Will Tommy Fitz the Bill?

Recently a National Newspaper led with a headline, 'Laois Kicking King looking for ways Argentina can put Irish on Back foot', the columnist was Carlow man Bernard Jackman, he was referring to Portlaoise man Alan Kingsley who is now a well respected Kicking Coach at all levels of Rugby, he went on to write about Alan and how his first club outside of Portlaoise was Garryowen and Young Munster.

What has that got to do with a Laois Hurling Manager, except Alan and Tommy Fitzgerald were school pals in Portlaoise and hurled side by side, back, in 2000 both helped Portlaoise win U-21 hurling Crown, before that in 1996 both helped the Town win U-14 hurling title, and a year later Alan added another U-14 medal, Tommy won hurling Feile in 1996.

The year 2001 was spectacular both played in the U-21hurling final and lost to Castletown, then a month later Castletown were attempting to win grand slam of Minor, U-21 and Senior, this was when Alan and Tommie shone, they led by example and won the minor title. Two years previous the sixteen year Old's won their first minor title.

Alan departed the Gaelic scene with blessings from his GAA colleagues and mentors. Alan did line out with Laois minor footballers, last week Felipe Contepomi tracked down the Portlaoise man who includes Michael Cheika among his friends and Alan worked with the Pumas in France.

Last weekend he helped Argentina preparation ahead of the game in the Avia.

This week the focus reverts back to the small ball, news broke at the weekend that Tommy Fitzgerald of Portlaoise was to be the new Laois hurling Manager after the sudden resignation of Darren Gleeson for health reasons.

A few names had been mentioned but it was the name of Portlaoise man Tommy Fitzgerald that most people favoured, Tommie has a track record in sport, he played senior hurling for several years, but his only senior medal came twenty years ago when Portlaoise denied Castletown six Senior titles in succession. His biggest disappointment in SH was in 2009 when he was honoured with the captaincy, Portlaoise had lost in 2007 and 2008, Clough-Ballacolla were appearing in a first final since 1963 and were under dogs, but instead captured the O’Keefe cup for the first time.

He helped the Town win Senior A Hurling titles in 2002 and 2015. He had better luck with the big ball winning four senior football medals in a row, back in 2002 he won U-21 football medal.

Tommie hurled with the County for many years and helped them win the Div 2 NHL title beating Westmeath in 2012/13. When Portlaoise struggled to regain senior status Tommie was called upon to lift the spirits of the team, last year they swept all opposition aside and saw them beat Ballyfin comfortably in the final. This year they were back in their rightful place and started in style, maybe experience cost them and they were knocked out by last years beaten Finalists Abbeyleix.

Tommie spent time with St Thomas of Galway and saw them capture the All-Ireland title last year.

Last year he watched Laois hurlers overcome Carlow in the NHL Div 2 final in Netwatch Dr Cullen Park which sees them back in Division one, later in the Summer he watched from the stand in Croke Park as Ofally overcame Laois in the Joe McDonagh cup final, by a narrow margin, he will have watched the Faithful hand out a lesson to the U-20 hurling team. Last year no Laois club team managed a win outside the County, this year a similar fate befell all three Laois clubs. Tommie knows how hard all clubs prepare and he will get every co-operation from clubs. He has little time to prepare for the NHL but he and his backroom team will not want for trying.

Tommie won his first hurling medal U-12 with Portlaoise they beat Camross in 1993 and by the way it was from Camross, Alan Kingsley inherited his sporting prowess, maybe Alan could help out with some of the preparation??.

Tommie already holds a Laois record unlikely to be broken, back in 2008 the Railway cup hurling final was played in Pairch Ui Mhorda on a cold November 1st evening, Leinster had beaten Connacht in the semi-final 2-11 to 1-10 and Munster beat Ulster in the other SF 2-14 to 1-2, in the final Tommie was hauled on with fifteen minutes to play and Leinster won 1-15 to 1-12. Leinster would add three more titles before the competition was abandoned, but no Laois man featured in any of the winning teams. Jim Byrne was the first Laois hurler to win a Railway cup hurling in 1927 and Tommy Fitzgerald was the last in 2008.

His Father Seamus crossed the Shannon and lined out in the 1980 County final loss to Camross, his Mother Catherine has Ofally blood and will be busy counting this weekend. All hurling people wish Tommy and his backroom team the very best of luck.