Two from two for Laois senior hurlers, but manager Tommy Fitzgerald demands improvement

Laois made it two wins from two in the National Hurling League after their victory over Derry on Sunday, but boss Tommy Fitzgerald wasn’t totally impressed by the performance again.

The first half against Mayo was outstanding from Laois as they led by 5-15 to 0-1 before letting off the pedal in the second half, and Fitzgerald likened Sunday’s game to that.

“I suppose it’s two points on the board, that’s it,” were his first words after Sunday’s game.

“We know we need to be better; we wouldn’t be happy with the performance, but we have three weeks now to get ready for Kerry. They’ll be a much stiffer opponent, I think.

“We’ve three weeks to get ready for that game, and we’ve a good bit of work to do. We started quite well in the first five minutes, but similar to last week, we went into our shell a small bit. It was a bit dour and again, no more than last week was a hard watch at times.”

Derry played a particularly defensive brand of hurling, with just a lone Shea Cassidy operating on the full-forward line, which made for a poor spectacle, and Laois struggled at times to break them down.

Fitzgerald said, “They started off with a sweeper and kept it even after the sending off, so it was a strange game then. At times, we had two free at the back and trying to push up one, and it was a messy spectacle at times.”

Laois’s full-forward line was exquisite against Mayo, but the same trio didn’t have the same success on Sunday. 

“They were in and out of the game, and the supply wasn’t wonderful either,” he claimed.

“The sweeper probably had a factor and it was a different type of game, but we probably tried to force it a few times when goals weren’t on and we should’ve just popped it over the bar. I don’t think we forced too many saves from their keeper, which was disappointing.”

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After a hectic four weeks which saw five competitive games for Laois, they now have a three-week gap until they welcome Kerry to town, and Westmeath follow that, arguably the two strongest challengers in the division.

Looking ahead, Fitzgerald said, “We’ve a lot of work to do in the next few weeks, we’ve our two toughest games coming up now in Kerry and Westmeath. “We need to be better, and I’m sure the lads know that themselves as well.

“They (Kerry) seem to be well organised this year, and they seem to be up a small bit; they’ve a few players back. They’d a big win last week, we beat them well last year, but they’ll be a tougher proposition the next day, I’d imagine.”

Podge Delaney wasn’t named to start on Sunday, but before the game, word spread that he wouldn’t even feature on the bench, which caused some concern amongst the Laois faithful, but Fitzgerald allayed the fears and also said the players on the long-term injury list are still making good progress.

“Podge just had a tight hamstring, the other fellas are making good progress, and we should get stronger as the league goes on and get an opportunity to see another few lads as well.”