Galway set for big championship win as injury-hit Laois look ripe for picking

THE round-robin system in the provincial hurling championships makes the task of minnows like Laois making a breakthrough even harder.

Over the course of five matches, as is the case in Leinster, Laois don’t have the resources to pull off one big performance after another. They threw everything at their opening round game against Dublin and only came up two points short (1-20 to 2-15) at Parnell Park in mid-April.

It was a heartening display from Cheddar Plunkett’s charges, with goalkeeper Enda Rowland causing a few hearts to skip a beat on the Dublin sideline when he netted a close-range free late on.

On that evidence alone, Laois weren’t going to be making up the numbers in the provincial title race, but the reality proved different as their injury-hit squad suffered subsequent championship pastings from Kilkenny (2-34 to 1-14) and Wexford (6-21 to 0-12).

Their casualty list, which included regulars Diarmaid Conway, Stephen Maher, Willie Dunphy, Podge Delaney and Ross King, proved an impossible burden to overcome, while the team’s form fell off a cliff after their rousing effort against Dublin.

It all means that the Midlanders face a third consecutive championship thrashing at O’Moore Park, on Saturday (5pm) when Galway roll into Portlaoise, especially as Delaney, Maher and King remain on the treatment table.

In June of 2019, Laois beat a team in the championship that had knocked out Galway the week before. That shock victory over Dublin qualified them for an All-Ireland quarter-final against Tipperary at Croke Park.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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