Laois' centre back tells Ian O'Riordan why he believes the county footballers are only getting started

For almost everyone except Tom Kelly yesterday's awards lunch in Dublin for the Vodafone Players of the Month was perfectly timed.

Laois football is in the news again this week, and Kelly was being honoured for his displays last month in getting them to Sunday's Leinster final. Yet, Kelly was hardly in the mood to look back.

The only thing that matters now is his effort to help Laois win their first Leinster title since 1946, and beating Dublin in the semi-final might as well be an age ago.

Kildare stand in the way on Sunday, and with that comes a completely different challenge than Dublin.

"Well we had nothing to lose going to play Dublin," said Kelly. "We knew we could win the game and Mick O'Dwyer told us as much. But all the hype was about Dublin and even some of the radio analysis in the build up to the game was expecting Meath to meet Dublin in a Leinster final.

"From our perspective, that was a good thing, and we took inspiration from it. None of that stuff counts for much on the day of the game. It's the team that comes up with the performance that will win the game."

So to Sunday and another trip to Croke Park, but this time with different expectations. O'Dwyer had his team back in the hard training the Thursday after the Dublin game and all thoughts shifted to the next day.

Expectations shifted too, and Laois were now favourites to win.

"We know we have to put up that sort of performance again," added Kelly. "Kildare will be good. They have won Leinster titles recently and they have the experience of playing in games like this."

The rampaging runs of Kelly from his centre back position were one of the most tormenting aspects of the Leinster semi-final from a Dublin point of view.

Earlier this season he seemed settled at corner back, where he played the league final against Tyrone, but against Dublin he found a truly starring role. On the day too it was feared he would be curtailed by a finger injury.

"I had dislocated my finger in the replay against Offaly, but it didn't hold me back in any way against Dublin.

"I strapped it up and got on with it, but it will be great to be playing fully fit without any injury concerns on Sunday."

Like so many of the current Laois team, Kelly successfully learned his trade at underage level, and was part of the minor team that won Leinster in 1997. It hasn't always been the smoothest of graduations, but he feels the current squad is ripe now to make its full impact at senior level.

"We all knew if we put in the hard work it would pay off. There were three successful minor teams there in the late 1990s. That's 45 players and if we got 10 or 15 from that group it would come together at some stage.

"But I think we all look up to Micko as well. He provides us with the leadership we need. I'm not saying there was anything wrong with the managers that came before him, but we needed someone to bring it all together and get things going and he's done that."

The problem of a five-week break from the Dublin game and this Sunday might appear a problem on paper, but Kelly doesn't fear any drop in the peak.

"It's not an issue for us. We've learnt a lot since the start of the year and I think the league final defeat to Tyrone at Croke Park could prove to be a valuable lesson. After a good run we didn't play in that game and as a result we lost.

"I suppose two or three weeks would have been ideal because it has been a long wait since the Leinster semi-final. We had to get focussed and back to the training, but it's the same for the two teams. If there's one advantage it's that both teams should be fresh on the day."

The Laois team for Sunday will be finalised after training this evening, and definitely back in contention for a starting place is Colm Parkinson, who missed out on the Dublin game because of hamstring problems.

Kildare are set to finalise their team tomorrow evening, and manager Padraig Nolan, unlike O'Dwyer, has a few player injury concerns including defenders Anthony Rainbow (leg), Karl Ennis (knee) and forward Ronan Sweeney (knee).

Finally, one result that went largely unnoticed this weekend marked the end of Nemo Rangers' reign as All-Ireland, Munster and Cork senior football champions. They were beaten 0-11 to 1-5 by Na Piarsaigh at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday night.

Nemo were bidding for a record fourth consecutive county title this year, but instead have failed to get beyond the third round.