Laois manager Seamus Plunkett has stressed that the next step they take is critical to the development of hurling in the county.
There were many positives to take from this year's campaign, but 'Cheddar' stressed to the Leinster Express that unless they build on those straight away, they could be setback a number of years.
Laois pushed Dublin all the way last weekend, having come through the Leinster SHC round robin series before beating Offaly and losing heavily to Galway in the semi-final.
"We've worked out of the round robin into the Leinster championship. We were very competitive against a team that have aspirations on winning an All-Ireland and that have been Leinster champions and League champions in the last couple of years," said Plunkett.
"There's a lot of positives there but the critical thing is what is the team and what Laois hurling in general want to do. Do we just want to stand still or do we want to keep pushing and keep finding different ways of trying to improve themselves and I think that's what's really important over the next couple of years."
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