TEN THOUGHTS
FOR THE DAY
BY Enda McEvoy(^1) THIS article was going to begin with a spot of existentialist pondering. As a result of
certain events that took place in the Greater Portlaoise area seven days ago it now won’t.
Fear not, we’ll get around to the existentialist pondering in due course. But first, Laois. In
the circumstances one cannot begin anywhere else.
A BATTERED AND BLOODY
PAT CRITCHLEY IN ACTION
FOR LAOIS
2 It may strike readers as a
stretch to say it of an outfit
that hasn’t been very long
on the road in its current
shape, but this is the county’s
best team since the terrific
combination of the early to
mid-1980s that featured
those mighty men the Cuddys,
John Taylor, Pat Critchley et al.
The proof of the pudding is in
the statistics.
Today marks Laois’s first
appearance in an All-Ireland
quarter-final since 1979,
when they ran Galway – who
would win the competition
the following season – to a
creditable seven points.
Although they’d never advance
as far again, that particular
cohort in blue and white would
improve as the years went
by (Centenary Cup finalists
in 1984, Leinster finalists
in 1985). Had the current
championship structure
applied at the time they’d have
been not infrequent All-Ireland
quarter-finalists.
profitable; thank heaven for
the efforts of Cheddar Plunkett
and the aforementioned Pat
Critchley, two of the truly great
hurling men of our time, in
helping to keep the boat afloat.
What the victories against
Westmeath and Dublin
proved was that playing for,
and supporting, the O’Moore
County doesn’t have to be grim
drudgery. It can be fun. It can
be sexy. It can be rewarding.
It can – and who saw this one
coming? - end up getting you
to be the first match on the
Sunday Game.
3
ONE doesn’t want to
blow about Laois too much
here because not only are
they facing Tipperary, with
all the attendant hazards
the task entails and all those
assassins to dread in Liam
Sheedy’s forward line, they’re
also lining out for the third
Sunday in-a-row – and the
previous two games were
draining, must-win fixtures.
But they won them both,
which leaves one to hope that
a turn in the road has been
reached and negotiated. In
recent years playing for Laois
has been neither popular nor