Their preparations for the game might have been disrupted by the recent heavy weather conditions, but Andrea Moran is nevertheless excited by the prospect of Laois kick-starting their National Football League Division 3 campaign next weekend.
While snow descended upon many parts of Ireland in the past couple of weeks, the O’Moore County was one of the more affected areas.
From a sporting perspective, Laois Hire O’Moore Park had been due to host the All-Ireland senior club football championship semi-final clash between Errigal Ciaran and Dr Crokes in the men’s game on consecutive weekends (January 5 and 11) – only for the Portlaoise venue to be deemed unplayable on both occasions.
During the days in between these proposed fixtures, a number of schools were closed across the county from Monday to Friday.
This had an impact on Moran’s working life — she is a Portlaoise-based primary school teacher — and she also had to deal with the fact that two planned inter-county pitch sessions were cancelled.
Yet with the weather improving significantly in the past week, Moran and her team-mates are focused on an opening round league encounter against Carlow at the LOETB Centre of Excellence on January 26.
“The weather was just really bad here. The footpaths were lethal,” Moran explained.
“Even the roads were just really bad. It was the safest thing to do, I think. A lot of the schools in the county were closed. We were off for the week.
“We were supposed to be training the Wednesday and the Friday, but we couldn’t train on the pitch because the pitches were covered in snow and frozen as well.
“We just got our gym sessions in and obviously we’re catching up on those sessions that we’ve missed.
“Last week it wasn’t ideal that training had to be cancelled, two and a half weeks before the beginning of the league.
“We’re back on the pitch and we’re back focused on the league. That’s our main focus at the minute and we’re forgetting about missing those trainings.
“We know we’ve already put the work in and we’re ready to go.”
Tomorrow week’s showdown with a newly-promoted Carlow is one that Moran is likely to remember as it is set to be her first competitive outing since she was named as Laois captain for the 2025 season.
Having served as joint vice-captain of the side last year, Moran has now taken over as skipper from her Ballyroan club-mate Clodagh Dunne and – suffice to say – she considers it a great privilege to have been chosen by O’Moore boss Stephen Duff in this role.
“It’s a huge honour for me to have been asked to be captain,” Moran said.
“I think there is a lot of girls on the panel who could have been asked and who would be well capable of taking on the role.
“Obviously I’m delighted and really looking forward to the year ahead. It’s a huge honour for me and my club Ballyroan as well.
“Clodagh Dunne has been a huge role model for everybody in Ballyroan. I’ve always looked up to her and I think a lot of the girls do.
“She is somebody with lots of experience, who we could all learn a lot from. It’s great for our club.”
Having come on board as an interim appointment in April of last year, Duff was ratified as full-time manager of the Laois ladies a few months later and will be at the helm for their 2025 campaign.
He has enjoyed success locally with Portlaoise and in the O’Connor Cup with DCU, and will be eager for his native county to make a big splash in Lidl NFL Division Three and the TG4 All-Ireland intermediate football championship.
While Moran appeared as a substitute when Laois earned top honours in the former at Kildare’s expense in 2021, she was in the middle of a stint travelling around America when the O’Moore women enjoyed a showpiece triumph in the latter competition the following year.
Despite acknowledging it was difficult to be missing out on an unforgettable All-Ireland victory over Wexford at Croke Park, Moran was thrilled to see her colleagues coming out on top from afar.
“I stepped away, I decided I wanted to go travelling for a few weeks in the summer,” the new captain said.
“Obviously it was difficult, I would have loved to have been there and been part of it. I followed every step of the way and I was absolutely delighted to see the girls get over the line.
“I can remember waking up in the early hours of the morning, just so I could watch them playing in Croke Park in the All-Ireland.
“So obviously you’re delighted for them and hopefully we’ll get back there again some day.”
Even though she missed a chance to don the blue and white jersey at GAA HQ in 2022, Moran was back in harness when Laois returned to the venue in April 2023.
After rejoining the panel at the beginning of the year, Moran lined out at midfield in the capital as Laois fought gallantly before losing out to Armagh in a Lidl National Football League Division Two decider.
“That was my first time playing in Croke Park and it was such a surreal experience,” she said.
“Everybody dreams about playing in Croke Park and for some of the girls that day, it was their second time to play there.
“It was a great experience having played there and obviously you want to get back there. Hopefully down the line we’ll make it back there.”
After locking horns with the Orchard County in that entertaining second-tier showpiece, Laois went on to retain their All-Ireland senior championship status later that summer.
They might find themselves in lower levels for both league and championship at the present moment, but Moran is in no doubt that the O’Moore County are capable of climbing back up the ranks again in the near future.
“Laois have been very successful. A lot of girls have stepped away, they’ve finished up with Laois and they’re gone travelling, but there’s a huge amount of girls after stepping up and we’re definitely looking forward.
“We hope we can bring Laois on an upward curve as well. I fully believe all the girls involved will be able to do that,” Moran added.
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