Lessons learned from Leinster final loss paved the way for victory over Roscommon

LAOIS began their TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Championship campaign on Sunday afternoon with an impressive win over Roscommon in Laois Hire O'Moore Park.

Following the game, Laois boss Stephen Duff praised his side's performance, highlighting the improvements made from their defeat to Westmeath in the Leinster Championship final.

"I thought we gave each other more space on the ball," Duff said.

"We were crowding each other on the ball against Westmeath where each girl was trying to affect the game themselves - when you have four or five forwards doing that they're just ending up in the same space on the field.

"It's admirable in one way because they all want to affect the game - they all care about this team so much. But today I thought they let each other play and opened up the space much better.

"We went into a spine of four today because we knew Roscommon would try to go player-for-player on us. We just tried to get that lateral movement and a bit more space in between our forwards and it really worked; I thought we looked a lot better."

Laois finished as seven-point winners but did leave several scores out on the field. Duff acknowledged those missed chances but said "it's never going to be perfect," adding "the day we click it's going to be a serious problem for someone."

Looking ahead to the Fermanagh game, Duff said: "This was the first step in getting to Croke Park, we've got three more steps now, starting next week with Fermanagh.

“After that it's hopefully on to a quarter-final and a semi-final and everyone knows these championships take on a life of their own and who knows where this momentum can carry us. We're much happier because that is the first time this group have convincingly beaten a team at our level."

Laois have made a habit of conceding early goals this year and it was no different against Roscommon, with Caoimhe Lennon raising a green flag after only three minutes. But Duff said his team were prepared for it and praised the player's resolve in quickly turning things around.

"We said all week that if a goal goes in early, we have to reset. We worked on that during the week, and today we managed to do it. Simple mistakes cost us early, but we didn't compound those mistakes with more mistakes, so that's much better.

“There is plenty of learning for us to take from today and we'll show that and go through that on Wednesday and be better for next week."

The strength in depth of the Laois squad has continued to build as players return from injury, with serious competition for places creating the best kind of headache for Duff and his management team.

"That was the hardest team I've had to pick in a long time, and that's a great place to be," he said.

"We've got forwards there who were very upset not to be playing. Lauren Kearney has had the week of all weeks and was incredibly unlucky to miss out - she came in (off the bench) and got a goal and worked like a dog for us; she was brilliant. The way she can come in and effect the game with her speed is just phenomenal.

"We've got Grainne Moran, who has been starting for us all year and she only got ten minutes at the end but that's just because we felt we were going very well and didn't need to change a whole lot. On top of that we've got Eva Galvin to come back into the group this week, so that'll help us massively as well."

Fiona Dooley was arguably Laois's best player against Roscommon and her performance from midfield was hailed by Duff.

"I've been blessed to have trained Fiona for seven years now between Portlaoise and Laois and so I'm always delighted for her when she goes well. I've told Fiona before that she is one of the best players in the country; I don't think she believed me, but when she gets going like she did today she is incredibly hard to stop.

“She's also brought in an excellent defensive side to her game too and she's in a place where she is just so much smarter at reading the game. She might kill me for saying this but maybe she's starting to mature at long last."