It’s only three years ago that Joe Phelan and Laois experienced a 35-point humiliation in the hurling Championship.
They were beaten out the Ennis gates by Clare that day, conceding a whopping 5-32 in the qualifiers and left to question everything about themselves.
Rewind back to 2011 and Cork struck a neat 10-20 against Laois in the qualifiers, scorching to a 34-point win that day.
From there to here, the journey has been an incredible one for Laois who are preparing for an All-Ireland quarter-final against Tipperary at Croke Park today.
Experienced defender Phelan reflected on the Clare collapse and admitted: “It was a tough time. We are rebuilding now and hopefully those days are well behind us.
“It was shocking, a very low time. We went into that match injury ravaged. I don’t want to use it as an excuse but we went down to 13 men, two lads were carted off the field in the first-half; Cahir Healy and Leigh Bergin. It was definitely one of the lowest days I’ve ever experienced. It took us a while to recover from that.”
It turned out to be Seamas Plunkett’s last game in charge yet it was ‘Cheddar’ that began the Laois revival.
They showed glimpses of real promise under his watch and hope they’ve moved onto a new level now.
Phelan said: “I met him after the Dublin game for a minute, just talked to him briefly and he was saying congratulations. He was just very proud of us. I was listening to his podcast and what he’s been saying is very true, that hopefully Laois hurling can build on this momentum now and really push on for the next few years.”
Beating Dublin was described by many as the biggest Laois win in the Championship since 1985.
Phelan said: “It did take a couple of years for that rebuild but we have a good shot of young lads coming through now. It’s a very young panel, the average age must be 21 or 22. All going well, hopefully over the next five or six years we’ll be very competitive in Leinster and we can stay up there and keep up with the big guns.”
It’s a huge ask, even after what Laois did across the last two weeks, claiming the Joe McDonagh Cup and then dumping Dublin out.
Phelan said: “We know Tipp are a serious outfit. We played them in a practice match before the Joe McDonagh. They beat us well.”
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