IT’S tough being a Laois person at the best of times so it wasn’t surprising the Kildare captain John Doyle had nothing but sympathy for the O’Moore men after the Lilies piled on the misery in Tullamore on Saturday. “The last time we played Laois in the championship the result was reversed so I know how they’re feeling,” said Doyle after Kildare’s 2-18 to 0-9 win in the Leinster SFC semi-final.
Laois might think that’s a bit rich coming from Doyle because he didn’t display much sympathy on the field, kicking seven points. And even if he had tried to tell his teammates to take it easy on their crumbling opponents they’d have hardly listened such was the rich harvest of scores to be had. “We turned around and treated it like the start of a new game and we kept piling on the pressure,” said Kildare selector Paul Grimley, as he shared his satisfaction rather than any great sympathy.
“When you’re contesting for honours you have to realise that you’re not going to be dominating games for 70 minutes. It’s what you do when you haven’t got the ball as much as you do when you have got it. One of the things that is standing to us now is that we’re mentally very strong,” added Grimley. After just 17 minutes Kildare trailed by two points despite Alan Smith’s early goal but there are no nagging voices inside this team’s psyche any more. Instead all you get is hard work and more hard work and so much hard work that they even put a sign in the dressing room that says: “work hard.” “The best thing about that performance was the work,” said their manager cum prophet Kieran McGeeney, who spreads his message like a man running from Mount Sinai.
His flock are listening.