Delaney and Laois eager to pick up pieces and go again
For Laois and Padraig Delaney, this is a bid to bounce back.
The quick turnaround from the devastation of the Joe McDonagh Cup final defeat to a preliminary quarter-final may be a 'joke', but the challenge is deadly serious.
Manager Tommy Fitzgerald was critical of the six-day gap when speaking in Croke Park after their loss to Kildare, while stressing they want to represent the jersey properly. For Delaney, that is the primary ambition in welcoming Tipperary this weekend.
"It can be tricky. It's a quick turnaround, especially after losing,' he said, speaking at the launch of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship this week.
'It can be a lot easier after a win and you have momentum behind you. But at the end of the day, it's a Championship game and you're putting on the Laois jersey. You want to do yourself proud as well. We don't get too many years to do it so it's another Championship game where we'd like to put in a good performance."
Laois looked primed for a promotion push in 2025. They reached the 2024 decider, Delaney made the Team of the Year, the county board made a shrewd appointment in Darren Gleeson last August.
Gleeson subsequently had to step down in order to undergo cancer treatment.
'Tommy came in at late notice, but he brought in a savage backroom team as well. Tommy is one of our own. He's a brilliant manager.
'We couldn't have asked for anyone better in that situation. What happened to Darren Gleeson was unfortunate. We would have loved to have him down. But we couldn't have asked for a better man than Tommy.'
Despite delegates voting against a proposal to abolish the preliminary quarter-finals in 2023, there have been renewed calls to scrap the system. Laois secured a shock win in 2019 but since then there have been numerous one-sided games.
That move could create space to stretch out the Joe McDonagh Cup and play the final before one of the All-Ireland semi-finals, with the victors still progressing to the Leinster championship the following year.
When asked whether he'd favour such a move, Delaney was reflective.
'I suppose. But it's nice to get the opportunity to play the top teams as well. Back in 2019 we beat Dublin so there is scope there to win games and have a real cut off bigger teams. It's definitely a lot easier when you win the final but we'll pick ourselves back up again and go again on Saturday."
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