Aimee Collier and Laois Camogie one win from third straight Leinster final as Wicklow await

placeholder image — Aimee Collier and Laois Camogie one win from third straight Leinster final as Wicklow await

Laois were beaten in the Leinster final in 2024 and 2025 by Wexford and Carlow

The Laois Camogie team will be back in action this weekend when they face Wicklow in the semi-finals of the Leinster Intermediate Championship.

Camross’ Aimee Collier is the Laois captain this year, and she admitted that Laois have been put through their paces over the last few weeks since their final league game against Westmeath.

“It was nice to get a win in our last game there in Portlaoise. Obviously, it wasn’t enough to get to the league final, but we're happy enough with our league campaign. Very tough matches, there's not much between any of us really, and the last few weeks have been fairly tough now, just dogging it out for those last few weeks, trying to get ourselves ready for Wicklow,” she said.

Laois have had five weeks in between games, something they wouldn’t be used to, as they reached the Division 3 league final in 2024 and 2025.

“It's a bit weird, to be honest, to have that break. The girls are probably saying the same thing, but heavy training there in the last few weeks. We needed it and it's nice to get that in. It’ll set us up for the championship. Obviously, it's not nice not getting into the league final, but these few weeks hopefully, they'll do us no harm and get us ready for the championship ahead,” Collier said.

Collier looked back on Laois’ Division 2 league campaign in 2026 and said that Laois’ main aim was to maintain their Division 2 status. They almost reached a league final, but lost out on scoring difference over Meath.

“Our aim at the start of the league was just to stay safe. We're up in the intermediate league, so our first protocol was to stay up and not go straight back down after the hard work of getting up there. That was kind of our first thing in our minds when we started the league this year. We're happy enough, probably not too happy with our Meath performance, but look, Meath are a really strong team as well as Westmeath and Kerry. There's serious competition in the championship this year, and they're great games to be getting to set us up and we know what level we have to get ourselves up to,” she added.

Looking ahead to the Wicklow game, a side that Laois have beaten comprehensively in the last two years, Collier said this weekend’s game will be a clean slate.

“100%, it has to be a clean slate. The pitches are in tough condition at the moment, and Wicklow are a very physical team. It's going to be a dogged match between us, and it always is. They’ll give us a good battle, so we're going to have to work hard to pull through that game, and hopefully we get on the other side, but as I said, it's going to be a tough game and a good physical battle first,” Collier commented.

Laois have reached the final of the Leinster Intermediate Championship in the last two years, losing out to Wexford and Carlow. Collier knows that Laois need to put a 60-minute performance in every game if they want to finally get their hands on that Leinster title.

“It's something we really have to work on as a team, and that's what we've been trying to work on. In the All-Ireland Final, it was the one day that we did improve in that third quarter and fourth quarter of the game to try and keep things going at the standard that we started the game. We always seem to start well, and then we die off, so I'd be hoping if we did get back to the Leinster Final, that's where you're going to have to focus on and the same with Wicklow. We always seem to get a quick start, so we're going to really have to work on that side of the game and get a full 60-minute performance from all of us,” she said.

Laois come into this year’s Leinster Championship as Premier Junior All-Ireland champions.

“Winning the All-Ireland was unbelievable for the county and for us ourselves. Just to get over that hurdle because we'd been knocking away at it there, and it was just a big thing for us to get over that hurdle. Some of the league games we had convincing wins, and that wasn't really preparing us for the level we had to step up to then in the Leinster Intermediate Championship. I'll be hoping that these games now in the league stand to us now against Wicklow next week,” Collier added.

2025 was a year to remember for Collier as she also won a Club All-Ireland with her club Camross. She and the Camross contingent are ready to use that victory as a driving force for Laois in 2026.

“Last year was a bit of a dream. It's something you look back on and even looking back on the pictures and stuff. You can't get over it, but look from the Camross girls' point of view, we just drive on again, there’s no let-up. We're back in with the county this year and we're gonna hopefully drive on and hopefully have a Leinster final to look forward to and get us going down for the All-Ireland Championship. It's obviously a huge boost for the county, but it's all guns blazing now and hopefully get things going with Laois,” Collier said.

The Laois captain finished off by praising the strength of the Laois panel ahead of the championship.

“The panel this year, the young girls could be coming in with injuries and stuff. Our panel is so strong this year that it hasn't made too much of a difference to us here and there in games. It's great to get Ash back as well and to get a few other girls back that weren't there last year, Aoife Finlay and Jade Bergin. Then our younger girls feed into the panel. Last week, our minors were in an All-Ireland semi-final and lost out narrowly to the Wexford A team. There's huge potential coming up through the grades. Our under-16s won the B Leinster final as well. Us winning last year might have put a drive on these younger teams, but there is serious talent coming into the group. It’s all about making sure that we keep building with the group that we have now. Hopefully, in the next few years, we can bleed in those younger girls again and just keep them going because if you don't have the youth coming into your panel, you'll fall off fairly quickly,” she concluded.

Laois and Wicklow will face off at 3.30pm in Arklow on Sunday, April 26.