Proud manager is unhappy with the harsh schedule placed on teams

THE Laois minors have had a tough end to a long campaign having suffered big losses to Wexford and Westmeath in successive weeks, though manager Brendan Phelan is immensely proud of the level his team got to this year.

Phelan was also critical of the harsh schedule placed on teams coming up from Tier 2 into Tier 1, correctly claiming that it’s a big strain on his panel to hurl six out of seven weeks.

Speaking after their loss to Westmeath on Saturday, Phelan said: “The last two weeks was a step too far mentally rather than physically.

“We emptied the tank against Galway and Antrim and the last two weeks were just a step too far looking back.

“You’re asking the lads to go to the well every week we were running on fumes, not physically, just mentally,” he added.

“We got a great start and just for one reason or another Westmeath seemed to take over and they out-hurled us there for the last 20 minutes of the second half and that was the winning of the game. The lads showed a lot of character in the second half and this won’t define the year.”.

Qualification was a big ask for Laois coming into the final round as they had to put a huge beating on Westmeath to undo the ill effect that the loss to Wexford did to their score difference a week previous.

“You’re chasing two things, number one the win and number two, the win,” said Phelan.

“We knew that if we wanted to get to a semi-final we had to win well and naturally enough you want to win the game, but if we won the game by one or two we’d miss out on a semi-final.

“If we got a goal or two in the first few minutes it’s a different game, but it didn’t happen and we had six or seven goal chances that we failed to take and that was disappointing.”.

The performance from Westmeath was of little surprise to Phelan who knew the talent that’s in the Lake County setup.

“Westmeath’s win over Dublin was a serious win for them and gave them confidence. They have fine hurlers, Conor Raleigh and Conor Williams are serious operators and they just got the better of us.

“I’d like to think if we played them again the result would be different but they got us today,” he said.

Finally, Phelan discussed the progress that his team has made this year and he’s in no doubt about the level of potential that’s in this group of players.

Phelan said, “This year was an eye opener to a lot of those players and the dedication that’s involved. You’ve the gym twice or three times a week back in October and even just the pace of the game.

“We had ten challenges matches against quality opposition and it brought up their pace of hurling, it’s a million miles away from club standard of hurling. One thing I’m proud of it’s that we got them up to that and it showed against Antrim and Galway that we can hurl at that pace.

“I think mentally the last two weeks we weren’t at the races and that’s understandable, at the end of the day the lads have lives, they can’t have three or four days off school to prepare themselves like professionals.

“Maybe it’s something that needs to be looked at, maybe a few weeks break between Tier 1 and Tier 2 just to give lads a chance to recover.

“Overall, it’s a disappointing end to the year but the lads can hold themselves up high and I’ve no doubt that a lot of them will go on to hurl U/20 and senior with Laois,” he concluded.