselves far too much to do. In the end, we got caught,” he said.

Laois conceded two first-half goals and came under significant defensive pressure, but Kelly said the group addressed their shape at half-time, admitting they sat off too much and were caught ball-watching as Longford broke through for chances.

“I suppose we addressed that at half-time. There wasn't enough pressure being put on out the field. We were kind of sitting back a little bit, and we did get caught ball-watching a bit. They got the two goals that came in over the heads of lads that were running straight through. You need to be putting pressure out the field,” Kelly said.

On knocks and the tight schedule, he outlined both fresh and existing injury concerns, but stressed faith in the panel and the benefit of a week to recover and reset.

“Hugo (Emerson) picked up an injury there. Fionn O’Sullivan had an injury coming into the game, he was struggling a bit when we took him off. Paddy Fitzpatrick had a bit of an injury coming in as well. We have a good physio there. We have a week's turnaround, but look, we have a panel there too, and that's what it's there for,” he added.

Everything is at stake in championship football and, with an away trip to Meath in Round 2, Kelly underlined that, after Meath’s big win over Carlow, the campaign is effectively knockout from here.

“Meath had a big win over Carlow tonight. It's knockout football from here on in. We'll go up to Meath and, please God, we turn it around,” Kelly concluded.