"We have got to get to the stage where we are doing what we are doing in training in an intense game" - Cheddar

After a competitive opening half in Kilkenny on Sunday, Laois fell to another heavy defeat as a dominant Kilkenny side put them to the sword in the second half.

A spell just after half time did the damage and manager Cheddar Plunkett looked back on that period of the game where Laois seemed to come off the boil.

"We were competitive in the first half and we seemed to put in a huge amount of effort but the first eight or ten minutes after half time the effort might not have been there.

"If you are just 2% off at this level, you are punished for it. They had nine or 10 shots after half time and we had one, that probably encapsulates it really.

"The top teams can get a run on you and it is difficult to get back into it. We did some nice things in the second half but we were too far behind to make a real impression."

Laois were wasteful in the opening half hitting eight wides and dropping another eight short while playing with the breeze.

"We had a couple of shots that weren't on and we probably could have worked them a bit. Even the short ones into the keepers hands, you would be expecting us to put them over the bar and we didn't.

"That counts on the scoreboard then and you are coming in a couple of points down instead of being a couple of points up with the breeze behind us."

Plunkett was encouraged from facets of the game, particularly in the opening half but the challenge for him and the squad is now to replicate the quality of training in games against the top teams in the Country.

"I do take a lot of heart from the first half. I thought a lot of things worked for us with the exception of some poor wides, poor shot selection and balls into the goals. The hurling back the field was good but those 10 minutes after half time, it was difficult for us to pull it back after that.

"We want to play at this level and we have to able to manage that better. You need everyone firing to the top of their game.

"The thing that I would be very happy with is the effort in training and the quality of it but it is a higher intensity level playing in games like this. We have got to get to the stage where we are doing what we are doing in training in an intense game.

"We had five minutes against Waterford and eight minutes today where we seemed to step off the gas."