Laois hurling manager Eamonn Kelly wants to see his side defeat one of the established counties in 2018.
Laois have gone close in the past against Galway and against Limerick and Wexford last year in the league.
But they have been on the end of big beatings too – most recently to a very experimental Kilkenny side in the Walsh Cup.
He said: “What we have to start doing is becoming more consistent. And to be fair to the lads, I can’t ask anymore of them, they put in a phenomenal effort.
“We had bad days last year. We shipped big beatings and it would be a goal for us to try change that.
“To get back and get competitive. We need to start taking one of these scalps at some stage.”
Laois begin against Limerick and although they will be missing all ten of their contingent from Na Piarsaigh, manager Kelly reckons they will be just as strong.
He said: “We don’t have the luxury that some of the bigger counties have.
“You take Limerick, they have ten of the Na Piarsaigh panel unavailable to them and I went down to see them last Sunday and you wouldn’t think there was anyone missing.
“We have a very young panel here and we are under no illusions of what lies ahead of us.”
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