LISTEN: Laois Ladies boss Stephen Duff looks ahead to Division 3 clash against Fermanagh in Emo

The Laois Ladies’ Division 3 campaign gets underway this weekend with Fermanagh making the trip to Emo GAA to face Stephen Duff’s side.

Ahead of the game, Duff spoke to the Leinster Express/Laois Live to talk about how Laois’ pre-season has been going, along with alterations from his panel from last year. 

2025 was a year in which Laois reached the Leinster and All-Ireland Intermediate finals, losing to Westmeath in Leinster and Tyrone in the All-Ireland decider in Croke Park. Duff admitted the extended season affected the club and provincial championships.

“Pre-season was slow to get going. We had a late year last year, and the club season went on a bit longer than expected for some, so we had gradual returns for some people. We are delighted to have seven Portlaoise girls with us this year, and they went all the way to a Leinster quarter-final against Kilmacud Crokes. That’s the guts of nearly 30 per cent of our panel that weren't back until well into December. We've got 36 girls there at the minute,” he admitted.

Duff is hoping Laois can progress out of Division 3 in 2026. Last year, his first full season in charge, the focus was more on evaluating players than the league. This year, he expects the squad to perform more consistently.

“A bit of a turnover from last year again. That seems to be common in ladies' football, but we're excited for getting started in this league. Last year, we weren't overly fussed about getting out of the league. It would have been nice to get out of the league, but we were more looking to see what players we had in our squad. I think we found that out, and we managed to build a decent enough panel going into the Championship for girls we could trust. 

“We'd be looking to do the same again, but we're a little bit further along in our journey. We're confident the girls are going to have a better feel for what we're looking at, that we can get to know our panel, but expect performances back from them now because everyone's very aware of what we're trying to do,” he said.

Like most LGFA inter-county teams across the country, Laois have been hampered in recent years by not being able to get their best players to commit for various reasons. 

“It's hard to know. Talking to other county managers, everyone's suffering the same thing. A lot of counties are even struggling for numbers at this stage. It's a very long year; it's a lot of commitment. A huge amount of commitment for girls, and life gets in the way. In Laois, previously, a lot of the girls went travelling, which was a big puller for us. It's not so much travelling now, it’s just that the commitment levels that are needed for inter-county football seem to be the biggest blocker. It's just the glamour of Division 1 football, probably isn’t the draw, and playing for your county mightn’t be the draw that it was at some stage, but we're trying to put the pride back in the jersey for that,” he said.

Duff gave massive credit to Laois LGFA Chairperson Martina Phelan for helping the players in every way possible. He also went into detail about the specific inter-county commitments.

“We try and support the girls as best we can, because we understand it's a huge commitment. Martina Phelan, since she's come on as chairperson, has really looked after the group, and the girls have been exceptionally looked after from what I can see anyway. I think there has to be credit given there, but it's just such a massive commitment for people. It takes up so much of your time. It's four nights a week. It's your Sundays if you're travelling away. We've got games in Antrim and all over the shop this year, that's your weekend gone. It can just be a lot. It's a big, massive commitment when you've got friends and family pulling out of you too. 

The Laois Ladies manager confirmed that Portlaoise’s Aishling Saunders and Park-Ratheniska’s Anna Healy have returned to the Laois panel.

“It's unfortunate because we got so close last year, but we've got an awful lot of new girls in who haven't committed to the county for a number of years, and that's really pleasing. We've got the likes of Aishling Saunders in there, Anna Healy has returned from Australia, and they're part of our group. We're delighted to have players like that. It's just such a pity we can't get all of Laois’ best players on the pitch at the same time,” he added.

Several players also have third-level commitments. Duff, who also manages DCU, encourages them to prioritise college games during the week while monitoring their workload.

“We have about nine or ten girls who are balancing the two commitments. I'm a firm believer, and I've got the perspective that I've earned over the last eight years at DCU, that it's such a valuable competition and part of players' lives. We're talking about, just in the same breath, the commitment that's needed to play inter-county football. A lot of people won't give credence to the college game. So for the next six weeks or so, I've encouraged all our girls to go and play with their colleges. If they need to miss our Wednesday session to do that under the assumption that they'll get their Laois work done, so they get their gym session done, and they get their running post training done. We put the GPS on their back, we monitor what they do in their college session, and if it's not enough, we give them more, and if it's too much, we might ask them to pull back on some of our Laois work. 

“I'm a firm believer that right now, in the mid-week, your college is your priority, then it's your county's priority, and it's your club's priority, depending on what stage of the year you're in. So I don't see there's any reason, as long as you can communicate with the colleges, you can go to their games and see what they're doing, and make sure to trust everyone. If a player's not doing their work, then the privilege is revoked, and you need to be back with Laois. I'd like to say that we've never had to do that. All the players we've given trust to have paid us back in spades throughout the year, and they've never let us down. So, for the foreseeable future, the girls will be giving everything to their college teams, and I look forward to crossing paths with them over the next couple of weeks. I’m sure Emily Lacey and I will be renewing our rivalries with DCU and UCC over the next couple of weeks, and I'm looking forward to it,” Duff commented.

Duff is taking the league one game at a time, aiming to build results and performance consistency ahead of the championship.

“First and foremost, the championship is our priority. I did a bit of work recently, and I noticed that in Division 1, Division 2, and Division 3, not many teams have won their division and gone on to win an All-Ireland, or even get to an All-Ireland final. It's a long year, it's an exceptionally long year. It's hard to maintain performance levels for the guts of nine months of the year. 

“We're really just looking at that Fermanagh game first. We've got a couple of new players we want to get into the team, and we've got a couple of players who are coming back into the group. We want to make sure we get a win in that game against Fermanagh. Last year, we didn't get a win in our first game against Louth, and it kind of hampered us going forward, so we want to make sure we get a win against Fermanagh. Then we'll focus on Down, and then we'll focus on, I think it's Clare, after that. So, I'm not going to put a target on the league. What I want is results, and continuing improvement on our performance levels from last year that can put us in a place where we can compete for an All-Ireland Championship and get back to senior level,” Duff said.

READ ALSO: Laois GAA minor football panel announced ahead of 2026 season

He finished by talking about the players who aren’t currently training with the group. One of those mentioned is Laois forward Mo Nerney, who’s currently travelling. The Laois boss is hopeful that Nerney will return to the panel once she returns to Ireland.

“The two Moores, Jane and Anna, aren't with our group at the minute. They've decided to take some time to themselves. Mo (Nerney) is taking some time to herself for travelling, but we're hopeful to have Mo back when she returns from travelling in a couple of weeks. Other than that, we're pretty much as is. We've introduced some new players who performed well in the club championship. So, the likes of Aishling Saunders, as I mentioned, Kelly O'Neill, Sarah Larkin from Timahoe, and a few others. A couple of the Graigecullen contingent have joined us. Kathlyn Timmons and Mia Brannigan from the Minors have joined us, and Lara Culleton, who's still Minor, has joined us. So, yeah, we've reintroduced some new ones, and we've lost two or three senior players,” Duff concluded.

FIXTURE LIST

Lidl Ladies Football League Division 3

Sunday January 25

Laois v Fermanagh in Emo at 2pm

Sunday February 1

Laois v Down in Laois venue

Sunday February 8

Limerick v Laois in Limerick venue

Sunday February 22

Clare v Laois in Clare venue

Sunday March 1

Laois v Roscommon in Laois venue

Sunday March 22