‘They have dug us out of a hole in a good few games’ - Kehoe on younger players

THE Portlaoise ladies team are back in yet another county final, their fourth in a row and their fifth final in six years.

Full-back Deirdre Phelan, centre-forward Aisling Kehoe and manager Kevin O’Grady were speaking at this year’s Senior County final media night at the LOETB Portlaoise Institute.

“Everyone is really focused at the moment, we've reflected on our last couple of games and pinpointed areas to focus on for the next two weeks leading up to the final and we're just going to drive on,” Phelan said.

The Portlaoise full-back was part of Stephen Duff’s Laois ladies panel that reached the All-Ireland final this year.

“It was a privilege to be part of the panel, to be asked to be part of the panel this year and the learnings I took from it. It was great to bring that back to the club and obviously, the intensity of those trainings kind of pushed everyone on then when we got back,” Phelan added.

Aisling Kehoe is one of the more experienced players on the Portlaoise team and she credited the younger players for their seamless transition from playing underage with club and county to now lining out in a county final.

“It's great. I suppose there are a good few older girls there, but especially this year, the minor girls have come on leaps and bounds. They have dug us out of a hole in a good few games.

They come on, they're injection of pace, it's brilliant. I don't think we have to do too much grounding with them. They have that experience of getting to an all-Ireland minor final, which was great for them. We have Faye, who captained that Laois team and then Lara Culleton as well. They're just a great bunch of girls and there are a good few of them there on our panel. They bring a different type of vibe to the group, keeping us all young; so they do,” Kehoe said.

Portlaoise are unbeaten in this year’s championship, but they were made to work in every game. Their first two games saw them draw with St Joseph’s before Fiona Dooley kicked the winner in a one-point victory over Sarsfields.

“In the group stages, you could say the first two games weren't easy at all. Against St Joseph’s, we were down by 8 or 9 points with 10-15 minutes to go. The Sarsfield's game was very tight as well, but it just shows the heart that we have to come back. It would be a great experience to bring back into the county final, because this is our fourth year playing St Conleth’s in a final. They are a very well-drilled team, a very good team. We're just looking forward to it now, we can't wait for two weeks' time,” Keogh commented.

Portlaoise are coming into this year’s final looking to overturn the result of the 2024 final, which St Conleth’s won thanks to a late point from Aoibhe Byron. Kehoe admitted that there was a lot of hurt in the panel following that loss.

“There was a lot of hurt there last year, a lot of hurt. It's driven us on this year to get back to the final. Especially in our semi-final, we were up by a good bit at one stage and then only won by a goal. We’ve shown each time that we have great heart, great determination to get over the line and hopefully do the same in two weeks' time,” Keogh ended.

New Portlaoise manager Kevin O’Grady came into the club at the start of the year with his son (Ryan) as a selector and joked about the players not adapting to him yet. He went on to say that his panel are a joy to work with.

“I'm not sure that they've adapted to us yet. Ah, no, look, they're a great bunch. Anyone, and I genuinely mean anyone, could train them. It's a question of facilitating them and maybe giving them a couple of pointers, but in terms of their dedication to their club and to each other, it's unquestioned. Their skill levels, fitness levels and just their camaraderie. It's been a privilege for us to be involved; it genuinely has. They're an easy bunch, most of the time, to train and be involved with,” O’Grady said.

Portlaoise have yet to lose a championship game under O’Grady’s guidance, but he feels that there are still areas that his side needs to work on, as no team will ever be perfect for the full hour.

“Of course, there are things to improve on. No team’s ever gone onto a field and played 60 minutes of perfection; it doesn't happen. Opposition teams have purple patches, no matter how dominant you are yourself. There's always room for improvement. There are always errors that you can eliminate from your game. The great teams over the years have had bad moments in games, and we're no different. We just hope that we can maximise the positives and reduce the errors and the negatives come Saturday week, but you're never going to get perfection. You strive for it and drive for it, and that's what brings us all into the field. We'll do our best to deliver that as best we can anyway,” O’Grady ended.