'Erone Fitzpatrick has been nothing only sensational'- Donie Brennan pays tribute to his departing Aussie

On Sunday, all those in attendance in Laois Hire O’Moore Park were witnessing Erone Fitzpatrick lining out for the Laois Ladies before she heads for Australia to play Aussie Rules.

The All-Star winner from last year will wear the jersey of Carlton when she’s Down Under as she leaves behind her green and gold jersey of Park-Ratheniska as well as the blue and white of her beloved Laois.

Following their defeat against Meath, Laois are now out of the Leinster Championship and manager Donie Brennan paid tribute to Erone as she departs the Laois panel while also giving his thoughts on the contest.

“What an opportunity! To have a professional player in our ranks is massive, it’s very big for the LGFA and it shows the opportunities that’s out there for representing your county and where you can end up.

“We wish Erone the best of luck out in Australia, we’ll all be keeping a close eye on her and we hope to see her in a Laois jersey again in the future. Of course it was emotional and there would have been a lot on her mind throughout the game that it was going to be her last game if we didn’t win. Her emotions probably took over her today but that’s only natural. Since I’ve come here, Erone Fitzpatrick has been nothing but sensational in every match that we played, we wouldn’t expect anything else out of her."

In terms of the team in general, Laois have come a long way in a short period of time since Donie Brennan took up the managerial role.

“It’s where we’ve come from in Division 3 from when I started, playing the All-Ireland champions today. I know the result went against us today but it was a performance where we can be immensely proud. The players left everything out on the field and once they do that, there’s no more that we can ask as a management team and as a collective. That’s what we expect heading into the All-Ireland Series, that will be our main focus.

Their Leinster campaign as a whole was a disappointing one as Dublin played them off the park before Meath showed why they’re back-to-back All-Ireland champions as they pulled away in the second-half.

“We were well-beaten last week (by Dublin) and we were very disappointed with that performance. Did we expect the same performance today? No, I didn’t because I did expect the girls to pick it up. We reflected on our disappointment during the week and again there’ll be a reflection leading into the All-Ireland Series.

“That’s the standard if you want to play Senior football. You’re up and down the pitch and putting your body on the line. If you don’t do that, you saw what happened to us last week. Reflecting on that, we played the reigning All-Ireland champions from the last two years, the four All-Irelands before that were won by Dublin."

Laois now face a six-week break as they head into the Senior grade of the All-Ireland Series following their Intermediate win last year.