Camross manager David Cuddy reflects on 2025 campaign and the road to the Laois SHC County Final

Camross manager David Cuddy, who guided the club to their 27th Bob O’Keefe Cup in 2023, is back at the helm after taking a year away in 2024.

For Cuddy, maintaining Camross’ reputation as a perennial contender is a key focus.

“Every year, Camross are trying to get to County Finals and be competitive at that end of the spectrum, as they say. Look, we know it's not a minimum requirement, but that's what we strive for every year, to at least be in the County Final anyway,” Cuddy said.

Slow start, strong finish

The 2023 champions had a slow start to the 2025 campaign, drawing their opening match against Portlaoise before losing to Rosenallis. However, the new format in this year’s Laois SHC allowed them to regroup, and they have built momentum to reach the final.

“We were missing a good few players for the first couple of games. Perhaps they could have played if it were a little bit shorter format; we might have risked them, but then could have risked losing them for the rest of the championship. The first day against Portlaoise, that was the one where we threw it away, really, very disappointed in that. In fairness, on the second day, Rosenallis were the better team on the day and they beat us, so we didn't have any complaints that day. But look, it's like anything, you need a bit of luck, you need your best players available. I think we got four or five back for the Ballacolla game in Round Three, and after that, we've gone on a run now where we've won five games in a row, so yeah, it's good, it's good,” he added.

Why did he come back?

Cuddy explained his reasoning for returning to Camross this season, noting that he typically steps away after three years. But when the club asks for his help, saying no isn’t an option.

“When I’ve been coaching before, usually I’ve done three years and then kind of stepped back or stepped away. They say never go back, but I suppose we got asked at the beginning of this year, if would we look at it. Obviously when your club asks you to do anything, it's very difficult to say no. In terms of new ideas, we've always tried to make the team as aggressive, as intense and high scoring as we possibly can. I think we kind of brought that from before and we've tried to put that into the team this year. We had a good few injuries at the start of the year, we had lots of lads in with Laois at the start between the seniors and the 20s. It probably took a little bit longer to get everybody back into the groove of where we wanted to be, but look, things are going okay at the moment. Obviously, there's a big test next Sunday,” Cuddy admitted.

Respecting the champions

He is under no illusions about the challenge his side will face in the County Final against reigning champions Clough-Ballacolla. Although Camross beat them in a knock-out game on penalties in 2023, Clough-Ballacolla have otherwise dominated knock-out hurling games in Laois in recent years. They last lost a knock-out game in Laois back in 2019 when Rathdowney-Errill beat them in a semi-final.

“I was told Ballacolla haven't lost a knockout game in a championship in a while. The year we beat them in 23, it was a draw, and we won on penalties. So look, they know how to win the big games. That game earlier in the year for us was do or die. We had to win it, whereas for them it didn't really matter, and look, that obviously makes a huge difference. We'd hope to come out on the right side of it again, but look, obviously, we're not taking anything for granted. They're the big team at the moment in Laois hurling. We're trying to get back up beside them and hopefully knock them off that ledge again, and hopefully get ourselves back up there,” he said.

Semi-Final surge

Camross earned their place in the final with a dominant semi-final performance against Rathdowney-Errill, pulling away in the second half. Cuddy highlighted the impact of key players like Mossy Keyes during the crucial stages.

“We watched the game back. I think we were a bit unlucky in the first-half that we didn't get a few more scores, but look, we stuck to the game plan. In the second-half, some of our hurling was top quality. In fairness to Mossy, it takes a lot to mind him for an hour. Madden did a good job on him in the first-half, but once he got the yellow card then it was difficult. When Mossy gets the chance, he doesn't need to be asked twice, so yeah, look, we were very happy. We scored 2-21 last weekend, which is a good score. We were happy with the performance, but we know that we probably need to go up another level again next Sunday,” Cuddy ended.

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