There is an old adage that those who can, do, and that those who can't teach. The sages who came up with such wisdom also said that there is an exception that proves every rule, and the exception to that criticism of teachers must surely be Pat Critchley. Critchley was a dominant presence on any hurling field, perhaps 90 per cent due to the incredible ability that was acknowledged with an All Star award in 1985, and 10 pc due to the unique hairstyle that is no less memorable for the lack of similar garlands.

A winner of 14 Laois county titles, spread evenly between hurling and football, Pat spent most of his working life teaching Physical Education in the Presentation College in Portlaoise before taking on the challenge of teaching hurling to the youngsters of the county on a full time basis.

Skills

The Setanta hurling programme, overseen by Critchley, is the means by which the O'Moore county is seeking to impart the skills and techniques of the game to hurlers aged from ten to 13 years of age and to give those youngsters a grounding in the sport, with a view to putting Laois hurling on a much more viable long term. In addition to the mechanics of the sport, Pat is also keen that this programme will give these young hurlers a sense of togetherness and unity that was not always associated with Laois hurling.

''I would have been a minor hurler when I met players from other clubs for the first time growing up and while I made some great friends in my time hurling with Laois, it meant that it took a long time to really form any kind of bond with those lads,'' recalled Critchley.

''What we're trying to do with the Setanta programme is to get players together from under-10 on, and not in any elitist way since every young player is welcome to come down. We want to get hurlers together and to build a spirit, a Laois spirit that would be similar to what clubs already have.''

Breakthrough

Throughout the last third of the previous century, Laois teams came agonisingly close to making the breakthrough roughly once every decade. In 1972, Offaly were overcome but Kilkenny were just too tough a nut to crack in the semi final where a seven point defeat was the result. Kilkenny went on to beat every team they faced that year by at least that margin.

In the early 1980s, while Offaly made their breakthrough, Laois were giving their neighbours their toughest battles of the year on a regular basis. Then in 1998 Laois led Kilkenny going into the closing stages of their Leinster semi final, only for a late goal to give the Cats a narrow win. Pat Critchley played a leading role in those teams of the 1980s and a big part of his plan with the Setanta programme is to ensure that Laois compete on a regular basis, rather than once every decade.

''Back then, Laois were essentially waiting for a good crop of players to fall into their lap. Every 10 years or so we got a good vintage, but usually there weren't enough good young players coming along to back those lads up, to freshen up the team and to replace those guys who were coming to the end of their careers. The aim of this plan is to take that element of luck out of it, to ensure that there is a regular flow of good players into the senior set up.''

Pat has been working with Laois hurling for five years now and believes that the system is starting to bear fruit at the best possible time.

Competitive

''Niall Rigney did a great job with Laois senior hurlers and we now have a senior team who are competitive, and ready to take the next step. I regularly tell the youngsters in the programme that this is a young Laois team and that in time, many of them will be pulling on senior Laois jerseys with those guys,'' he added.

''Laois will always be a dual county, we don't have either the tradition or the quantity of hurlers that you get in Kilkenny and elsewhere. We need to generate our own tradition and that's a slow process, requiring a change of mindset.

''However we've competed really well at the Tony Forristal championships (under-14 All Ireland competitions) and we're regularly getting between 80 and 90 lads at every under-10 session we do. When these lads get the right start, and they're getting good coaching with us, in the schools and there's huge effort being put in by the clubs as well, then they begin to realise that they can compete with anyone.''

Serious effort

After a year when Laois came agonisingly close to securing promotion to division one of the hurling league, one of the county's most loyal servants summed up why he's putting in such a serious effort at the moment.

''We can't be waiting for a breakthrough in order to help us create the right system - the system has to create the breakthrough. We're obviously always keen to learn and improve ourselves, but we think that we have the right system right now and that the breakthrough will come very soon.''