New broom and a touch more bristle

National Football League:Brian McDonald tells Ian O'Riordanwhy Laois are looking to the summer with real confidence

That Laois are one of the few teams still eyeing a place in the football league semi-finals could be partly explained by the fresh impetus of a new management. The arrival of Liam Kearns to take over from Mick O'Dwyer has been smooth. Yet there are also more subtle changes happening in Laois football.

Under O'Dwyer the players were largely viewed as bright, young talents, eager to fulfil their potential. Now there is a harder, more mature edge to them. That's personified in a player like Brian "Beano" McDonald. Laois still have their fair share of underage talents, but in terms of leadership McDonald is certainly coming of age.

Speaking ahead of Sunday's high-stakes meeting with Kildare, the victors assured of a semi-final spot, McDonald admitted the arrival of Kearns had reinvigorated the team. It's not that they were necessarily tired of O'Dwyer, but sometimes a change is as good as a rest.

"I think Micko moving on has in a way helped the team focus again," he said. "He arrived in 2003, we were in a low that time, and he had a lot to do. But he got the respect of all the players, and the question is if he hadn't come would we have won Leinster, and competed at as a high a level as we did. I don't know, but I know the players that have played under him know what he's done. And he'll always be remembered for that.

"But Liam is getting the same commitment from the panel, and hopefully we'll push on from where Micko left off. There's a little less pressure on us too, and it's that bit easier when there's not as much spotlight on the sidelines. Micko always has his crew around him. With the character of the man that's always the way it will be, but maybe we are more focused going into games.

"But I suppose Liam is still trying to figure out what sort of a team we are, the players he has, and what sort of style he wants to play. This team has been around a good few years now, and we've only had a Leinster title to show for that. But we'd like to think we'll improve some more under Liam.

"Things have been that bit different since he started with us. The last few years Laois have got a name for being a sort of running team, and he wanted to adopt a few different systems of play."

McDonald has arguably been playing his best football in recent weeks. He hit 0-3 in last weekend's eight-point win over Armagh, completing a five-game unbeaten streak.

He's also aware Laois have been here before (making the semi-finals in 2003 and again last year) and, come the summer, faltered more often than not.

"It is a problem for us, being consistent over two or three games. But we have talked about it. We never set out for that to happen, and it's not a good feeling, but we're striving to get better. We're all that bit older now, and hopefully we can get to grips with that.

"But we let ourselves down big-time against Dublin last year. Come the first weekend in June we'll have (that) in the back of our minds.

"We'd like to think we're still right up there in Leinster, but the fact that we're doing well in the league probably won't count for much until it comes to the big days out in the championship. That's when everyone realises where they're really at."

There's an extra drive in McDonald these days, the trauma of the leg break sustained in the 2004 championship finally just a memory, and not a pleasant one.

"In hindsight, I came back a bit soon," he explained. "I was back training three-and-a-half months after the break.

"But I think the next year, and even last year, I wasn't playing as I would have liked. I missed a lot of winter training during those years, with some pain in the leg every now and then.

"This is the first year I've been able to do all the training since we've started, and that's been a big help. I'm getting no trouble with it at the moment.

"It was a nasty time, and the recovery is definitely not simple, so hopefully the whole thing is just a memory now."