Just home and its sad to say we are at the very bottom of the pile now. We are a Div 4 outfit, a Div 4 management set up and a Div 4 administration. Simple as, no buts and no ifs.
Since we have to enter the qualifiers i honestly hope we get the toughest of draws and see where it takes us but id prefer if we just called it off right now. So so disappointed.
Quote from: The Monument Road on June 04, 2017, 06:06:57 PM
Just home and its sad to say we are at the very bottom of the pile now. We are a Div 4 outfit, a Div 4 management set up and a Div 4 administration. Simple as, no buts and no ifs.
Since we have to enter the qualifiers i honestly hope we get the toughest of draws and see where it takes us but id prefer if we just called it off right now. So so disappointed.
This post might make sense if everyone knew who 'we' are. Always thought it would be useful if we had our county allegiance as part of our sidebar profile.
Quote from: ned on June 04, 2017, 06:20:33 PM
Quote from: The Monument Road on June 04, 2017, 06:06:57 PM
Just home and its sad to say we are at the very bottom of the pile now. We are a Div 4 outfit, a Div 4 management set up and a Div 4 administration. Simple as, no buts and no ifs.
Since we have to enter the qualifiers i honestly hope we get the toughest of draws and see where it takes us but id prefer if we just called it off right now. So so disappointed.
This post might make sense if everyone knew who 'we' are. Always thought it would be useful if we had our county allegiance as part of our sidebar profile.
Do you think that some of us forlorn Armagh people are going to go into the Laois local forum looking for sympathy?
Quote from: armaghniac on June 04, 2017, 08:39:16 PM
Do you think that some of us forlorn Armagh people are going to go into the Laois local forum looking for sympathy?
What the hell is this all about ? ? ? ? ?
Quote from: Junior Ex Laoistalk on June 05, 2017, 01:06:34 AM
Quote from: armaghniac on June 04, 2017, 08:39:16 PM
Do you think that some of us forlorn Armagh people are going to go into the Laois local forum looking for sympathy?
What the hell is this all about ? ? ? ? ?
You could try reading the previous post and mine and stop typing nonsense.
Quote from: armaghniac on June 05, 2017, 01:44:53 AM
Quote from: Junior Ex Laoistalk on June 05, 2017, 01:06:34 AM
Quote from: armaghniac on June 04, 2017, 08:39:16 PM
Do you think that some of us forlorn Armagh people are going to go into the Laois local forum looking for sympathy?
What the hell is this all about ? ? ? ? ?
You could try reading the previous post and mine and stop typing nonsense.
Like my nonsense! Used the 'unread posts' function and thought this was a general thread on qualifiers! Doh!
Can we get Armagh or Longford? They seem to be the only teams we can beat nowadays.
We should do ourselves a favour and pull out altogether. I can't see any good reason to subscribe to the Qualifiers after what happened yesterday. There are a number of other counties in the same boat and like us, they are wasting their time. The GAA is basically 4-6 counties. Everything else is to a greater or lesser degree pointless.
Quote from: armaghniac on June 04, 2017, 08:39:16 PM
Quote from: ned on June 04, 2017, 06:20:33 PM
Quote from: The Monument Road on June 04, 2017, 06:06:57 PM
Just home and its sad to say we are at the very bottom of the pile now. We are a Div 4 outfit, a Div 4 management set up and a Div 4 administration. Simple as, no buts and no ifs.
Since we have to enter the qualifiers i honestly hope we get the toughest of draws and see where it takes us but id prefer if we just called it off right now. So so disappointed.
This post might make sense if everyone knew who 'we' are. Always thought it would be useful if we had our county allegiance as part of our sidebar profile.
Do you think that some of us forlorn Armagh people are going to go into the Laois local forum looking for sympathy?
You'll get plenty of sympathy off us ;) Ye and Carlow are the only teams we can beat consistently!
Quote from: SCFC on June 05, 2017, 02:42:43 PM
Quote from: armaghniac on June 04, 2017, 08:39:16 PM
Quote from: ned on June 04, 2017, 06:20:33 PM
Quote from: The Monument Road on June 04, 2017, 06:06:57 PM
Just home and its sad to say we are at the very bottom of the pile now. We are a Div 4 outfit, a Div 4 management set up and a Div 4 administration. Simple as, no buts and no ifs.
Since we have to enter the qualifiers i honestly hope we get the toughest of draws and see where it takes us but id prefer if we just called it off right now. So so disappointed.
This post might make sense if everyone knew who 'we' are. Always thought it would be useful if we had our county allegiance as part of our sidebar profile.
Do you think that some of us forlorn Armagh people are going to go into the Laois local forum looking for sympathy?
You'll get plenty of sympathy off us ;) Ye and Carlow are the only teams we can beat consistently!
Jazus I wouldn't fancy either right now, as a matter of fact I don't fancy anyone all we need right now is for Carlow to beat us and our embarrassment will be complete.
Quote from: SCFC on June 05, 2017, 02:42:43 PM
Quote from: armaghniac on June 04, 2017, 08:39:16 PM
Quote from: ned on June 04, 2017, 06:20:33 PM
Quote from: The Monument Road on June 04, 2017, 06:06:57 PM
Just home and its sad to say we are at the very bottom of the pile now. We are a Div 4 outfit, a Div 4 management set up and a Div 4 administration. Simple as, no buts and no ifs.
Since we have to enter the qualifiers i honestly hope we get the toughest of draws and see where it takes us but id prefer if we just called it off right now. So so disappointed.
This post might make sense if everyone knew who 'we' are. Always thought it would be useful if we had our county allegiance as part of our sidebar profile.
Do you think that some of us forlorn Armagh people are going to go into the Laois local forum looking for sympathy?
You'll get plenty of sympathy off us ;) Ye and Carlow are the only teams we can beat consistently!
The sad reality is that every other team will be looking to get us in the draw in order to get their season back on the road.
Wicklow away. Horrible draw. A real no win scenario.
Win and it's "only Wicklow". Lose and well you know the rest.
Still the positive view should be that this is the chance to get a qualifier run going.
Two division 4 teams face off and we're away. Moral will obviously be low so losing this game is a possibility. I wouldn't put any money on us winning anyway.
Quote from: Nameless on June 06, 2017, 09:12:41 AM
Two division 4 teams face off and we're away. Moral will obviously be low so losing this game is a possibility. I wouldn't put any money on us winning anyway.
If there's anything in the players, they'll win that. Anything at all.
This is the game the players should be looking at to get back on track and get something out of this year. I know we are poor at the moment but I don't think we did ourselves justice last Sunday. There is no way we are 14 points worse than Kildare and that will be seen when Kildare meet Meath.
Win this and we get some confidence back but lose and I really think we are in for a very bad few years supporting Laois football. Hopefully we will have Mark and Stephen back for this one and if we can get Donie to start spreading the ball around and bring the rest of the forwards into the game we can go a bit further.
Here is the draw in full:
All-Ireland qualifiers Round 1A
(Games to be played weekend June 17/18)
Waterford v Derry
Louth v Longford
Wicklow v Laois
Sligo v Antrim
All-Ireland qualifiers Round 1B
(Games to be played weekend June 24/25)
Westmeath/Offaly v Cavan/Monaghan
Armagh v Fermanagh
Limerick v Wexford
London v Carlow
we draw possibly the worst team in the country this year, many in Wicklow want Magee out, so I would say secretly Wicklow are in the same boat as us as they may want out of this championship pronto.
Although we should beat Wicklow, a defeat could be a blessing in disguise, because what we would face in the next qualifier round could be another horror show........if we win, 3 of the 4 options in the next round, would involve playing the losers of one of these provincial semis: Galway/Mayo, Donegal/Tyrone or Kildare/Meath.........imagine the mauling some of those teams would inflict upon us!.
Quote from: Don Draper on June 06, 2017, 10:17:15 AM
Quote from: Nameless on June 06, 2017, 09:12:41 AM
Two division 4 teams face off and we're away. Moral will obviously be low so losing this game is a possibility. I wouldn't put any money on us winning anyway.
If there's anything in the players, they'll win that. Anything at all.
We would have said the same against Antrim the other year. Definitely should be beating Wicklow but confidence and moral will be very low and then it depends on how many want it.
Quote from: Nameless on June 06, 2017, 11:16:24 AM
Quote from: Don Draper on June 06, 2017, 10:17:15 AM
Quote from: Nameless on June 06, 2017, 09:12:41 AM
Two division 4 teams face off and we're away. Moral will obviously be low so losing this game is a possibility. I wouldn't put any money on us winning anyway.
If there's anything in the players, they'll win that. Anything at all.
We would have said the same against Antrim the other year. Definitely should be beating Wicklow but confidence and moral will be very low and then it depends on how many want it.
But we had a really shite manager for the Antrim game.
Oh...
Any word on whether any of the panel have dropped off since the Kildare game and are off to the States?
Laois have been training hard since October and no one should question their commitment but the difference in pace, power and turnovers was alarming. In the modern era there shouldn't be such a gap in this aspect. Is it different training methods?
If we manage to bate Wicklow who do we play?
Quote from: Butch Cassidy on June 06, 2017, 11:37:29 AM
Any word on whether any of the panel have dropped off since the Kildare game and are off to the States?
Laois have been training hard since October and no one should question their commitment but the difference in pace, power and turnovers was alarming. In the modern era there shouldn't be such a gap in this aspect. Is it different training methods?
