Laois GAA captain Brian Byrne relishing the chance to lead Laois into the Leinster Championship

Graiguecullen's Brian Byrne will lead Laois into Leinster Championship battle this Saturday evening, and while captaining his county is a major honour, he insists his approach hasn’t changed dramatically. Byrne is keen to strike the right balance between personal performance and leadership.

"It’s a great honour, like I said earlier in the year. I guess throughout the year and the league, I probably feel it hasn’t changed to a degree. Probably the first lesson I learned, you kind of have to worry about yourself first and your performances, or you won’t be playing essentially. So that’s probably the best leadership you can give."

He’s not alone in the dressing room when it comes to leadership, with a number of other players stepping up both formally and informally.

"I think we have a good group of us there with the three vice-captains as well. And even outside of it, even a couple of new lads to the panel, like Trevor from my own club, he was a captain with Laois, and even new lads like Ronan has captained Portarlington. From a personal perspective, it’s really essentially worrying about myself to a degree first of all, I think that’s the most important."

Byrne will lead the team out in Wexford Park on Saturday for their opening championship game, but says the focus must quickly shift to the challenge itself.

"Leading the team out next Saturday, first championship game. You have to put a lot of that behind you. It’s another game. It’s a big game, but it’s another game. It’s down in their backyard. They’ll be throwing everything at you."

While Laois have enjoyed some success in Wexford previously, Byrne is under no illusions about the task ahead. READ MORE BELOW PICTURE.

"Laois have gone there before and we’ve done okay down there. But I suppose everything is wiped this time. It’s a clean sheet and going down there, you know you’re facing a top team who’ve been probably the best team in the league this year. Unscathed in every game they’ve played, apart from their final."

This year’s rule changes have added a new dimension to inter-county football, particularly in defence, and Byrne admits it’s forced players to return to the basics.

"Probably at first it was maybe a baptism of fire, but I guess that’s across the board for every team in the country. The big thing probably is just the pace of it, and maybe going back to skills when you’re probably a young lad, like the one-on-one defending.

"In your head, the last few years, there probably is a bit more cover and that, and it’s really challenged us back to the basics of the game. Even looking at the finals in Croke Park at the weekend, it’s kind of benefited the most skilful players, and I think in a lot of sports that’s what you want, that’s what people want to see.

"I think the same with the structures of the championship and the rules as well, we really just get on with it as players. It’s as simple as that, you have to adapt to it to survive, but in an overall sense, I’m enjoying it."

Byrne has been tested at both ends of the field during the league campaign and is honest about where he needs to improve.

"There are a couple of areas to improve, and like I was saying about being back in defence, the one-on-one defending is definitely an area I was looking to improve on. You’re getting challenged in that every game. At training, we have the right lads to test you there, so I feel like I’m getting better there."

"I guess playing up in the forwards, I’ve been lucky enough with the club, I play a good bit up in the forwards, so it’s a different level at Inter-County, you have to adapt again. But yeah, once I’m playing and I’m lucky enough to play, I’ll get on with it really." READ MORE BELOW PICTURE.

Reflecting on Laois’ league performances, he feels the group has more to offer, particularly in closing out games.

"Most league games, we were very competitive in nearly every single one of them, bar the Kildare game comes to mind. That was sobering enough that night, but a lot of teams maybe have a performance like that in the league, and we kind of responded pretty well to that.

"Even in the last two games, to a degree, we performed fairly well, but it was just the last five and ten minutes there, and we were probably pretty disappointed the last day that we didn’t fully learn from the Clare game how to see out the game.

"It was a relatively solid enough campaign, but we probably have a good balance of being solid but equally disappointed going into the weekend, and we feel like we have a point to prove and a lot of improvement to do."

Looking ahead to Saturday, Byrne is hopeful the Laois supporters will make the trip to Wexford Park and get behind the team.

"Hopefully, on Saturday evening, people might be off work and have a few hours free to take a trip down because it means a lot to us as players coming out onto the field. Even when we’re playing the league games here, and to see some of the young lads waving us onto the field, it gives us a great boost there. It’ll be a needed Saturday."

He also praised the newer members of the panel for how they’ve adapted to senior inter-county football.

"100% and it’s a tough thing to come straight into inter-county, it probably does take a while to get up to the level and the pace and not just survive, but to excel at the level of the game. READ MORE BELOW PICTURE.

"In fairness, a lot of that comes from the training environment, and we’re lucky there’s a very good culture there of lads pushing each other on. If something needs to be done or something needs to be said, we try and drive it ourselves.

"There are a lot of very good players in Laois, at club level as well, and in fairness to them, it’s a huge commitment. Every single lad has stepped up to it. I’ve a lot of confidence and belief in the lads."

Laois and Wexford will go toe-to-toe in Chadwicks Wexford Park on Saturday, April 5 from 6pm. The Leinster Express/ Laois Live will be providing a live blog from the game while tickets for the game can be bought in the following stores; SuperValu Stradbally, Breslin’s SuperValu Rathdowney, McConville’s SuperValu Mountmellick, McLoughlin’s SuperValu Portarlington, Mulhall’s SuperValu Portlaoise, SuperValu Abbeyleix and SuperValu Parkside Portlaoise, as well as online here.