by Paddy Hickey

Experienced defender Mark Timmons has provided Laois football boss Micheal Quirke with a major boost by agreeing to soldier on in this year’s campaign.

Although he will be 35 in May, and made his senior inter-county debut as far back as 2008, the ace full-back had no hesitation in once more committing to the O’Moore County cause.

“It was a very easy decision for me to make, and indeed the thought of retiring from the inter-county game never really entered my mind,” responded Timmons when asked about his playing future.

“Physically, I feel that I’m still in very good physical shape and my appetite and enthusiasm to play on with Laois hasn’t diminished in the slightest.

“I’ll be retired long enough, so I may as well make the best of things when I’m still capable of making a contribution to inter-county football.

“As well, unlike previous years, it almost feels like last year’s inter-county season has carried on into this year’s season because the 2020 championship was run off so late,” added Timmons, who is married to Nichola and has two children, Kathlyn (13) and Luke (7).

A league tie against Donegal in Ballyshannon, almost 13 years ago, marked Timmons’ senior inter-county debut, and also in 2008 he featured in his first championship outing, against Wicklow in Aughrim.

“The then team-manager Mick O’Dwyer brought me into the Laois senior extended panel in 2005, and I played in a lot of the ‘A’ v ‘B’ practice games over the summer months,” recalled the Graiguecullen clubman, who won an All-Ireland minor football medal in 2003, when he was a panelist, and a Leinster minor football medal in 2004 as a player.

“In 2006 and 2007 I was part of the actual panel, but I had to wait until the following year before I played my first senior game for Laois.”

It’s an additional telling illustration of the longevity of Timmons’ career at the top level that he has served under no fewer than nine team manager while performing with the Midland outfit.

“Micko was my first manager, and after him I played under Liam Kearns, Sean Dempsey, Justin McNulty, Tomas O Flaharta, Mick Lillis, Peter Creedon, John Sugrue and now Micheal Quirke,” pointed out Timmons, who won Leinster under-21 football medals in 2006 and 2007.

And, with the exception of the 2014 championship campaign which he missed due to injury, Timmons has been a regular member of the Laois starting line-up under all those team bosses.

Under Kerryman Quirke, Laois suffered a 2-23 to 0-7 drubbing by Dublin in last year’s Leinster semi-final, but despite the severity of that defeat, the Laois talisman is still very much looking forward to this year’s championship campaign.

“Because we reached the Leinster semi-final last year, we are seeded for this year’s competition and so our first championship game will be in the Leinster quarter-final,” remarked Timmons, whose Graiguecullen side are due to face Emo in the 2020 Laois football semi-final.

“Of course, we would like to have done much better against Dublin last year, but despite the final scoreline there were some positive aspects that we took from the game.

“When we looked back at the stats of the game we saw that we had done very well on our own kick-outs, and that is something that we will be aiming to build on in this year’s championship.”

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