That's a good point Butch. I saw nothing on Sunday that told me all of that effort was worth it. That's a terrible thing to say, but when you have a team that is fitter, faster, hungrier and just plain better, then it begs the question, what is the actual point here? I don't believe for a minute that even if the Dublin set up was put in charge of Laois that we would beat Kildare. We don't have the players necessary to succeed. It doesn't matter what we do.
Just had a look at our side of the draw. If I'm correct and if we beat Wicklow, we'll play the losers of Kildare/Meath if it's Meath, Galway/Mayo, Tyrone/Donegal or Kerry/Clare. I wouldn't be overly optimistic of a qualifier run.
Saturday June 17th. 5 pm. Venue Joule Park....Must look up the B&Bs
Played Louth Friday night and I think another game tonight. Anyone hear anything from the Louth game?
I might be over simplifying things but I think a major factor in our defeat to Kildare is : Fitness, S&C, tactics. Player for player, on a raw talent level, I think we match them. They're not a kerry or dublin : they were just well drilled, knew their role and were fit and strong : all attributes that can be coached / developed.
Look what we did in the McNulty era with a similar level squad : yes the football was horrible to look at but we were very competitive and not lacking for fitness, s&c.
When Kildare and Laois were FRESH in the first 25 minutes or so this year, it was a game. There wasn't a whole lot between the teams. When the legs gave out, we were chasing shadows all day. Our fitness was poor relative to Kildare and anyone that plays the game knows that fitness is huge. When your legs give out and your lungs are busted your level goes way way down.
Look at any fight for proof on that : if a boxer gasses out, he's done - suddenly his technique and work rate is minimised. I believe we gassed out terribly vs Kildare and in addition had no proper drilling, tactics, or conditioning. It was a foregone conclusion really.
From that perspective, I'm disappointed in Creedon to a certain extent. It's been 9 months or so since he arrived : I'd expect better fitness. HOWEVER, anyone who knows anything about a good level of fitness knows it takes at least a year or two to create a good fitness base including s&c which we don't seem to have to a good level : in addition we are just getting a lot of lads back since March and April which doesn't help.
Someone said if we get the Dublin set up in, for example, it wouldn't make a difference. I think that's incorrect. A dublin type setup in Laois for the next 4-5 years would see progress. A focussed, progressive, proactive setup would get us more competitive.
Unfortunately for us, we don't seem to have a lot of talent coming through but AGAIN, that's down to coaching and development and a lot can be done to turn decent -12'S/14's into good minors. It never happens by accident. These lads need to be nurtured correctly. That IS NOT happening at present.
Long story short : you get out of something what you put in. I'm not sure what Creedon will do if he stays but I do believe that we need a holistic overhaul of the whole setup, if we want to be competitive in the next 8 - 10 years. That all depends on the knowledge level and will of the CB and people in charge. They need to set up proper structures - if they don't know how, copy one of the leading counties. It's not rocket science and it doesn't necessarily have to cost the earth. Juts common sense, people with ambition, desire and knowledge. Otherwise, we'll be swimming in a sea of 20 or so counties that won't have a chance as their prep will be just as poor as ours.
Not very excited for the qualifiers but we'll likely get over Wicklow and lose the next round. We simply don't have the required fitness this year to challenge any top 16 team. Creedon sounds a bit low energy and unenthusiastic in his interviews. I backed him earlier this year but coming around to the possibility that he simply doesn't have the desire to turn around this capsized ship over the long-term. I hope I'm wrong as he is a smart guy, I just don't see him loving the Laois experience enough to want to devote everything to turning it around (maybe I'm wrong). I would be open to a new, young, SMART, FORWARD THINKING, Laois man, but he's got to have the will and KNOWLEDGE to do it long-term, and we've got to have people all around the county to provide good standards for our young players coming up. Tall ask but possible if the will is there. Maybe it just isn't, who knows. It probably isn't in all likelyhood but that's what we NEED, and badly.
there has to be a culture change, Ill discipline still a problem both on and off the pitch. Would there be anybody locally that would be respected enough but also ruthless enough to deal with these problems
Local parish priest? We need to get realistic. Ill discipline is a SMALL issue in the scale of things. We either : A - get a set up from u12 - senior across the board that rival the top 8 teams or B - Be happy where we're at and just become the next Leitrim or Wicklow. My guess is we'll do B, but there is that opportunity to do a decent job at A. We need good, dedicated people (a la Cheddar and Critchley with the hurlers) to have any hope. The old guard at CB haven't a clue how to take us forward. Getting paid and comfortable. No desire to improve. It really looks like we'll be languishing around 3rd / 4th div for next 10 years unless something radical and proactive is done from u-12 up and the RIGHT people are involved. There are GOOD dedicated people in Laois GAA, time to utilise those correctly.
Thanks tony :),at the present time if creedon is moved on who locally would you like to see coach them. I mentioned ill discipline because throughout the league we had a lot of players black carded this year and along with some serious messing leading up to the championship
Are many travelling Saturday? Morale seems to be pretty low among supporters, would a win against Wicklow lift it any bit even? As an earlier poster said it's a no win situation really, lose - "we are completely useless", win - "If they couldn't beat Wicklow they might as well forget about it". I hope they win, although it's delaying the inevitable, that is the case for the majority of teams. You would expect to see some changes from the last day, there probably isn't going to much change in term of personnel but you would hope to see changes in approach. My biggest worry is how management react to the how the game is playing out, I feel they are so slow to react when the opposition are getting a run on us or whatever our approach is, isn't working.
I find it interesting that nobody appears to have left the panel. They really do seem to like the setup. I think the best case scenario this year is we beat wicklow and then show against a good team that we're not as bad as the Kildare showing suggests. I just hope, if we do win against wicklow, that the next team is not as fit and fast as Kildare. Then we may make it competitive. Knowing some of the lads, they will really want to come back to show their worth, so let's see. I'd be satisfied with a win vs wicklow, and then a good performance. Then we need to get our house in order for 2018-2025.
I remember a story of a championship game in Waterford.. A certain team who year after year failed to win in the championship, the parish priest came in before a game and said a prayer, he went on and on until a player stopped him and said Father would you finish up there we need to get going, the priest said sit down their now, the longer I go on for, the longer you lads stay in the Championship. Sorry to say but have we any priests? We will beat Wicklow, they are in a more dier situation than we are but Clare, Mayo, Donegal/Tyrone or Meath/Kildare waiting for us, well there is nothing to suggest we would beat any of those teams although possibly competitive against Clare and Meath in truth.
Love a Craic at Mayo just for the buzz that might surround the tie and we rarely play Them...
that saying beaing Wicklow won't be easy of us at the moment.
Drew with Louth in what was suppose to be a cracking game of football 2-18 to 3-15
Heard we beat wexford well last night 8/9 points!
Any word on teams or injury updates Unlaoised? Has everyone stayed on since the Kildare game?
Wexford are hardly the pinnacle.. Powers handicap is -6... not sure we will beat that
I also heard the Louth match was supposed to be a belter. I wish I went to that instead of the Kildare game :D. The life of a division 3/4 inter county team fan is not easy. Not much success. Not sure why we do it. Those moments that we actually win against a good team make it worth it I suppose. Unfortunately those wins are few and far between :'(. I'm just about recovered from the Kildare match now and ready to go to Wicklow, even though after the Kildare game I said I'd never go again. Wouldn't be surprised with a loss but my prediction is Laois by 4-6. I still think there's a small chance that if we get past Wicklow and if we have attride/timmons back we have a small chance of building momentum but that's probably delusional.
I'll be there too, not expecting much but hoping to be pleasantly surprised. I really think the key to our forwards scoring more lies with Donie. He is our go to man and his distribution was very limited last day.
He will always be double marked and seems to glory in getting himself out of that situation by beating two or even three men. That's all very fine but the majority of times he ends up getting turned over when one simple pass to a better placed forward would be the thing to do.
He has to start playing more of a get and give role and bringing the rest of the lads into it. He's a great talent and that would improve him and the team immensely
Denis booth and Niall Donoher both out for Saturday.
Attride and Tmmons both available.
Timmons could go straight in at 3, played quite well in both challenge games.
Kieran Lillis is another guy in contention apparently.
Good news and bad I suppose. I thought Donagher and Booth did well enough against Kildare. Niall was unlucky to be taken off in my opinion as he was getting a lot of ball, just was unlucky with some passes. Great to have Mark back but Dennis would have slotted in nicely in the corner. Let's hope Mark can get a few games in the championship this year. He's been a great servant to Laois even through his fair share of injuries - he always shows up. he could have just withdrawn this year because of his operation but he's always there trying his best; it's a credit to him.
Hear Donoher could be gone for the Summer..
Booth is struggling.
Finn played very well against Louth as did Timmons ,Quigley and the two kingstons.
David Conway was lively in both game particularly the Wexford game.
The info is not from being at them and not from my usual source so take from that what you will.
The second half performance against Wexford was suppose to be very pleasing on the eye.
No player has walked or even talked about it.
They were all sick after the kildare game some didn't even go for their arranged meal after it just went home.
I think we will see a reaction that will comfortably beat Wicklow!
Quote from: Unlaoised on June 14, 2017, 11:35:43 AM
Hear Donoher could be gone for summer
Not what I heard. 2/3 week's for him and booth.
Let's go .........
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DCTUqZxXkAEC3Ay.jpg:large)
We should hammer Wicklow, even Lillis beat Wicklow.
