Stephen Duff's vision: Take the Laois Ladies back to Croke Park glory

With the news that Stephen Duff has been named as the manager of the Laois Ladies Intermediate team, Duff sat down with the Leinster Express/ Laois Live to discuss his decision to stay on having been drafted in as interim manager in April of this year as well as his short and long-term goals now that he's being given a three-year term with a review after two years.

"We did a review at the end of the year like we'd always do and players were asked for their opinion on what went well and what didn't go well and there was a feeling that we could keep it going. I was more holding back on committing until I got a good management team together. I wanted to make sure I got people who were best in class in what they do to come on board. So that's really what the delay was. We went forward for ratification last week at the county board meeting and the management team will be ratified this month.

"It was just a general conversation that was going in the right direction and I felt that the county board wanted to do the right thing and I felt there was more in the group. I think we saw in that game against Kildare that there was an awful lot of potential in the group when they managed to put it together consistently. It's a young group, it's an exciting group and it's an exciting management team so I said let's give it a go. I was appointed on a three-year term and there’ll be a review after two," he said.

The new Laois manager says that Laois' biggest problem has always been not able to get their best players to commit. He's hopeful that the structure he puts in place will get more girls to put their hands up and want to put on the blue and white Laois jersey.

"The biggest challenge with Laois is always getting the best 30 to 40 players to commit to the county and I think there's probably 15 more players out there that didn't commit last year. The whole point of creating a good management team and building a good structure and support system for the girls is that we try to build something that will attract the girls back in and invest in them and feel like they're getting something in return for the time they're committing. We want to make sure that we are putting out our best players and I understand we're not going to get everyone but the amount that we're leaving behind is wrong.

"I plead with the girls who are playing football in Laois to come with an open mind and hear me out at least if it means even sitting down for a coffee or just having a phone call just hear me out because what we have in place, when it is released, is second to none. The county board is investing in the future of Laois LGFA. They want to be at the top table and there's an acknowledgement that it won't happen straight away but it also won't happen unless everybody's on board. That's clubs, players, club managers, club administrators, everyone, because there's sometimes pressure put on players to not go to the county because of the poor lip of the clubs. If we want to be successful as a county, if we want our clubs to be successful, we do need a strong county team. If you look at the counties that are doing well out there, they work alongside each other, they don’t work in competition with each other," Duff said.

As is the case with every manager, he has goals in mind that he feels are more than achievable for his Laois team. His main long-term goal is to get Laois back to the Senior grade which constitutes winning the All-Ireland Intermediate Championship. Laois won that competition as recent as 2022 when they defeated Wexford under the guidance of Donie Brennan.

"Long-term goal is to get back to Croke Park in two years. If we can do it in one year, it’s a bonus. One year of building solid foundations in order for us to be successful and then the second year to go and attack the championship. If we can attract four/five more players, I think we're in the top four teams of the Intermediate division so that's really where I'd like to be. In an ideal world, it would be to win in year two and just cement your Senior status in year three.

"Short-term wise, we need to look at Division 3 as an opportunity to grow and be better. We've no right to say we're better than any of the teams at the minute because we haven’t performed that way. There's definitely an opportunity for us to get some early wins on the board and build a bit of confidence in the group, hopefully. It won't go perfectly, there'll be a game or two that we'll lose in Division 3, while we're finding our feet but we should definitely be in the reckoning to get to a league final at minimum," he said.

Looking at 2025, Duff is delighted that he'll get to experience pre-season with the group and be able to stamp his authority on the team as when he arrived in April, it was a week before the first-round of the Leinster Senior Championship. 

"I’ll get a solid pre-season with the girls. I’ll get a block of training sessions where there’s not a match at the end of every week because when we took over it was that way. We didn't get a full week of training without a match at the end of it, a competitive game for about six weeks, so it was incredibly intense.

"It was way more intense than I expected because I had hoped in my head and probably naively so, I thought I'd come in and be able to build a style of play and principles of play. I thought we’d be able to do everything that was done with Portlaoise and DCU and we could transfer a whole lot of that into it but that's not realistic. We had to go to a more defensive, conservative style of football to just try and survive and build it from there. I've got really good coaches, I've got a really good S&C so I want to get a good pre-season with the girls.

"I want to think about how we play football. I want to start building a Laois way of playing football continuing on from what's been done in the past and adding our own little bits to it. I want to build something that we can be proud of, something the girls can enjoy doing so that it's not a chore to turn up every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday to train and to play, that it's actually enjoyable that we're building something and they're part of something and adding value to their lives and they're adding value to Laois LGFA. So I'm looking forward to getting that block of work and getting a full season and trying to build from there rather than come in with a week before Meath. We performed well against them but then to go out against Dublin and get a trouncing. We competed against Kildare and got hammered by both Cork and Galway. It's just very hard on the girls' heads, it's very hard to build anything from there. So I'm looking forward to actually getting the chance to do that," he said.

One thing that Duff wants to introduce is a Divisional Championship which will allow clubs to come together and play under the one team so that players from weaker teams get to experience what it's like to play with inter-county players. The championship will be in aid of a local charity which is a nice touch.

"I'm waiting for confirmation from the County Board so I'm hoping to do a Divisional Championship in November for charity, a local charity in the town. It’s an opportunity to give girls from lower down clubs an opportunity to play at a higher level. Girls that have been caught between club and county to kind of give them a transitional level to prove that they're good enough or prove that they're not good enough. It’s also to break down some of the barriers around the club game because we all become quite tribal in our clubs and we live on them rivalries and I found that they became very prevalent in last year's club so hopefully it'll break down a few of their barriers and then raise a bit of money for charity which is really important at the end of the year for the County Board to do because we always ask for money in fundraising. It's probably important that we do give back as well, especially someone local to the town like the Cuisle Centre or the Kolbe Centre," Duff said.

The Ballyfin native has been busy over the last few weeks scouting for players for that Divisional Championship as well as keeping an eye on players that he'll hope to get into his Laois Ladies side come the start of the season.

"I've listed about 100 players there that I'd be interested in for a Divisional Championship and I’ve about 50 players that I’d potentially be interested in for a Senior squad. There’s an awful lot of talent in Laois and the football is there to win an Intermediate All-Ireland it should be, if we got everyone to commit in Laois and actually living in Laois, we'd win an Intermediate All-Ireland so that’s the challenge is to get everyone on board," he said.

The new Laois Ladies manager has enjoyed the club championships to date and reckons that Portlaoise are favourites but that St Conleth's won't be far away with 2022 All-Ireland winner Emma Lawlor now plying her trade for the 2021 Senior club champions.

"I’ve been very impressed with some of the clubs that have made massive progress this year. The likes of St Joseph’s could easily compete in the Senior Championship  and they're in that Intermediate Championship doing really, really well and they've got more growth to do. Portlaoise look the strongest again in the Senior Championship but I think St Conleth’s now with Emma Lawlor are going to be a real threat. Their firepower up front is massive and it's just another match-up that Portlaoise need to get right. It’ll be an exciting end to the championship and I’m looking forward to it," Duff ended.