Gaelic Games/ All-Ireland SFC: Any further speculation on Mick O'Dwyer's future in football seems futile at a time when even those closest to him in Laois over the past four years aren't daring to predict his next move.

"Sure you never know," said O'Dwyer after Sunday's All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Mayo - as if himself courting the inevitable talk of where or when he might go next.

Declan O'Loughlin has been his right-hand man and selector since O'Dwyer took over as Laois manager four years ago. He in fact played a role, along with his brother Tom, the former Laois football chairman, in bringing O'Dwyer to Laois.

Through his work in the hotel business and services to football, O'Loughlin had known O'Dwyer for several years and developed a close friendship. A conversation during a round of golf in Waterville planted the seed in O'Dwyer's mind back in October of 2002 - and Tom O'Loughlin started the formalities: first the confirmation that the Kerryman was finished with Kildare, then the official invitation to talk with Laois.

Despite getting so close to him in the years since, O'Loughlin almost laughs at the question of what O'Dwyer may do next.

"Sure it would take a very wise man to predict what Micko will do next," he says. "All I do know is that he still has an awful lot to offer football and a great appetite for football. Where that takes him next I just don't know."

What is more certain is that O'Dwyer's days with Laois are over - though that can't be definitively stated either. O'Loughlin, however, seems certain this was the end of the current management set-up: "That's certainly the way I see it. I think Sunday's defeat did mark the full stop as far as this management team is concerned. That was always the plan. And he did thank all the players on Sunday, reflecting on the wonderful four years he had with them."

After winning Leinster in his first season with Laois - their first title since 1946 - O'Dwyer guaranteed his place in the county's football history. O'Loughlin admits they never fully built on that success (for the next three years their Leinster campaign was ended by the eventual winners), yet he does believe the team's status and consistency reached new heights under O'Dwyer.

"I would think we have made good progress over those four years, even if it has been a little hard on the supporters at times, who probably wanted a little more silverware to show for it. But I certainly think this Laois team was up there with the best of them over the past four years.

"I also think there is a lot more in these players and this particular group. They were a fantastic bunch of lads to work with, and fantastic players. I've often said before that Laois is drawing from a very small population, with only something like 13,000 male adults in the county. So to have a team making the All-Ireland quarter-finals for three of the past four years is a great achievement. And if we'd managed to win Sunday's replay we'd have been down to the last four.

"And they're still a young team. Tom Kelly and Joe Higgins are the oldest of them at 27, and Chris Conway as well. But after that they're all only approaching their peak as players - the likes of Ross Munnelly, Darren Rooney, and, of course, Pádraig Clancy."

The idea there is more in this Laois team might be seen as an incentive for O'Dwyer to stay, but O'Loughlin doubts it, and expects the search will soon begin for a new management.

"There is the saying that a new brush sweeps clean, so it may be time for a whole new approach. And I think maybe we've brought this team as far we could. But there's been no meeting about anything yet, or nothing even discussed as of yet. I know the players are very, very fond of him, to be honest, and likewise he was very fond of them. He'd give out about them at times, but I know he had a great love of how capable they were, how they applied themselves at training, and how good they could be at times.

"So no matter what Micko does next he has left Laois football in a very healthy state, and that's one of the most important things. They're certainly a lot better off than they were when he took over. I can remember well back in 2002 when they well beaten by Meath in a qualifier in O'Moore Park, in front of something like 2,500 people.

"So he has brought them on an awful lot and done a tremendous job with the players. Everything from their fitness levels to their discipline has been improved an awful lot, and I think if the next man can continue with that the future is very bright. Of course he's going to be a very hard man to replace. He had his own style, a kind of old style, but I know the players loved that about him.

"Right now though I just feel exceptionally sorry for all the players after the huge effort they put in this year. They had the winning of that game in their grasp, and they certainly had it the week before, but that's the way championship football goes, and you have to accept the defeats when they come. Having said all that I still don't think we did ourselves justice on Sunday."