Quote from: BallyroanAbu on June 16, 2017, 12:32:32 AM
We should hammer Wicklow, even Lillis beat Wicklow.
Yea, but Lillis was special.... Bit like yourself really.
A few changes to the team for Saturday, best of luck lads..
https://twitter.com/CLGLaois/status/875639539057934337?s=01
You'd have to imagine that David Conway and Gary Walsh would be (justifiably) be disappointed with that selection.
Fair play to the both of them for sticking with it. They might have an important role on Sunday yet.
Great to see Mark back in the team. He's been very patient and fair play to him for an excellent recovery. Good to see K. Lillis back too but harsh on young Kelly who I thought has performed quite well. Seems like only now that we have nearly all players back that we have a little bit of depth on the panel. Fantastic to see Stephen named, too. On a sunny day which it will be tomorrow I can only see a Laois victory. Let's try build momentum in the qualifiers and express ourselves. Nothing to lose this year - give it your all. We've a lot to work on over the coming years but lets not forget, we still have some very good players on our panel and it'll be great to see them perform to their potential if we build momentum a bit. IF we beat WW, of course it will be a tough draw but Clare or Meath (if they lose to Kildare) could be winnable. Lots of players like Quigley, Begley, Timmons, Attride are unfortunately not as fit as they would be due to injuries but everyone trying hard. Very surprised that Conway is not named but would like to see him come in for a good chunk of the game.
The one encouraging thing is that no one dropped out after the kildare hiding ..
Respect to the lads for that !!
Would still like to see Dillon in the team for his pace .. team is crying out for that ..
Great that we have lads on the bench who can actually make a difference when they come in. I think that if we can get over this one, which we should, we can go into the next one with real confidence.
Not because beating Wicklow would be anything special but because of the squad we have who, to be honest have not performed at all this year apart from the Longford game. Really looking forward to this now, onwards and upwards.. 😂
Best of luck to the lads tomorrow evening. The best available are on the first 21. The team picked tells you the tactics will be ultra defensive with Lillis picked as a forward and probably staying around midield/halfback leaving room for our scorer in chief Donie and hopefully his brother Paul and young Carroll. Alan Farrell and JOLwill be used as runner/ball carriers from expected turnovers, Simple as :-* I know nothing about Wicklow but do have a nightmarish memory of that tight pitch in Aughrim and that famous 1986 hot summers day day when we were ambushed.
I remember it well.... :'(
http://www.laoistoday.ie/2017/06/15/looking-back-fears-speak-86/
In recent times though we've easily brushed them aside. This one shouldn't be any different. Respect to Wicklow but we should be a class above.
Let's hope we still have an interest in this on Monday morning.
This is how it works....
Round 2A Football Qualifier Draw.
http://www.hoganstand.com/Laois/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=271714&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Quote from: Junior Ex Laoistalk on June 16, 2017, 08:04:23 PM
Let's hope we still have an interest in this on Monday morning.
This is how it works....
Round 2A Football Qualifier Draw.
http://www.hoganstand.com/Laois/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=271714&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Funny enough i'd love to have another shot at Kildare especially on their own patch. It would be a spicy affair. Clare is another one i'd love especially after last years defeat. The rest would be tough although they might not have an appetite for the qualifiers
I was thinking the very same Monument, there is no way we could be as bad again as we were in Tullamore and I feel we would have the beating of Clare.
Quote from: Junior Ex Laoistalk on June 17, 2017, 01:40:17 AM
I was thinking the very same Monument, there is no way we could be as bad again as we were in Tullamore and I feel we would have the beating of Clare.
How so ? Have we not been bad all year, is it not more likely it will be more of the same. We would not beat Kildare or Clare in our current form.
Also how anyone can think Mark Timmons back into the Laois team is anything other than a move of complete desperation, is obviously off their head. No disrespect to Mark who is a fine player but he is only on the comeback trail after what was a pretty desperate injury. Also with forward thinking half backs as corner backs I don't think that makes his life any easier. If we did not have Kingston I would fear for us against Wicklow. But we do and I expect a win.
Great to see Mark Timmons starting. Hes been a very reliable defender for Laois for many years now and I have no doubt he will deliver another solid performance today. He could have taken the easy option and not committed this year but full credit to him for staying with the panel and making a full recovery. A well deserved start today.
Great to see our captain back today. The defence will strengthen today with Attride. Great pace as well.
In terms of the game, it being in Aughrim is worth 3 points to Wicklow. On a swelthering, hot day energy will be sapped. Expect it to be tight for a while but I fully believe Laois will win. Would like to see Gary Walsh getting some game time.
Laois ABU. Best of luck.
Ballyroan, Mark was recovering from surgery, not injury. He's been training since March and playing for his club since April. If you think putting one of the most solid full backs in the country in after months of training and club / Laois challenge games is....desperation....I really have to question YOUR judgement my friend. It's a no-brainer, especially with Booth out. Mark has been back for months, just not match fit until recently. He played very well against Louth and Wexford. Not worth debating anymore. Correct decision by Mngment.
Some people here after finding false optimism from where? Another crack at Kildare? Sure we are way behind Kildare what has changed since ? I'd say Clare are a 5/6/7 point better team than us at the moment too. Even if we beat Wicklow what does it prove or solve like? It just proves we beat struggling division 4 Wicklow sure. It's not a quick fix like. On another note I'm looking forward to Kildare Meath on sky sports tonight 😊😊
Quote from: Tony on June 17, 2017, 12:39:18 PM
Ballyroan, Mark was recovering from surgery, not injury. He's been training since March and playing for his club since April. If you think putting one of the most solid full backs in the country in after months of training and club / Laois challenge games is....desperation....I really have to question YOUR judgement my friend. It's a no-brainer, especially with Booth out. Mark has been back for months, just not match fit until recently. He played very well against Louth and Wexford. Not worth debating anymore. Correct decision by Mngment.
Hip Surgery for a an Hip problem is that not a injury, I seen him playing on April 30th against Stradbally and he did not look anywhere near match fit or at his best
me that knows nothing,,,team thats stated is not the correct team expect changes
You know that horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach
Best of luck to the lads today. I am not so sure a victory will be of any use to us considering some of the other teams we can draw if we win. Been a tough year and I don't think it's going to get any easier. Time to look ahead to next year and the few years after that.
Quote from: town1980 on June 17, 2017, 02:37:21 PM
me that knows nothing,,,team thats stated is not the correct team expect changes
u are on the ball with the team info
A win is a win, we should be thankful for small mercies.
Started like we were going to wipe them off the field but as usual we failed to put them away and it almost came back to haunt us. I know they got two lucky goals but we should have been out of sight at that time.
The way things are going I would worry about us in the next one regardless of who we play.
Report:
http://www.laoistoday.ie/2017/06/17/laois-advance-ireland-qualifiers/
Quote from: town1980 on June 17, 2017, 02:37:21 PM
me that knows nothing,,
well we are finally agreed on something
With the advent of Kildare annihilating meath, I'm beginning to wonder if we're still pure dirt or if the Lillies have upped their game this championship and may even give dublin a decent game. Maybe we're not as bad as we think? Delusional? The next game will tell.
Quote from: Tony on June 17, 2017, 09:22:10 PM
With the advent of Kildare annihilating meath, I'm beginning to wonder if we're still pure dirt or if the Lillies have upped their game this championship and may even give dublin a decent game. Maybe we're not as bad as we think? Delusional? The next game will tell.
DELUSIONAL
Kildare might well give Dublin a decent game.
This has nothing to do with us.
We were at least as poor today as we were throughout the league. If it hadn't been for some great saves from Brody, we could have conceded 5 or 6 ..... against Wicklow.
Forward play was almost as bad as the defence. Very disappointing
I rate Wicklow the poorest outfit in the country in 2017....lucky to beat them..........we will not be at the races the next day....yes tony keep taking the delusional tablets.
of the options open to us, I would take a trip to mayo just as a novelty....at least mayo would beat you playing football, whereas a tyrone/Donegal would have zero mercy....and we are now in the begging for mercy status.
Attack is always the best form of defence, but it's an absolute necessity for us. None of our backs, not even one, could be considered good man markers. Aggression, tackling, shadowing, positional sense - it's just not there. We're not even getting by at the back now. 3-10 leaked against the poorest team in the country is poor. Let's not kid ourselves
Some of the fellas on here don't want to hear it, I said it last September this guy was a poor appointment in a list of poor appointments. We should have sacked him after the league I don't know why this is not more common in the GAA your only postponing the inevitable. The line we will be "better in the championship" is peddled by poor managers buying time. Now is the time to go with a young Laois Manager it's so low risk it's unbelievable McNulty or Clancy are the ones immediately who come to mind. McNulty been in pole position but they are Laois Men who can reignite the flames of passion within this squad. For some on here they do not want to believe there has been a lack lustre effort by some members of this panel who are more interested in how they are perceived than the good of Laois Football, this needs rooting out. We need a plan and a basic reboot of what we stand for because some of these players acting the mick is now in their DNA, this does not make them bad fellas or poor players. They need to reconnect with the passion and honour of playing for Laois and maybe make something of themselves for the jersey they are wearing. We are not going to win All Irelands but I think we can operate safely in Div 2 and Dublin are not going to be at this standard forever. We are in crisis and no better time for an over haul of our underage structure but we need to do it asap and stop talking about it.
