COUNTY FINAL PREVIEW: Clough Ballacolla boss optimistic on key players return from injury while insisting it will be "all on the day"

Clough-Ballacolla manager Declan Laffen believes that Saturday's 2020 Laois senior hurling final will be all on the day as the lack of form from championship matches in the build up leaves it almost impossible to know what the teams will bring on the day.

Speaking ahead of the game, the Tipperary native was tentative in his musings explaining that it has been extremely tough to get a gauge on where his side are at considering they have only recently got their County hurlers back while nursing the dreaded injury problems.

“Our biggest problem has been trying to get games with our full compliment available to us. Even up until last weekend we were trying to get a game with everyone available to us.

“Nowadays clubs are coming up with different styles and systems they want to play with but when you haven't got the right personnel with you, it is very hard to implement that.

“It's also putting an onus on other players to maybe do something they don't want to do or that they might not be good at.”
He was full of praise for the application and work put in by his players both during the lockdown and since they got back training in mid May.

While lamenting the lack of normality in the lead up to a County final, he acknowledged that they are still back as a collective since May.

“We are back training since we were let back there in May but it has been extremely difficult especially when we have had so many players involved with County teams.

“Add in lots of injuries which I suppose every club has. When you don't have that pre-season in January and February, it makes a difference and bodies can just break down.

“We are as ready as we can be and I really think that, given the times we are in, it will all come down to on the day because there is no form line to go on really.

“At the end of the day, we are still back three and a half months so it is adequate time but lads came back in good order from the lockdowns and when you have five or six lads in with County teams, they are always going to come back in good shape too.”

They are sweating on the fitness of Stephen 'Picky' Maher and Diarmuid Conway, both injured on Laois duty this Summer but there is hope that both will be fit enough to see action on Saturday night in O'Moore Park.

“We are hoping Stephen will make it. He done his AC joint with the Laois hurlers. He is touch and go to be honest and hopefully he will make it.

“Diarmuid Conway has been out for the last while as well but he is back training. We have these lads that are borderline but we are hoping they will make it.”

They had prepared for Borris-Kilcotton last Autumn and while things never stay the same, he isn't expecting much to change both from his own charges or from Borris-Kilcotton.

“Personnel wise, there might not be a whole lot of difference with either team, there might be one or two players who have broke their way onto either team but in general the teams know each other well having played against each other in league and championship down through the years. It will come down to the best team on the day.”

Getting back to the hurling field was something that all involved in the panel really enjoyed back in May and Laffen believes it may have hit home that a sporting career can be short lived.

He remembers the enthusiasm and joy in those first few weeks back and he hopes that they can channel that come Saturday at 7pm.

“I remember the first few weeks when we got back training and it was unreal. They would have been working away on their own up until that nothing beats the group stuff.

“Everyone was mad for action and it was great to see lads getting back to doing what they love to do. You only have a short career and a lot of people don't really realise that.

“The last 18 months have shortened that even more for some lads but there is nothing we can do about that now.”
All the preparations are done at this stage and there is a final to be won come Saturday night.
There will be a degree of luck involved too and given that both clubs are similar in quality, the fine margins will count even more.

It has been a tough 18 months or so for all involved with Clough-Ballacolla but a County title this weekend would soften the blows that have come before them.

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