Laois boss wants fans on ‘bandwagon’ for All-Ireland Final tussle with Tyrone

Laois Ladies Gaelic Football team manager Stephen Duff learned he had some coaching potential on home turf after training during his playing days with home club Ballyfin GAA.

“I remember Liam Lynden, God rest him, saying in the pub one night after training that I’d be a better coach than player,” he said.

Duff told the Leinster Express / Laois Live played junior football and a couple of senior club games, but is happy to admit that his football-playing strengths were limited.

“I could see it but couldn’t do it,” he admitted at the meet and greet night for fans of the Laois team which is contesting the All-Ireland Intermediate Final in Croke Park on Sunday, August 3.

He recalls starting in the coaching side of the game doing stats for Ballyfin GAA, which led to him taking on the coaching job with the Ballyfin ladies team.

“We were lucky enough to get to two county finals. We never won it, and it still rots me that we never did. But that was the start of it,” he said.

He joined up with the Laois set up as coach in 2019, working under Dave Gibson.

“I was very green at the time and thought I was a lot further on at the time in my development but I wasn’t,” he said.
The next step took him to DCU via a connection made by Laura Nerney. This culminated in 2025 with him coaching the DCU O'Connor cup team to a three-in-a-row.

“I haven’t looked back since. It’s my eighth year coaching with DCU. I love it and DCU have invested a huge amount in me, ” he said.

He also had big years with Portlaoise LGFA teams. MORE BELOW PICTURE.

Stephen Duff signs Laois jerseys at the Laois GAA LOETB Centre of Excellence. Pic: Paul Dargan  

“They also took a gamble on me but the four years with Portlaoise were great. We lost one game in four years - that is not normal. It was just the right people in the right place at the right time - nothing special,” he said.

“Portlaoise was never a stepping stone (to the county job). I thoroughly enjoyed my four years with Portlaoise. A lot of the girls were a similar age to me at the time and we would have been friends growing up and it was something we really enjoyed. It was a hobby and I loved going out there to Rathleague three or four times a week,” he said.

So how did he end up with Laois?

“I was in Australia when I got the call. I was at a wedding. I woke up one morning at 4am and had seven missed calls from Emer O’Connor. I said to myself, someone must be dead. I rang her and asked who was dead, and she said no one is dead yet. I have always said it is very hard to say no to your county,” he said.

So what has the experience been with Laois?

“I reflected on it recently and I’d say if I had the chance again, I may not have taken my own county first because you invest yourself so much and you love your own county and when things don’t go well you can take it personally. But for the most part it is unbelievable and I’m so honoured to have the job,” he said.

So what of the path to the final and the team he is leading from the sideline?

“We had to get through the league to get to here. We learned an awful lot from it. We found a lot of young players that we mightn’t have found without going through that league.

“We have four or five starting players who are under the age of 21. While we have some of the players there from 2022, it is a new Laois team. It is a young team that is coming through.

“Everyone got a chance to put their hand up for a place during the league, and no one can crib that they didn’t get a fair chance. That was really important to us,” he said.

While promotion from the League wasn't achieved, a Leinster Final clash against Westmeath was secured.

“That Leinster Final was probably a watershed moment for the team. We were so disappointed with how we played that day.
“We probably had a lot of the league team there, but we were so disappointed by the manner in which we lost.

“We did a horrible video session after, where we all had to have a look at ourselves and from that day it changed. The girls have been really positive in taking the criticism and learning to apply it,” he said.

So what of the final and what they expect from Tyrone?

“A terribly difficult game. They are obviously going to be favourites. Last year they went to Croke Park expecting to beat Leitrim and lost by a point. So, they have a point to prove but so do we. We feel we let ourselves down in the League campaign and everyone overlooks us.

“I was speaking to the Monaghan manager after the semi-final and he was shocked with what we had. So we are quietly confident in what we can do.

“But Tyrone are likely to have been the best team we’ll have played this year. They are quite similar as to how we play.
“They have an exceptionally dangerous forward in Sorcha Gormley. For anyone who doesn’t know Gaelic football, I would say get out and see her play - a phenomenal talent.

“But we have our own little plans. We are confident and have always been building on the collective of our group and not any individuals which is something that I have been strong on in my coaching. We are not reliant on any individuals,” she said.

Mo Nerney has been a standout player for Laois for years. So what is her role now?

“Mo has her job to do and Mo knows that. We challenged Mo at the start of this year to build out her game and by God, has she done that,” said Duff.

Apart from Mo, he highlights others from the 2022 All-Ireland win.

READ ALSO: Laois Ladies meet their fans in Portlaoise IN PICTURES

“They have to be our little bit of reason in the environment of going to Croke Park,” he said.

There is other experiences on the team. MORE BELOW PHOTO.

Laois manager Stephen Duff during the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Football Intermediate Championship semi-final match between Laois and Monaghan at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park in Longford. Photo by Thomas Flinkow/Sportsfile

“Andrea Moran is our captain and what she has brought to the group in linking the new and the older players has been really special and she is a special person in the way she does that.

However, the manager emphasised the impact of new players.

“You also look at Ciara Crowley who is in her first year. She has a massive role to play with the energy she brings to the group and her ability to read a game.

“So I wouldn’t say it is all on the older players but they do have their part to play in their experience and their understanding of the situation. But we are confident in our whole group,” he said.

He called on the fans to get behind the football and camogie teams.

“There is a bandwagon there, and we want to give both teams a day out in Croke Park for both teams. We don’t get that often in Laois, and it is such a brilliant opportunity to show what we, ourselves and the camogie, are capable of, and we are both working as hard as the lads.

“These girls deserve a huge amount of respect for what they do because they put in the same amount of work. “We are going to need support. We are a small county and we are underdogs. We beg people, no matter what age they are, to wear the blue and white and get on board our bandwagon,” he concluded.

Laois play Tyrone in the All-Ireland Intermediate Final on Sunday, August 3 - throw-in 1.45 pm.