You say I'm delusional ballyroan to say we're not as bad as the kildare showing but yet you say we've the players to be comfortable in division 2? Ie a top 10 or 12 team.
Either you're a hypocrite, or talking sh**e.
We were clearly the best team yesterday. 7-9points the better team but the soft goals at the end put made it look like a close game. We're a team lacking in confidence and that's clear. Having said that, a lot needs to be worked on to tighten at the back. We'll give Clare or Meath a match if we draw them. Anyone else and it's over for the year. Would personally love to see us draw meath and beat them, that would give us a much needed confidence boost. Not saying it's going to happen but that's best case scenario in my opinio.
Division 2 my hole Ballyroan. These players are not Division 2 standard. We have one Division 1 standard player, 4 or 5 Division 2 and most of them have found their level. I always found Ballyroan people to be realistic and plain talking. You're in a bubble there shiiting on about Creedon when we haven't a back on the entire panel. Coaches improve teams for sure, but they can't make something out of nothing. I think you think you're the most clued up man in Laois. I think you can't see the wood for the trees .
It would not be the same without you two and a few others, it must sicken you that so far much of what I have said has come to pass. These players are playing at below their level of ability the managers we have appointed for the last 5 years have destroyed the will of them. I am pretty sure any manager with half a clue of what his doing will get huge gains because of the damage done thus far. Tony is right to a point these players are capable of better but they will not perform for an idiot, funny enough Clancy has everything we need. He will get the job after we are completely crushed and he will be a massive success. The plain talking people of Ballyroan would not mind him back now, the same ones wanted shut of him last year.
I am firmly in the Clancy camp I do have an agenda but I would not mind McNulty or Higgins been given a shot. I think Clancy has something about him and the sooner the better he gets the Laois job, that's a personal opinion and I am open to a discussion on that. Hopefully they won't treat him with the contempt and disdain that at times was handed to Pat Roe, Joe Higgins and many more whose only sin that they were Laois Men.
I have stated here a long time ago what ballyroan Abu says is actually good reading and sometimes a fact,, for anyone at the game yesterday yes laois were 7/9 points a better side but the simple fact is they DIDNT ,, Garry kavanagh was the one calling the shots and creedon on stood there with the finger in his mouth like ffs, no passion out of that man watsoever again I said your manager has to inspire people ,, laois 2002 laois 2003 then 04 05 n roll 07,,I fully take on board ballyroan abu points just because they are fact ,, Tony and a few yee act are delusional with here points anyone bar Clare and were out ,,, Longford wahey Wicklow wahey,,, there is plenty of talent in laois you need a man to get it out of them and there is loads of Laois clientele there to do that on less of a budget
Most of us knew much of what you "predicted" Ballyroan would happen. The difference being that most of us hoped it wouldn't. Grade A Gobshite
Exactly High Fielder ;D. He acts like a Prophet but we all knew we'd probably beat Longford, definitely lose to Kildare, likely beat Wicklow and probably lose the next one. Get that man a bookies, he's going to raid them for all they're worth. FFS. Himself and town1980 predicted that we'd lose to Longford actually and there would be uproar in the camp and all hell would break loose. Town1980 probably does have some insider info but doesn't make him less of a gobs**te to be fair.
In the League we had even less of a team than we do now due to injury and suspension so relegation was a definite possibility. Crystal ball BallyroanAbu.
Clancy and higgins aren't enough to turn this around. Get real. Neither is Creedon of course but look at the true source of our issues. Doesn't take a rocket scientist, really.
What makes the two of yer any less of a gobshite??? Go back threw some of yere silly posts,, all his asking is for someone who can inspire the lads have any of yer been in the dressing room with Higgins? Mcnulty? Clancy? If not how the hell can yee comment saying there not up to it, a process is asking the players they have trained what there like they can't be any worse than the lads yee back ffs
Quote from: High Fielder on June 18, 2017, 10:35:13 AM
Most of us knew much of what you "predicted" Ballyroan would happen. The difference being that most of us hoped it wouldn't. Grade A Gobshite
So since last September when I said Creedon was a disaster, you have not been calling me names, or otherwise insulting me? Yourself, Don and Tony have continually insulted me while I have tried not to be personal. The only thing that sickens you is that I have been right all along otherwise you would be crucifying me with how wrong I was. We have the players Donie Kingston is enough to have us operating at a higher level who ever has appointed the last 3 managers really wants to opt out the next time. I am sure yourself, Tony and Don will be crowing about some dipshit from anywhere if we appointed him where we need Laois Men to the Job. Higgins, McNulty and Clancy are nearly 40 for christ sake Leo Vrad is running the country at 38.
Great. We get clancy in. Then what?
A miracle? Division 1within 3years with the most unpromising underage footballers in 30years?
You both have the answer. Well done. Brilliant. Forget all the important stuff. Just get clancy in and he'll turn water into wine with his couple years club management experience.
Quote from: Tony on June 18, 2017, 01:23:21 PM
Great. We get clancy in. Then what?
A miracle? Division 1within 3years with the most unpromising underage footballers in 30years?
You both have the answer. Well done. Brilliant. Forget all the important stuff. Just get clancy in and he'll turn water into wine with his couple years club management experience.
Never said Div 1, Div 2 would be realistic. Are you on the County Board because honestly there is no defending whats gone on over the last 5 years without an agenda behind it.
Quote from: Tony on June 18, 2017, 01:23:21 PM
Great. We get clancy in. Then what?
A miracle? Division 1within 3years with the most unpromising underage footballers in 30years?
You both have the answer. Well done. Brilliant. Forget all the important stuff. Just get clancy in and he'll turn water into wine with his couple years club management experience.
For a start we'd know that he actually gave a shite.
Secondly, the players couldn't appear less fit, less motivated or less prepared.
Thirdly, there would be a lot less money been driven out of the county and down the M8 in the boot of a car three or four times a week.
Finally, there may actually be a future in one of the managers mentioned above. There is no future in this spoofer. Giving him next spring to look good against Div 4 teams would be a big mistake.
Tony:
Creedon wil be great, I'm excited.
Creedon needs to be given time, he'll work out.
Creedon is hamstrung by injuries.
Creedon should be judged on the championship.
Creedon can't correct 3/4 years of poor fitness levels overnight.
Creedon doesn't have the players, maybe Div 4 is our level.
Creedon isn't to be blamed for this we are terrible from top to bottom.
Creedon looks a bit better now in light of the Kildare- Meath result.
Give it a break.
Quote from: Keyser Söze on June 18, 2017, 01:34:43 PM
Quote from: Tony on June 18, 2017, 01:23:21 PM
Great. We get clancy in. Then what?
A miracle? Division 1within 3years with the most unpromising underage footballers in 30years?
You both have the answer. Well done. Brilliant. Forget all the important stuff. Just get clancy in and he'll turn water into wine with his couple years club management experience.
For a start we'd know that he actually gave a shite.
Secondly, the players couldn't appear less fit, less motivated or less prepared.
Thirdly, there would be a lot less money been driven out of the county and down the M8 in the boot of a car three or four times a week.
Finally, there may actually be a future in one of the managers mentioned above. There is no future in this spoofer. Giving him next spring to look good against Div 4 teams would be a big mistake.
Tony:
Creedon wil be great, I'm excited.
Creedon needs to be given time, he'll work out.
Creedon is hamstrung by injuries.
Creedon should be judged on the championship.
Creedon can't correct 3/4 years of poor fitness levels overnight.
Creedon doesn't have the players, maybe Div 4 is our level.
Creedon isn't to be blamed for this we are terrible from top to bottom.
Creedon looks a bit better now in light of the Kildare- Meath result.
Give it a break.
You vocalize my thoughts more eloquently
What did you predict that the rest of us didn't know?
BallyroanAbu
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Re: NEW LAOIS MANAGER
« Reply #124 on: September 27, 2016, 10:33:24 AM »
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This is a joke process, top quality known managers are not interested in Laois. So we overpay a risky type, cannot for the life of me see why we just don't go with our own and let it pan out what way it may over a couple of years. Start a process of having to train the minor and U21 to get a shot at senior. We develop good managers who are interested in Laois
My point is the County Board has done nothing more than put new tyres on a banged out car. Laois's major problem is money and this comes down to an issue every club in Ireland faces facilities or teams. Simply put Laois will into the future continue to under perform because they will allocate less and less money towards the senior team. This has the dual effect of the team not performing well and sponsors/general public allocating less and less towards the county. Centre of Excellence is all very well but it is no advantage as every other county in the country is getting one. The running costs will I imagine come from other places namely the Senior Teams and as we are not getting more this will be a self defeating circle. Personally for a small county like Laois the pathway should be clear take the minors or U21's do a good job then your Senior Manager. We should be bringing our coaches along and also giving them expenses for their time. If your are a young manager then you should understand the way in which you get the Senior Job. In real terms Joe Higgins, Chris Conway are no longer young. Seems to me Laois are happy to bring him 50/50 chances from outside the county but are afraid to take a chance on their own.
BallyroanAbu
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Re: NEW LAOIS MANAGER
« Reply #110 on: September 26, 2016, 08:56:11 PM »
This prob won't end well hopefully I will be proved wrong.
My thoughts on Creedon's appointment in September there is more if you look back.
"if it is creedon, the current administration will have managed to finally kill of the last flickers of hope within the county.
2 predictions...division 4 here we come, and sacked by this time next year."
the above my post on September 26th last year............as most objective posters say, even the dogs on the street saw this coming.
