Laois v Galway, O'Moore Park, 4pm

Sunday, June 1

Leinster GAA Senior Hurling Championship Quarter-FinalLaois v Galway, O'Moore Park, 4pm

Séamus Plunkett has completely transformed the fortunes of the Laois hurlers since taking over as manager at the end of 2012, perfectly evidenced in their most recent game against this Sunday's opponents.

Laois and Galway met in the Leinster semi-final last season, and just one year on from a 25-point defeat to Limerick in the 2012 championship, Laois were putting it up to the 2012 All-Ireland finalists.

Laois led Galway 1-10 to 0-12 with less than 15 minutes to go in Portlaoise last June, and only when the urgency of the situation finally hit home with Galway did they muster the necessary response and escape to victory.

One year on and it will be interesting to see what lessons have been learned by both sides. The blooming of Laois continued this spring in Division IB - they performed admirably in the second tier, and qualified for the quarter-finals, where they gave All-Ireland champions Clare a major scare.

The Leinster qualifying section also went fairly well for Laois. They advanced to the Leinster quarter-finals with wins over Westmeath, Carlow and London, but they will be disappointed with the way they let a lead slip on route to defeat at home to Antrim last weekend.

Galway had a reasonable league campaign. After a disappointing championship in 2013, Anthony Cunningham's side needed a decent spring to suggest they were back on the right track and they just about got it.

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Wins over Dublin, Tipperary and Limerick saw them secure their top tier status and advance to the league semi-finals, but there was a limpness to their defeat to Kilkenny in the last four - something that perhaps can be explained by the fact that it came during the somewhat off-the-radar month of April, a grey area situated between the weekly slog of the league and the long-evening tilt for summer.

This is a significant game for Galway. The scare of last year, and the fact that Laois have been hurling for the last four weekends on the trot in the Leinster qualifying section makes them dangerous opponents for the Tribesmen. However, while rustiness could be an issue for Galway, and definitely won't be for Laois, fatigue is the other concern.

Plunkett certainly would have liked more time between the end of the qualifying section and the Leinster quarter-final. "It's not necessarily the matches, you don't really have the chance to work things out in training during the week," he explained. "You need to go with less training because you're going with so many matches, but that's a double edged sword because you have less time to train and work on the things you actually want to do."

The situation was complicated for him this week by the fact that the Laois U21s were in action on Wednesday night against Dublin . Nine of those who started that game will be involved with the seniors this weekend, but thankfully for Plunkett, they have a fairly clean bill of health, although they are without a few stalwarts from the 2013 campaign - notably Zane Keenan (work commitments) and Cahir Healy (travelling), both of whom are unavailable to Plunkett this year.

Galway were dealt a significant blow ahead of this game with the news that forward Niall Healy has been ruled out for the season with a cruciate knee ligament injury sustained at the weekend.

Cunningham will also be without Andy Smith (ankle) on Sunday, although Ronan Burke (calf) and Iarla Tannian (hamstring) are in contention to feature after recent injuries.

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Preview: Arthur Sullivan