There’s going to be serious competition for jerseys come next month

THOUGH having flattered to deceive at times in this year’s National Hurling League Division 2 campaign, this Laois side have yet to find their match and though on paper they faced their toughest challenge yet on Sunday, Westmeath were certainly no match for Tommy Fitzgerald’s charges.

Sunday marked four wins in succession for Laois as they continued their 100% record, but it’s the first time you could think that Fitzgerald walked into the dressing room at full time pleased with his team’s performance.

Harsh that may seem given the results to this point, but there has been a level of frustration at times in their earlier games.

The first half against Mayo was mightily impressive but the second half left a lot to be desired, then Derry arrived to Portlaoise and played with 14 men in defence which frustrated everyone in attendance, but Laois still got the job done in both.

Those games were no-win in a certain regard against such inferior opposition, to get full credit for those wins Laois would have needed to absolutely blow them off the field, which they did to Mayo for 35 minutes.

As predicted when the fixtures were announced the first real challenge they faced was Kerry who came to Portlaoise off the back of a couple of decent performances, but considering how bad they were last year in being relegated to Christy Ring, a good win for Laois was anticipated regardless.

As it happened, Kerry put up a huge fight and made life very difficult for Laois on a horrific day, but in testament to the Laois group they battled back right down to the wire and found the guts to find a winner with the last puck of the game.

The lack of physicality in the forwards in that Kerry game was a worry, a worry which Fitzgerald seemed to also feel as he drafted Ryan Mullaney into the forwards for the visit to Westmeath.

Mullaney was the best on the field against Kerry at half back so it may seem strange to move him to the forwards, but tactically it worked very well against Westmeath especially in the absence of Aaron Dunphy and Martin Phelan.

The presence of Mullaney under high balls played right into the hands of Mossy Keyes, James Keyes and Jack Kelly who were able to pick up the loose ball that Mullaney was suddenly dropping into their paths, gifts that they weren’t receiving against a dogged Kerry side.

Mossy Keyes in particular has been getting bottled up in recent weeks but his move to a free role along with Mullaney’s presence allowed him to flourish and when Keyes is on form, there’s few backs that are able to stop him.

His speed and skills when in possession is a huge factor in Laois’s success going forward and Fitzgerald and co need to do everything they can to ensure that they get him on the ball as much as possible.

Another delight for Keyes no doubt will be the return of Picky Maher to the fold as he appeared for the final 15 minutes on Sunday as he’s making his comeback from a cruciate injury.

Maher is the best forward in Laois over the last decade or so and has been outstanding for club and county, but he’s also going to add a serious amount of physicality and size to the forward line and the likes of Keyes will benefit incredibly from that.

The interesting thing going forward is who will be taking up the starting positions in the forwards.

Does Fitzgerald go all in on size and power with Maher, Mullaney and with Ben Conroy due to come back he’s another towering figure, or does he stick with the speed of Jack Kelly, James Keyes and Cillian Dunne.

Martin Phelan and Aaron Dunphy have also impressed in the forwards at times along with Cormac and Colin Byrne, so there’s going to be serious competition for jerseys come the final next month.