The Harps answer every question as new era of Laois hurling begins

OVER the years there’s always been doubts about The Harps’ ability to produce when it came to the crunch.

Plenty of style, silky hurling, loads of youth coming through, but they just lacked that killer instinct and that always raised the questions from those on the outside.

They had a chance to answer the questions and silence the doubters on Sunday and they did so with a level of dominance that no one could have foreseen against the county’s most successful club.

Despite not being a truly dominant force in the senior championship in recent decades, there’s still an aura around the black and amber of Camross that you must really be on your game if you’re to beat them in a final.

The Harps have been impressive throughout the championship, but they upped their game by several levels in Sunday’s showpiece and absolutely blew Camross out of the water from start to finish.

While other teams may have a mental block from years gone by in games against Camross, this particular group of players from The Harps hurl with a level of freedom borne out of their dominance at juvenile level against the likes of Camross, Clough/Ballacolla and Rathdowney/Errill that their predecessors didn’t have.

The two elder statesmen on the starting team were Podge Delaney and Ciaran Comerford, both of whom only turn 27 this year.

The average age of the starting team was 22, so they don’t have any mental scars against anyone and they played with a fearlessness on Sunday that was incredible on such a big day in front of a packed house in the club’s first senior final in 28 years.

And it hasn’t been an easy route to the final by any means for The Harps, they lost their first round game against Camross despite scoring 5-15, with Camross hitting 2-31 in an insane encounter.

Since then they went six games undefeated, beating Borris-Kilcotton in the quarter-final before coming up against their neighbouring powerhouse Clough-Ballacolla.

Once again their youth saw them over the line in that one with Eoin Delaney, who only turned 18 in February, scoring a hat-trick.

The Harps have such a potent attack that it’s almost impossible to pinpoint one player in particular to stop because if Delaney is tied up that leaves either Justin or James Duggan with a bit more freedom, both of whom have also scored hat-tricks in this year’s championship.

The Harps again showed great mental fortitude in that win over Clough-Ballacolla after holding a good lead at half time before being pegged back to level in injury time, then getting over the line with a goal deep inside injury time.

Years gone past you may have expected Clough-Ballacolla to have ground out the win there and business would continue as normal, but The Harps have shown a new steely determination this year and you’d have to put some of that down to the serial winner Ken Hogan.

The Lorrha-Dorrha man was drafted into the fold this year along with Brian Carroll and they seemed to work wonders with this talented and youthful bunch to bring them to the promised land.

Ken Hogan was quick to shun any praise after the game and said it’s all about the players, but his record speaks for itself and he’s risen to the top in Laois yet again, having done so in similar circumstances with Borris-Kilcotton back in 2016.

There’s a new question now surrounding The Harps – who’s going to stop them?

With the age profile they have and the abundance of juvenile teams they enter year on year they are well set up to become the new powerhouse in Laois hurling after eventually getting over the line for their first.

The landscape of Laois hurling is changing and The Harps are the forerunners and they will no doubt relish the challenge.