....the clowns who tolerated o Flaherty for 3 years and then appointed creedon need to leave the stage.
... it is blatantly obvious Tony and a few other fellow travellers are in fact county board men or their buddies, their interventions on these threads are now down right embarrassing.
Earlier on this thread, I suggested a root and branch approach to the football nosedive. The current personal controlling the county board enjoy zero confidence from the public and cannot be trusted to turn the soil on a new approach.
we may soon arrive at the place where offaly gaa now finds itself....all can see the problems, but nobody wants to get involved at executive level to drive solutions.
perhaps, aligned to a major countywide convention on the future of football, especially at juvenile level, the way to go might be to hand back control of football to a football board..........the football board was in control in the early 90s when we enjoyed relative success....In the 00s, the executive basically took all power and control away from the football board and the current results highlight the disaster of that greedy and power grabbing tactic.
the problem of even commencing a new project, is that certain entities(county executive) will not countenance any dilution of their perceived powers, even if such policy is for the betterment of the sport in the county..........self serving....just like our friend tony defending them at the cost of the county.
Let's hope for your sakes a local man is appointed next time. I personally think we don't have the players, backs in particular, and your point of focus is skewed. I also think the standard of football in the county is terrible, the players at club level are hardly ever fit, and, the structure of competitions facilitate poor performance. We have a small playing pool anyway, and what we have just now, Donal Kingston aside, could never make an impression. Basically, we're in a downturn, and whilst there are some things that can.improve, this panel only has marginal improvement in them. Blaming Creedon is a waste of time when the players are not good enough
I personally don't want a local to placate us, I want a young hungry manager who feels he knows what should be done and anyone in his way better get out of it. I don't need a yes man who is ticking a box. I want a hungry passionate local f**ker with a brain. Funny enough I don't think we are in short supply in this regard. Also Gary Kavanagh will have to go, he has potential but unfortunately he aligned or was aligned to this farce so he can have no hand act or part of what's to come until what has gone on this year is forgotten.
For the 19th time, I think creedon is an average manager. I don't think he's brilliant or even good. Average describes him well. My point, clearly, is that I don't see the point blaming him solely when we have 99other more important issues. Getting clancy in is like putting a plaster on a severed leg.
How do u make that out explain??were you n a dressing room with him?
Act Tony your the biggest gobshite here and a lot of the posters here seem to agree
By saying we don't have great players and we need more than a manager to change laois gaa for the better? Yeah, that doesn't make sense at all what I'm saying does it.
Just seen the Sunday game highlights. The back line of Laois is in line with the worst in the whole country. Coughed up 7 goal chances to the worst outfit in the country. That's Wicklows biggest score this year. It will take more than Timmons and Attride coming back to solve it . Ohh wait they were back. If Donie wasn't there it would be below London standard I promise.
Laoiseabu, don't know if you were at the game but Attride started in the half forward line and Trevor Collins took up his position. This was Mark Timmons first championship game and we were also missing Booth and Niall Donoher. We need everyone, especially the backs to be fit enough to start and all our senior players showing leadership which sadly yesterday they didn't.
Quigley won a few great balls early on but picked up an injury and was substituted by Finn who had a good game and maybe should start with Quigley at midfield next day. I was disappointed with O'Loughlin and Begley and Quigley faded badly after a good start. O'Carroll came on and was showing good form till he picked up an injury.
Even Ross was poor enough when he came on and Conway never showed at all. These are all lads you need to be playing well and leading the team so hopefully they will do so the next day out.
Looking at the game on tv tonight we looked so unfit it's unbelievable. We were just plodding along with no runs off the ball or no-one running off the shoulder for a pass. Our first goal came from a bad pass from Donie which was meant for Begley but fell nicely for Gary and he finished very well. Even Antrim looked in better shape than us and it's no wonder we faded in the last 10 minutes and almost got caught by a much fitter and slicker Wicklow team.
Quote from: Junior Ex Laoistalk on June 19, 2017, 12:54:52 AM
we faded in the last 10 minutes and almost got caught by a much fitter and slicker Wicklow team.
Dear God.
But alas, what you say is correct.
Playing Clare at home, probably the best draw we could have hoped for. We need all our players to stand up and really get stuck in as this is a winnable game.
http://www.laoistoday.ie/2017/06/19/draw-made-round-2-ireland-sfc-qualifiers/
This is as good a draw as Laois could expect, however, it is sickening to see that this team is not fit at this time of year. Why should supporters bother their backsides going to matches when management and players are not interested in reaching the required level of fitness.
What is Creedon being paid for?
I think it's very hard for supporters to make a proper judgement about a team's fitness.
In the first half against Wicklow, they looked fit to me. There were plenty of runners and they seemed to move at a decent pace. In the second half, the opposite looked to be the case.
I would say for sure that they are not nearly as fit as they were when Barry Solan was in charge. On the other hand, I cannot believe that we are poorer than Wicklow when it comes to fitness. Sometimes, lack of fitness can be blamed for deeper problems.
As Junior says, some of our top players really weren't good enough yesterday.
Quote from: Giovanni on June 19, 2017, 11:33:24 AM
I think it's very hard for supporters to make a proper judgement about a team's fitness.
In the first half against Wicklow, they looked fit to me. There were plenty of runners and they seemed to move at a decent pace. In the second half, the opposite looked to be the case.
I would say for sure that they are not nearly as fit as they were when Barry Solan was in charge. On the other hand, I cannot believe that we are poorer than Wicklow when it comes to fitness. Sometimes, lack of fitness can be blamed for deeper problems.
As Junior says, some of our top players really weren't good enough yesterday.
Lads, we are not unfit, we are being primed to peak in September when it counts!! In all seriousness, it might suit us to peak later in the year.
My observations of the team is that we have a number of good footballers who are not pacey enough and a number of pacey footballers who are not good enough. That is a product of our underage structure and no amount of fitness will increase true pace. Conceding those two late goals might be a blessing in disguise, we will have no illusions against Clare.
I thought our fitness levels were poor. One thing i noticed was the structured warm up Wicklow had. They had at least two fitness guys doing the warm up, and they even had a fitness guy warming the replacements. I didnt see anything of the like with our lads. Wicklow were flying at the end where our lads were ready to drop.Thats a fitness issue. Also some of our lads were unable to take hits and went down easily enough i.e.. JOL, Brendan and Evan Carroll. Donie is way off the mark fitness wise as is Gary Walsh, McMahon and Conway.
As for the game itself it was like all qualifiers. Depending on the frame of mind your in you will do well and i thought some of our lads didnt want to be there and that included Donie. Did the dropping of his brother effect him?????
Looks like Dessie Dolan doesn't have much faith in us for the "novel fixture" of Laois and Clare. It's only a year ago Dessie... !!!
https://twitter.com/RTEgaa/status/876711316508901376
Remember last years game..
http://www.the42.ie/clare-laois-football-2871430-Jul2016/
Quote from: Giovanni on June 19, 2017, 11:33:24 AM
I think it's very hard for supporters to make a proper judgement about a team's fitness.
In the first half against Wicklow, they looked fit to me. There were plenty of runners and they seemed to move at a decent pace. In the second half, the opposite looked to be the case.
I would say for sure that they are not nearly as fit as they were when Barry Solan was in charge. On the other hand, I cannot believe that we are poorer than Wicklow when it comes to fitness. Sometimes, lack of fitness can be blamed for deeper problems.
As Junior says, some of our top players really weren't good enough yesterday.
I wasn't at the match but it was a very hot day, looking at some of the matches over the weekend and management were replacing runners early in the second half, would that have being part of the problem ??.
Looking at the highlights last night and 2 of their goals appeared lucky ??? and we led by 8 and 9 points on 2 different occasions which would suggest to me that we were that much better.
We were much better than them for the first 20 mins of the first half and the first 20 mins of the second half but it's those last 15 mins of each half that I am concerned about and it looks like its down to fitness. It was a sweltering hot day but it didn't seem to affect Wicklow as much as us. I might have been a bit harsh saying there was no off the ball running, there was some but a lot of the time we didn't pick out the runner.
It's only when you see clips of a few games together on tv that you notice how cumbersome we look compared to other teams and we seem very leg weary at times. That has to be down to fitness in my opinion but it's only year one of this managements methods and maybe we shouldn't be over critical just yet.
Quote from: Giovanni on June 19, 2017, 11:33:24 AM
I think it's very hard for supporters to make a proper judgement about a team's fitness.
In the first half against Wicklow, they looked fit to me. There were plenty of runners and they seemed to move at a decent pace. In the second half, the opposite looked to be the case.
I would say for sure that they are not nearly as fit as they were when Barry Solan was in charge. On the other hand, I cannot believe that we are poorer than Wicklow when it comes to fitness. Sometimes, lack of fitness can be blamed for deeper problems.
As Junior says, some of our top players really weren't good enough yesterday.
Wicklow came back at Laois, we held them off. With the game won, we emptied the bench, and the players packed up shop. That we nearly got caught again was amateurish in the extreme, but the truth is, we didn't. We are poor, Wicklow are very very poor. We bet them up a stick when we were bothered. We're no world beaters, but lads would want to calm down eugoogolising Wicklows fitness, they couldn't keep up with us in the first half when we cut them to shreds at will. We gave them goal chances, but when you haven't a full back line to speak of, chances are thats going to happen. Thats nothing against the boys there, they're just not at the races in those positions at the moment. Simple as that.
