Roche hopes Laois can leave League inconsistency behind them
Laois footballer Killian Roche during the launch of the 2026 Leinster GAA Senior Football Championships at Killashee Hotel in Naas, Kildare. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
Inconsistency was a recurring theme for lots of teams in this year’s Allianz Football League, but predicting Laois’ results was especially tough.
In Round 2 Wexford hammered them by 14 points but they immediately bounced back by beating Sligo by seven points in Round 3.
They looked genuine promotion candidates when storming to a nine-point victory over Westmeath in Round 5, but then fell flat on their faces the next day out against a Fermanagh side that finished bottom of the table.
And though it was a Down team missing some of their bigger names that they beat in the final regulation round, it’s still the only game the Mourne County lost on the way to the Division 3 title.
Even the Laois players themselves were scratching their heads at the team’s sequence of results through the League.
“Yeah, probably a small bit of frustration really with our inconsistencies,” admits Laois goalkeeper Killian Roche.
“We probably started slow enough against Limerick, we got a draw out of it, could have won it, could have lost it and then we had a very poor performance away to Wexford.
“So it put us on the back foot straight away and you kind of need to get your points early in the lower divisions to be able to get a chance at promotion. Our middle block was fairly okay, we beat Sligo, we had a very good performance against Clare, didn't get the result with 14 men, and then we beat Westmeath at home fairly convincingly.
“So we were in a good place then and then our inconsistency showed again against Fermanagh going up there, so we had a very poor performance up there and ended up losing. So that kind of dashed our promotion hopes.
“We finished strong enough against Down there, so a small bit of frustration, but look, we'll take the positives from it too. There was a lot of good with it as well. I suppose we finished higher than we did last year and accumulated more points, so you can look at it that way too.”
Laois goalkeeper Killian Roche. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile.
Perhaps it’s a better preparation for a championship campaign than that of their Leinster SFC first round opponents, Offaly, who lost all seven matches they played in Division Two.
Roche thinks it’s a waste of time trying to parse too much from either team’s League results. When these two counties meet in the championship, prior form has a tendency to go out the window.
“At the end of the day, it's a local derby in the Leinster Championship and they generally fall back into the 50-50 category,” he says.
“We're very familiar with Offaly. We've played them over the last couple of years since I've been involved. We've played them every year and there's never more than a few points in it, so it's more or less a 50-50.
“They obviously have great experience got from Division 2, even though they didn't get the results they wanted, they still have great experience.
“They arguably should have got one or two results but no, it's obviously an advantage playing up there in Division Two, but look, I suppose we played the teams that came down and the teams that are going back up again.
“The bottom of Division 2 and the top of Division 3 is probably similar enough in level in a way. We're very familiar with Offaly, and I think a local derby first round Leinster Championship match is more of a 50-50 than you can get.”
