It could be said that the Laois hurlers have a short attention span. Managers come and go, firing great enthusiasm at the start before losing their audience. Babs Keating took the county to a National League semi-final before leaving amid dissonant claims that the players in the county simply lacked the basics. Padraig Horan came in and drew the accolade that he "knows Laois men" before disillusion and a mid-season departure abruptly terminated his tenure.

The one man who didn't outstay his welcome was Pat Critchley. The county's only hurling All Star (1985) and an All-Ireland club football medallist with Portlaoise (1983), he became a respected coach.

As manager of his county's hurlers, Critchley presided over one of Laois's best championship displays of recent times when they failed to Kilkenny by two points in 1995. But this quasi-breakthrough served only to convince county officialdom that a "big name" was needed and so he was replaced by Keating.

Sean Cuddy's appointment as Horan's successor in March had major implications for Critchley - then embarked on a tour of the world which had brought him through Asia, Australia, the US and South America.

He didn't think about Cuddy's offer for very long and agreed to cut short his travels and return to coach the Laois hurlers. He's unwilling to recriminate about his fate five years ago although within the county's hurling community, what happened is regarded with a mixture of anger at the slight and remorse that not more was done to stand up for him when he was in charge.

"I'm more concerned about the situation as it is. I'm working with the new management and don't see much point in looking back. It was a missed opportunity, yeah, definitely but it's different now: new team, new players."

Former captain and current corner back John O'Sullivan paid Critchley this compliment: "He's Laois through and through. He's a bit eccentric but a great motivator and an outstanding coach."

In football he took Carlow's Eire Og to a Leinster title last year despite the feeling that the club had had its day. Just back in Ireland, he's helping out with the Presentation Portlaoise basketball team although his year's leave-of-absence from the school hasn't yet expired.

"Basic principles apply to all team games. They can be adapted from one to the other but hurling's the most spontaneous. There's only so much a coach can do. Football involves more tactics and in basketball there's a lot of control with time-outs to get information to players. There's endless scope for variation. But hurling's a bit freer, you can't overcoach it."

Having arrived back within the past few weeks, he knows the task facing Cuddy and himself is daunting. "I'm only getting to know the younger lads and seeing what the situation is. We're having to take short cuts with the physical work but we're building up confidence and working on skill levels."

Critchley disagrees with the current emphasis on physical preparation. "Even when I coached Eire Og in football, I tried to use the ball as much as possible. Things have gone the other way in hurling. There's no point in running 60 yards with the ball when you can hit it that far in less than a second."

A supporter of the preliminary pool round-robin, he believes the format should be extended to give a wider range of counties more championship matches. "There's still scope for round-robins without interfering with Munster and Leinster finals, to give teams more games. On Sunday, ourselves or Dublin, Waterford or Tipperary are going to be out for the rest of the year. You have to get to a provincial final to get the benefit of the back door."