The game was won, we have a chance gain some revenge against Clare. What comes after that, well I think we can all imagine.
Quote from: blueandwhite1 on June 19, 2017, 12:27:21 PM
Quote from: Giovanni on June 19, 2017, 11:33:24 AM
I think it's very hard for supporters to make a proper judgement about a team's fitness.
In the first half against Wicklow, they looked fit to me. There were plenty of runners and they seemed to move at a decent pace. In the second half, the opposite looked to be the case.
I would say for sure that they are not nearly as fit as they were when Barry Solan was in charge. On the other hand, I cannot believe that we are poorer than Wicklow when it comes to fitness. Sometimes, lack of fitness can be blamed for deeper problems.
As Junior says, some of our top players really weren't good enough yesterday.
Lads, we are not unfit, we are being primed to peak in September when it counts!! In all seriousness, it might suit us to peak later in the year.
My observations of the team is that we have a number of good footballers who are not pacey enough and a number of pacey footballers who are not good enough. That is a product of our underage structure and no amount of fitness will increase true pace. Conceding those two late goals might be a blessing in disguise, we will have no illusions against Clare.
I think this is a bigger issue than the fitness. We really don't have very much pace in the team at all and the better footballers are really quite slow by inter-country standards.
The age profile of the team suggests we are hardly going to be flying around the pitch aswell
Clare are not great they made hard work of Limerick. But with our current situation and no show in the back line I can't see us doing it again .
We beat them in a challenge game back in May this year, hope they didn't learn too much from that..
How did Timmons play lads?
I dont know what all the pessimism is about, we ran them ragged for at least 60 out of the 75mins played. We were cruising and 9pts up around 10mins into the second half when Creedon made 4 or 5 substitutions in a short space of time.
We lost all our momentum and Wicklow brought it back to 3. We then took control again and stretched our lead back out to 9. then with 2 or 3 minutes to go they kicked in 2 hopeful high balls and tagged on 2 goals, how often do you see this happening when a team is well ahead ?.
I know Brody made at least 3 good saves during the game but that's why he's there. But some of the substitutions, both incoming and outgoing were puzzling.
Quote from: ILikeStrawberryJam on June 20, 2017, 12:47:28 PM
How did Timmons play lads?
Thought he done well enough for his first game. Held Furlong scoreless from play.Looked a bit rusty at times.
Looking at the Kildare v Meath match programme
I see of the starting 15, 4 players came from Celbridge,
3 from Athy and 3 from Johnstownbridge [ and that not counting the other Cribbin player from J,town who is out injured.
that nearly 3/4 of the team from 3 clubs,
What does that say about us ?
Quote from: theoldvet on June 21, 2017, 09:10:19 PM
Looking at the Kildare v Meath match programme
I see of the starting 15, 4 players came from Celbridge,
3 from Athy and 3 from Johnstownbridge [ and that not counting the other Cribbin player from J,town who is out injured.
that nearly 3/4 of the team from 3 clubs,
What does that say about us ?
I don't get your point mate. Dublin team VS Carlow had players from 11 different clubs. What does that say about Dublin?! Are Kildare the pinnacle now, should we all copy them including Dublin?! Your point doesn't make much sense, in my opinion.
Quote from: theoldvet on June 21, 2017, 09:10:19 PM
Looking at the Kildare v Meath match programme
I see of the starting 15, 4 players came from Celbridge,
3 from Athy and 3 from Johnstownbridge [ and that not counting the other Cribbin player from J,town who is out injured.
that nearly 3/4 of the team from 3 clubs,
What does that say about us ?
Nothing.
What we should be looking at is that there's only 2 starters from Portlaoise , Josephs, Port, Mountmellick and Graigue.
As the small rural clubs are keeping up their end of the deal by providing the bulk of the players its clear where the future focus need to be concentrated.
Looking forward to the home game against Clare.
Laois were in total control in wicklow but we seemed to loose concentration which was worrying still the late goals added a gloss to their scoreline that wasn't deserved.
Best for Laois were Brody,Begley O Loughlin walsh and Donie...Mention to Finn who did very well when he came in esp with his direct ball to donie which is a decent weapon.
Timmons was olid if a bit rusty ...attride was playing well until back carded .Mcmahon was a bit off the pace but was on a good player.
Lillis was very rusty and made two bad errors but looked in decent shape and showed very well for the ball.
O'Carroll was going okay till his injury.
Wouldn't agree with you regarding O'Loughlin and Begley, they started well but faded badly very quickly. O'Loughlin took a solid hit early on and it seemed to knock him off his stride for a while. He did play well but not a patch on what he can do.
Begley disappeared for long periods during that game and some of his passes were very disappointing for such a talented player. If we can get the best from these lads next day we can win this one.
A lot of our top players were injured for the real training in wintertime. It's really showing now in championship. We just don't have the endurance that we should have. 8-10 players were out at different times over winter and spring and most of them are starters now. It's not strange that we look like we're lacking in fitness at the latter stages of either half. First 20 mins of half, we're all good as endurance is good enough to go that level. We're struggling a bit in the legs and lungs after that.
Quote from: Tony on June 22, 2017, 02:54:45 PM
A lot of our top players were injured for the real training in wintertime. It's really showing now in championship. We just don't have the endurance that we should have. 8-10 players were out at different times over winter and spring and most of them are starters now. It's not strange that we look like we're lacking in fitness at the latter stages of either half. First 20 mins of half, we're all good as endurance is good enough to go that level. We're struggling a bit in the legs and lungs after that.
I actually thought you had stopped.
I see you haven't
Have you ever trained, keyser? If so, what don't you accept about that? Clearly true. List what's false about it, in detail. the post is nothing to do with creedon.
For me, there's nothing wrong with pointing out some of the obstacles that the current manager has to face (although it is very debatable indeed whether injuries can account for the lack of pace throughout the team).
However, I find it hard to take you seriously because last year, according to you, all we needed was a manager "with brains". If we had a manager "with brains" all the failures of last year would evaporate and we would reach our true potential. The injuries that we had or the fact that several important players found something better to do wasn't taken into consideration then.
Now we have a manager "with brains" and every possible reason is given for the poor performances apart from the manager. That just doesn't make sense.
I have no interest or connection to any particular manager but if you're a fan of Creedon it might be more convincing to point out the evidence of his successes rather than presenting excuses for his failure. For example, the fact that he's managed to keep the whole panel together certainly is a good sign. I'm struggling to think of others but they may be there.
The continual trotting out of excuses is not very convincing and more than a bit irritating, particularly when set against your diatribes from last year.
Quote from: Tony on June 23, 2017, 08:46:06 AM
Have you ever trained, keyser? If so, what don't you accept about that? Clearly true. List what's false about it, in detail. the post is nothing to do with creedon.
Yes it is.
I'm not alone in finding this irritating.
Please refer to my post a few pages back.
EDIT;
I'll post it here for you.
You can add your latest post in too, if you like!
Quote from: Keyser Söze on June 18, 2017, 01:34:43 PM
Tony:
Creedon wil be great, I'm excited.
Creedon needs to be given time, he'll work out.
Creedon is hamstrung by injuries.
Creedon should be judged on the championship.
Creedon can't correct 3/4 years of poor fitness levels overnight.
Creedon doesn't have the players, maybe Div 4 is our level.
Creedon isn't to be blamed for this we are terrible from top to bottom.
Creedon looks a bit better now in light of the Kildare- Meath result.
Give it a break.
Quote from: Giovanni on June 23, 2017, 10:08:56 AM
I have no interest or connection to any particular manager but if you're a fan of Creedon it might be more convincing to point out the evidence of his successes rather than presenting excuses for his failure.
Ah, but you seem to have missed the point!
Tony is
NOT a fan of Creedon, I repeat
NOT a fan of Creedon. He is simply a realist amongst the dreamers. You see, he has the advantage of being able to see the bigger picture!
This (ability to see the bigger picture) seems to be a skill only recently acquired.
Calm down there Keyser, it's only a forum :D. I think you might be getting a bit excited.
Yeah. I thought what we needed in 2016, post Lillis, was a new manager with brains, like a Jim McG but cheaper. My opinion in a year has changed. Opinions change, you know? Now I'm realistic and know we simply don't have the players to challenge any team in Div 1 and most teams in Div 2. That's just realistic.
As for Creedon, yeah he has been dissappointing. But some posters seem to just blame him without acknowledging everything else going wrong in Laois GAA. Blame Creedon all you want but there's more going on than that. I don't think my opinion is that unusual to be honest. Most posters with common sense realise this. All some posters seem to want is: Creedon out, Laois man in. As if that will change our fortunes overnight. I'd be open to a Laois man in too next year, or Creedon - it's not going to make much difference. The real change will have to come at a much deeper level.
My post about fitness wan't meant to defend Creedon. I'm pointing out that a lot of our players wont be at peak fitness because of injury earlier this season which is 100% true. It was meant to be taken at face value.
Quote from: Tony on June 23, 2017, 11:10:16 AM
Calm down there Keyser, it's only a forum :D. I think you might be getting a bit excited.
In a perfect Zen like state here. Thanks for your concern though 8)
Quote from: Tony on June 23, 2017, 11:10:16 AM
Yeah. I thought what we needed in 2016, post Lillis, was a new manager with brains, like a Jim McG but cheaper. My opinion in a year has changed. Opinions change, you know? Now I'm realistic and know we simply don't have the players to challenge any team in Div 1 and most teams in Div 2. That's just realistic.
