Former Arles Kilcruise star and The Downs manager Lar Wall looks ahead to the Leinster Final clash.

Portarlington may have been knocked out of this year's Leinster championship, but this coming Sunday there will be a Laois connection in Croke Park battling for the Sean McCabe cup. 

Former Arles Kilcruise player Lar Wall is the current manager of The Downs of Westmeath who beat Ratoath to reach this year's Leinster senior club championship final. Their opposition will be the mighty Kilmaud Crokes who carved apart the Laois Champions Portarlington in their semi.

Lar himself won a Laois championship medal in 2003 under the guidance of his father as manager of the team. Lar remembers that final very fondly. 

“I suppose like any player, you spend your underage journey aspiring to win championships. I would have been brought to games from a very young age. It was always a dream to win a county championship one day. My Father would have managed us the whole way up and he also managed that team that won the championship in 03. One of the things that made that day so special was the fact that men before us had come very close. Says Wall. 

“In the 70s there were teams that would have been made up of a lot of our fathers who went very close to winning a championship. They just never got there in the end. All them lads were very inspirational to us and to see the joy in the older generations faces was why it was so emotional for us as well.” More below photo 

In 2003 Round Towers of Kildare knocked out Wall and Arles Kilcruise at the Leinster semi-final stage. Lar spoke about how he used that as internal motivation which inadvertently motivated his team heading into the Leinster Campaign. 

“There were plenty of angles I could have used going into the semi-final against Ratoath from a motivational point of view. I didn't bring up the Leinster semi that I lost myself with the Downs lads. I suppose it helped me internally drive on and it's good to create a cause for yourself and try and transmit that to players. Back when we lost the Leinster semi it all kind of happened very quickly. Our chance came and went very quickly. We had huge regrets at the time. I would have been very conscious of that coming into the Leinster campaign.” Says the Arles Kiclruise man. 

“I wanted to make sure that we maxamised the opportunity in the first round and also the semi-final. We didn't want to have any regret with whatever outcome came our way. To be fair to the lads they were in a good space for the Leinster championship and that's all I would have wanted as a manager” 

The Downs and Wall will now face the current favorites for the All Ireland Club senior championship Kilmacud Crokes. Crokes picked apart the Laois Champions Portarlington with relative ease in their semi-final.  Wall knows the task ahead of him but is hoping his side can cause problems for the Dublin champions 

“Yeah, there was a noticeable difference in the two semis. There was probably a little bit of naivety in our game in how both teams approached the game and had a right go at it. Kilmacud was very controlled and had a more mature approach in the later game. They went through their process and that was very effective. That's what we're facing. Without giving too much away, we will be preparing our team to the best we can. Within that, there is an awareness of the threat that Crokes will pose. That's a huge part of it but it is still about extracting the best possible performance from my guys. Whether it's an open or conservative approach, it must be completed at our best level. It's a final and there is a lot at stake. I hope that we can approach it with a real emphasis on our game and hopefully, we bring the best version of that to the plate on Sunday. Hopefully, that sort of approach can cause Kilmacud problems.” More Below Photo

John Conway, former Laois, and Arles kilcruise star passed away last week. John was very much a hero of Lars growing up and Lar wanted to emphasize that John was in his thoughts during that semi-final against Ratoath.   

“John was our greatest player ever. It was a really tough week for Arles and in particular for the Conway family. He was an inspiration to us all growing up. One of the things that I wanted to make sure to bring last Saturday was that determination that John had. It was special in that regard as well. Last week brought me back to where it all started and the Conways were a huge part of our club. John was very much in my thoughts last week as I stood on the sideline”