'It’s been a long year, the hunger is still there'- Portlaoise's Damon Larkin ahead of St Joseph's clash

Portlaoise’s Damon Larkin is facing into his third county final this Sunday with the young forward having won his first final in 2019 before losing out to Portarlington in 2021. His preparations won’t differ from anything he’s done before.

“Well I suppose I won’t change a whole lot, try to keep the head clear for Saturday anyway and Sunday, I’ll be watching the clock like mad. I’ll probably go for a coffee and a walk.”

Remarkably since his introduction to the panel in 2019, Larkin has rarely missed a game through either injury or suspension. He feels it’s all about the work you do after the games that helps the body.

“I don’t think I’ve missed a game, I’ve been lucky enough with injuries thank God. It’s all about recovery, getting to the pool and watching my diet. Recovery is key.”

Larkin is now a mainstay on the Portlaoise team and when he first came in, he was looking up to everyone ahead of him. Whereas now, he has the younger lads looking up to him with him being a starter for both club and county.

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“I’m not that old, I’m still looking up to the boys, I’m still a chap too. It feels good and it’s important that we have younger lads on the team that look up to the likes of Lillis and Cahillane. If they ever need anything, I’ll always be there to help them out. Paul Cahillane and Lillis are still there for me, watching over me like a baby. Everybody is there for each other no matter what age they are.”

Portlaoise’s starting team from the Graiguecullen semi-final contained seven lads under the age of 23 and Larkin knows how important it is to strike the right balance on the panel between youth and experience as it creates a strong relationship among them.

“It’s very important. We have a good balance there between older lads and younger lads, the likes of Ben Reddin starting, Jay Maher coming on. Conor Raggett is after coming onto the scene, he’s been outstanding, there’s a great bunch of young lads there. Kieran Lillis, Aido (Mc Govern) and Garreth (Dillon), they’ve done it all. Between Ricky (Maher), Garreth, Paul and Lillis, I’d say they could have 30 county medals between the four of them. That’s where we’re succeeding at this time of the year with all these young lads and the older lads, we’ve a great bond.”

This will be Portlaoise’s second time to play St Joseph’s in this year’s championship as the sides met in the opening round. St Joseph’s came away with a two-point win on that occasion with Larkin knowing that it wasn’t Portlaoise’s best performance and that a big improvement is needed for the final.

“There’s a lot to take from that game. Especially, the chances we missed and thinking back, we probably missed too many. Our turnovers in attack when we were going forward, silly turnovers and they were just breaking out. The big thing we learned that day was how to deal with tight games, it was nip and tuck for a long time and they just got over the line. Since that first-round, we played O’Dempsey’s and were down by a point, we kept fighting and got over the line. We took a lot from that game and hopefully on Sunday, we can reverse the result.”

Larkin operated at centre-forward in the Graiguecullen game and was instrumental in creating scoring chances for his side. He’s not too fussed about his own performances once he can help his side get the victory and make a meaningful contribution to the team.

“I don’t really think of my overall performance too much. I’m just glad to be able to contribute to the boys and the team. I feel like I’m improving each game and some would say my performances haven’t been up to standard as of yet. We’re all playing well, we’re starting to come out of our shells a bit now and it’s coming at the right time.”

The season has been a long one for Larkin with him now entering his 11th month of training since he went in with the Laois team last November. He was keen to give credit to former Laois manager Billy Sheehan, the man who gave him his inter-county debut.

“It’s been a long year, the hunger is still there. Billy Sheehan helped me massively with my confidence and my strength. He’s been very good, he was a good manager and especially with helping the younger lads. He really improved me and my ability to play and as I said with my confidence, I would suffer a bit with confidence and he sat me down. He was a great help to me.”

Portlaoise play St Joseph’s on Sunday, October 15 at 3.30pm in Laois Hire O’Moore Park.