So you weren't realistic last year?
Or does that mean that you will be back here next year saying the same thing?
Or does that meant that (heaven forbid) you were too harsh on Mick Lillis?
Quote from: Tony on June 23, 2017, 11:10:16 AM
As for Creedon, yeah he has been dissappointing. But some posters seem to just blame him without acknowledging everything else going wrong in Laois GAA.
A large number of posters are simply curious as to what value this man (who is well compensated) brings to the table.
The team are unfit, lacking in motivation, without any discernible game plan. He sounds defeatist every time he is interviewed. He brings NOTHING from what I can see.
There are lots of problems in Laois GAA. I don't recall a single poster here who ignores that. Creedon is not operating alongside these problems. He is one of the problems. That has become more and more apparent with every passing month.
Quote from: Tony on June 23, 2017, 11:10:16 AM
My post about fitness wan't meant to defend Creedon. I'm pointing out that a lot of our players wont be at peak fitness because of injury earlier this season which is 100% true. It was meant to be taken at face value.
Face value. Ok. Name 3 players who have gone through the season uninjured and presently look fit?
We were relegated from Division 3. It's not like we were trying to compete with any of the top teams in the country. There was no reason why players couldn't have been "nursed" back with individual plans while other panel members were in "mid competition mode" during the league. I assume this happened.
Fellas haven't left the panel, I'll give you that. What else has Creedon improved?
There is a far deeper problem which has come to my attention over last while regards a significant cohort of the panel......nasty insidious and it needs to be sorted big time
Thats some post laoisguy . Can you expand on it a little ..
You can PM if you like I'll give you the lowdown
Lads we all no Tony's an eejit his posts are as bad as mine like I'm being told only I'm nooooooo eejit ;D
Clare have informed the GAA that they do not wish to play SF qualifier v Laois on Sunday. No decision until after tomorrow's draw
SFC Qualifiers Fixture: Laois v Clare on Sat at 3pm in Portlaoise.
SHC Qualifiers: Laois v Dublin at 7pm on Sat in Parnell Park.
Very little consideration given to us here, will have to fly up to the Hurling, no doubt there be a checkpoint on the bridge or speed cameras the whole way up !! ;)
Quote from: GAA-SMART on June 26, 2017, 03:40:40 PM
SFC Qualifiers Fixture: Laois v Clare on Sat at 3pm in Portlaoise.
SHC Qualifiers: Laois v Dublin at 7pm on Sat in Parnell Park.
Very little consideration given to us here, will have to fly up to the Hurling, no doubt there be a checkpoint on the bridge or speed cameras the whole way up !! ;)
Just seen the same thing. Between Friday night kick offs, home games in Kilkenny and double booking of the hurlers and footballers on opposite ends of the country on a regular basis do our County board ever stand up to anything.
Any hope of injuries clearing up.for the Clare game? Booth, Donoher, Quigley?
Clare County Board insisted that their footballers were not playing on Sunday afternoon. They are a CB that stand up for their players and supporters.
Quote from: Unison on June 26, 2017, 04:41:43 PM
Clare County Board insisted that their footballers were not playing on Sunday afternoon. They are a CB that stand up for their players and supporters.
I wonder do the GAA offer little sweeteners of some sort to get counties to go along with their plans. Such as Clare agreeing to a Sunday double header in this instance.
I wonder.
Quote from: Keyser Söze on June 26, 2017, 08:14:14 PM
Quote from: Unison on June 26, 2017, 04:41:43 PM
Clare County Board insisted that their footballers were not playing on Sunday afternoon. They are a CB that stand up for their players and supporters.
I wonder do the GAA offer little sweeteners of some sort to get counties to go along with their plans. Such as Clare agreeing to a Sunday double header in this instance.
I wonder.
the manager should be using this to try get some reaction from players ,you have got to play with a chip on the shoulder .
Quote from: Gmac on June 26, 2017, 08:55:48 PM
Quote from: Keyser Söze on June 26, 2017, 08:14:14 PM
Quote from: Unison on June 26, 2017, 04:41:43 PM
Clare County Board insisted that their footballers were not playing on Sunday afternoon. They are a CB that stand up for their players and supporters.
I wonder do the GAA offer little sweeteners of some sort to get counties to go along with their plans. Such as Clare agreeing to a Sunday double header in this instance.
I wonder.
the manager should be using this to try get some reaction from players ,you have got to play with a chip on the shoulder .
TBH i think that would be grasping at straws!
Interesting to see what team he picks for saturday
Collins and Finn did no harm the last day and must be in line for a start .
Donher is back ready ..Quigley will be fit ..
I hear Daly is going well in training
Lillis must be considered
Very hard team to predict
Quote from: Unlaoised on June 27, 2017, 12:43:50 AM
Donher is back ready .
Niall played a club game Saturday - he's good to go.
Quote from: GAA-SMART on June 26, 2017, 03:40:40 PM
SFC Qualifiers Fixture: Laois v Clare on Sat at 3pm in Portlaoise.
SHC Qualifiers: Laois v Dublin at 7pm on Sat in Parnell Park.
Very little consideration given to us here, will have to fly up to the Hurling, no doubt there be a checkpoint on the bridge or speed cameras the whole way up !! ;)
Am I missing something here, Clare hurlers are not playing till Sunday 9/7/17 WTF ???
Quote from: OTF on June 27, 2017, 12:21:55 PM
Quote from: GAA-SMART on June 26, 2017, 03:40:40 PM
SFC Qualifiers Fixture: Laois v Clare on Sat at 3pm in Portlaoise.
SHC Qualifiers: Laois v Dublin at 7pm on Sat in Parnell Park.
Very little consideration given to us here, will have to fly up to the Hurling, no doubt there be a checkpoint on the bridge or speed cameras the whole way up !! ;)
Am I missing something here, Clare hurlers are not playing till Sunday 9/7/17 WTF ???
The Clare Minors are playing Kerry in the Munster Minor Football Championship Final on Sunday which is why Clare said they wouldn't play on Sunday. Not much of a reason as that game is on at 12.00 noon
Clare have been awkward over this we suited them three years ago moving the football to make it a double header down there
Just go out and bate them
Great to have Donoher back in action.
Donoher boost for Creedon ahead of Clare showdown
http://www.laoistoday.ie/2017/06/28/donoher-boost-creedon-ahead-clare-showdown/ (http://www.laoistoday.ie/2017/06/28/donoher-boost-creedon-ahead-clare-showdown/)
(http://www.laoistoday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/1175410-e1497441236777-640x437.jpg)
No word on the team for Saturday I would expect it to be similar to the one that took to the field against Wicklow maybe Donoher to feature .
As I said Finn did no harm with his all around display against Wicklow and Lillis must be close to pushing for a place in the backs!
Not much of a buzz around the county about the Clare match really. I get the feeling that most people think we'll be beaten. It would be fantastic to get a victory against a quality Clare side, especially after the last time we met. Winning could open up our season a bit pending who we get after but losing would really mean that this whole year is one to forget. We mightn't have the most vintage Laois team this year but by god they are really giving it their all and fair play to them for not making the trip overseas when the opportunity is there. A win against Clare would be a huge boost and hopefully a good number of us in Laois will show up to show our support. Laois to win by 2points.
stop Tony will ya your too funny,,giving it there all for not going over seas its better your getting
Its the usual question Tony .. how much will we concede ?
Could easily score 2-12 ish but will it be enough ..
Quote from: town1980 on June 29, 2017, 02:23:54 PM
stop Tony will ya your too funny,,giving it there all for not going over seas its better your getting
Sure usually there is a few gone at this stage.
Everyone has stuck at it.Weather that means they are giving their all I don't know.I would like to think they are.
Whilst I think they are not as fit as they should be I still think they might have enough in the tank to beat this Clare team.
I'll be up there to support them on Saturday!
Evan O'Carroll playing for Crettyard tonight. :-\
I told yee TONYS too funny ,, there giving it there all tony
Quote from: town1980 on June 29, 2017, 10:18:37 PM
I told yee TONYS too funny ,, there giving it there all tony
Your continual desire to see Laois fail sickens my hole
What sickens my hole is some people think we have this massive commitment going on at the minute when's it so far away from what it should be don,, I'm a laois man threw and threw but I'm seeing less commitment from this bunch is all,,again I see the party boys in portlaoise town a week before the game ,, don that sickins my HOLE
Quote from: town1980 on June 29, 2017, 11:01:22 PM
What sickens my hole is some people think we have this massive commitment going on at the minute when's it so far away from what it should be don,, I'm a laois man threw and threw but I'm seeing less commitment from this bunch is all,,again I see the party boys in portlaoise town a week before the game ,, don that sickins my HOLE
You sure are. ;D ;)
Don't be fooled, he's no more a Laoisman than you are StGallsGAA. No Laois supporter speaks like that about their county.
I have seen his style of writing and spelling on a Kildare forum lately so that will explain his stupid rantings. Probably from Athy as they hate everything Laois.
My advice is to ignore him, we have given too much time and space to this joker. Replying to him only encourages him to come back time and time again..
Quote from: Junior Ex Laoistalk on June 30, 2017, 01:12:06 AM
My advice is to ignore him, we have given too much time and space to this joker. Replying to him only encourages him to come back time and time again..
Here here. I have gotten to the stage that I don't allow myself to read his illegible posts. I just skip to the next one once I see his name.
