Arles-Kilcruise's Cialann Mulhall highlights squad growth and key threats ahead of Intermediate final

Arles-Kilcruise and captain Cialann Mulhall are preparing for a big night at Laois Hire O’Moore Park on Friday as they take on Park-Ratheniska in the Laois Shopping Centre Intermediate Football final.

“There’s a great buzz around the place, everyone's excited, looking forward to it, bunting is being put up and all that sort of stuff. It puts everyone in great form and we're all looking forward to it and excited. Hopefully, we’re ready to put in a performance that we can at least challenge or put our best foot forward and that we might be able to get a win out of it. We're kind of a little bit fortunate to be there in the first place. We haven't exactly set anyone alight, but we've got a couple of wins, we've got over the line in a few games and we're looking forward to it now,” Mulhall said.

Mulhall says the current squad has evolved over recent years, blending youth with a few seasoned campaigners. 

“Besides myself and a couple of others, there aren't too many who have got real experience. The likes of David (Conway), Ross Munnelly and Kevin Meaney and then the vast majority of the rest of the team are all under 21. It was great to see the likes of Calum McElroy able to step up and put in that performance and a few other lads, a few of the younger lads that won ball when we needed to and we were able to burst out of tackles. Even though we might have looked down and out when they were six up, we were still well capable of battling back and putting in the performance that was needed to get over the line,” he said.

Reflecting on their dramatic semi-final win over Kilcavan, Mulhall highlighted the resilience of the squad. 

“It kind of looked like that against Mountmellick and Portlaoise in our last two. We were lucky to get a few late scores, which kind of got us over the line. We know we’re able to dig deep and get those late scores. The main thing we can take from this is that we’ll never give up. It's great to see the younger lads stepping up and for a lot of them, they wouldn't have been around in 2022 when we were last in the Intermediate final, so it's something for them to look forward to. Most lads in the club, apart from a few of the older lads, haven't really won a whole lot, so it's a great opportunity for them and a lot of the younger lads to hopefully get some silverware,” Mulhall added.

Mulhall feels the squad has strengthened since their earlier championship defeat to Friday night’s opposition.

“We kind of felt coming out of it that we probably didn't put in the performance we could have put in and that there was still a lot of room for improvement. We lost Jamie Conway through injury in that game, but we've a couple of lads after coming back. David Lawlor played midfield in the last couple of games. He has played well, and then my brother Eoin returned from an Achilles injury, so he's back in the starting team. We’ve had a few lads after coming into play since that first game. We're hoping to be able to give them a better game than we did the first time around and that we’ll be able to at least run them closer, if not beat them,” he said.

Asked where the game could be won or lost, Mulhall singled out Park-Ratheniska’s key threats. 

“It’s hard to ignore Cian Nolan’s scoring tally of 2-6 from the last day. If we can shut him down a bit, as well as the likes of Podge Dunne in midfield, he’s a big man. He's well capable of bursting forward and causing us if we don't look after him properly. They’ve got a few key lads around the place that we need to keep an eye on. We feel that if we can challenge around the middle and win more kick-outs than we did the previous day, we might be able to turn them over a bit,” Mulhall ended.

Arles-Kilcruise and Park-Ratheniska will throw-in at 7.30pm in Laois Hire O'Moore Park on Friday, September 26. The Leinster Express/ Laois Live will be providing a free live blog from the game.