Exactly lads, I was going to reply to him earlier but I actually couldn't be bothered. Writes and spells like a two-year-old. Nobody has time for that. Onwards and upwards.
im a portlaoise man but some people just dont get my posts thats fine ,,i have said this before its all my opinion thats all lads ,,but if some of yee cant except that the some of the players do and are treating this with a club attitude that has been my point all year and just MY opinion
Quote from: town1980 on June 29, 2017, 11:01:22 PM
What sickens my hole is some people think we have this massive commitment going on at the minute when's it so far away from what it should be don,, I'm a laois man threw and threw but I'm seeing less commitment from this bunch is all,,again I see the party boys in portlaoise town a week before the game ,, don that sickins my HOLE
Please don't publicise the fact that you are a Laois man. Please use a spell-checker before you post. You are an embarrassment.
Unison, just ignore him and he'll go away.... :)
Laois team for Saturday's game v Clare has just been announced
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDj6JeQXgAAoEL6.jpg)
Put your money on Laois. Clare are apparently missing 5 players from Kerry game. Injuries and a few lads gone to America.
Gone to America? They named a similar team to the Kerry game ?
Quote from: Junior Ex Laoistalk on June 30, 2017, 11:13:35 AM
Unison, just ignore him and he'll go away.... :)
Laois team for Saturday's game v Clare has just been announced
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDj6JeQXgAAoEL6.jpg)
Be interesting to see if that team actually starts. I don't expect it to. I think any of p kingston, o Carroll and Donoher may start.
Quote from: SCFC on June 30, 2017, 02:33:41 PM
Quote from: Junior Ex Laoistalk on June 30, 2017, 11:13:35 AM
Unison, just ignore him and he'll go away.... :)
Laois team for Saturday's game v Clare has just been announced
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDj6JeQXgAAoEL6.jpg)
Be interesting to see if that team actually starts. I don't expect it to. I think any of p kingston, o Carroll and Donoher may start.
I also dont expect that team to start. P Kingston didnt get a run last day and the full compliment of subs were introduced. I think Carroll is injured but Donoher will probably start. Young Kelly is back on the panel now so he may also get a stint at some stage.It dosent really matter anyway as it is a 20 man game these days. Afraid i cant make it due to long distance work commitments but thatnk god we have mousey and his twittering and maybe Alan on Laoistoday will keep us updated. Good luck to the lads tomorrow. Keep the flag flying untill that good crop of u17s/16s come through.
its the same team that started the last day
Quote from: town1980 on June 30, 2017, 10:40:03 AM
im a portlaoise man but some people just dont get my posts thats fine ,,i have said this before its all my opinion thats all lads ,,but if some of yee cant except that the some of the players do and are treating this with a club attitude that has been my point all year and just MY opinion
You're an ape is what you are
Quote from: town1980 on June 30, 2017, 10:40:03 AM
im a portlaoise man but some people just dont get my posts thats fine ,,i have said this before its all my opinion thats all lads ,,but if some of yee cant except that the some of the players do and are treating this with a club attitude that has been my point all year and just MY opinion
Piss off back to that hell hole Athy.
Just skip over his posts like most of us are doing now lads. No point even wasting time or thought on him. Starve him of attention. Sorted.
Strong enough looking side but Clare have named only 1 change vs team against Kerry so I'm not sure what the mayo man was saying. Heard the Clare captain Gary Brennan in interview. Couple of knocks in the clare camp but nothing serious. Himself and the clare fans are confident after running Kerry relatively close. We need big games from Timmons who is marking a quality FF, JOL, Quigley, Kingston and Walsh in my opinion. Really hard to call this one.
Think the Mayo man is another one of these lads who throw up posts on several county websites trying to get lads riled up, check him out, he's all over the place..
Best of luck to Laois today.
Lets go hell for leather and get revenge for last years narrow defeat in Ennis. Expect this to be another close battle with Laois to win by 2 points.
Probably a small crowd will be in attendance but lets be vocal and get behind our team.
Lets proof that we can mix it with teams in Division two.
Can't see Laois winning, maybe I will be proved wrong. Come on Laois anyway.
Laois GAA supporters are right to stay away in huge numbers from these games. Have we completed a game with fifteen this year? Shocking indiscpline.
What's this about Clare using 7 subs?
Another chap sent off when the game was in the mix. F*cking pathetic
Quote from: Andy06 on July 01, 2017, 04:53:48 PM
Another chap sent off when the game was in the mix. F*cking pathetic
Have listened to local journalists criticise poor Laois support, but I pity Laois supporters. Why support unfit and indisciplined teams? My advice is keep your money in your pockets.
We have being relagated from division 2 to division 4..and today lost to clare..Can someone tell me who is to blame..The team is so unfit and they certainly have no disipline...Bad years ahead for laois football.... :'(
I can't wait to hear Tony's views on that shite performance ??
Maybe now yee might belive drinking and inter county football doesn't mix
Less of the gloating town1980.
Scores too easily got for Clare and every team we've faced this season. Tackling non existent and defensive capabilities in short supply. Most of the old guard have lost the hunger and the legs are gone too. Pitiful watching poor players trying to play a defensive system without a defensive bone in their body. Then when we do get our hands on the ball, options are just not there. Donal Kingston the only bit of class we have and the forwards around him would be two divisions behind at least. Creedon will probably go because he didn't get anything out of them, but there's so much more wrong than him alone.
Quote from: Andy06 on July 01, 2017, 07:56:07 PM
Less of the gloating town1980.
To be fair he has shipped a quare lot of abuse of late, a lot of bullshitters on here had their arses handed to them today. On what planet did we ever stand a chance against Clare?
Little wrong with Laois Football that a man with abit of organisation, passion and discipline could not get us into Div 2 and performing better quite quickly.
Stop making ambiguous statements that have little chance of being proved or disproved. Give me six backs in the county who in your opinion are Division 2 standard
Tell me the world beaters Clare had and they are in Div 2
Quote from: Unison on July 01, 2017, 04:58:59 PM
Quote from: Andy06 on July 01, 2017, 04:53:48 PM
Another chap sent off when the game was in the mix. F*cking pathetic
Have listened to local journalists criticise poor Laois support, but I pity Laois supporters. Why support unfit and indisciplined teams? My advice is keep your money in your pockets.
Both of you guys were obviously at home and not at the game. O'Loughlin received a second yellow card but no-one can remember him getting the first one. He was being pulled and dragged off the ball and eventually shoved his marker away. The ref as usual took the handy way out and issued two yellows. The only other Laois player that received a yellow before that was Stephen Attride, not O'Loughlin.
Having said that Clare were the better team by far, way fitter and some great movement from their forwards. They deserved their win even tho' they did use 7 subs. I don't think a replay would do Laois any favours but it's out of their hands now.
7 Subs Used:Clare: Joe Hayes; Gordon Kelly, Kevin Harnett, Martin McMahon; Pierce Lillis, Ciarán Russell, Dean Ryan; Gary Brennan, Cathal O'Connor; Cian O'Dea, Eoin Cleary, Sean Collins; Keelan Sexton, David Tubridy, Jamie Malone.
Subs: John Hayes for Russell (56 mins), Gearoid O'Brien for Tubridy (56 mins), Seanie Malone for Sexton (61 mins), Darren Nagle for O'Dea (61 mins), Eoghan Collins for Harnett (64 mins), Darragh Bohannon for Lillis (69 mins), Kieran Malone for S Collins (69 mins).
Quote from: BallyroanAbu on July 01, 2017, 08:32:14 PM
Tell me the world beaters Clare had and they are in Div 2
[/quote
You can't do it. You're the bullshitter
Quote from: Junior Ex Laoistalk on July 01, 2017, 08:53:46 PM
Quote from: Unison on July 01, 2017, 04:58:59 PM
Quote from: Andy06 on July 01, 2017, 04:53:48 PM
Another chap sent off when the game was in the mix. F*cking pathetic
Have listened to local journalists criticise poor Laois support, but I pity Laois supporters. Why support unfit and indisciplined teams? My advice is keep your money in your pockets.
Both of you guys were obviously at home and not at the game. O'Loughlin received a second yellow card but no-one can remember him getting the first one. He was being pulled and dragged off the ball and eventually shoved his marker away. The ref as usual took the handy way out and issued two yellows. The only other Laois player that received a yellow before that was Stephen Attride, not O'Loughlin.
Having said that Clare were the better team by far, way fitter and some great movement from their forwards. They deserved their win even tho' they did use 7 subs. I don't think a replay would do Laois any favours but it's out of their hands now.
7 Subs Used:
Clare: Joe Hayes; Gordon Kelly, Kevin Harnett, Martin McMahon; Pierce Lillis, Ciarán Russell, Dean Ryan; Gary Brennan, Cathal O'Connor; Cian O'Dea, Eoin Cleary, Sean Collins; Keelan Sexton, David Tubridy, Jamie Malone. Subs: John Hayes for Russell (56 mins), Gearoid O'Brien for Tubridy (56 mins), Seanie Malone for Sexton (61 mins), Darren Nagle for O'Dea (61 mins), Eoghan Collins for Harnett (64 mins), Darragh Bohannon for Lillis (69 mins), Kieran Malone for S Collins (69 mins).
I was at the game. But its the last time I'll go watch them. Unfit and indisciplined! However, I'm sure the day will come when a Laois team finishes a match with 15.
I would start with getting Gearoid Hanrahan back in I would be more worried about organisation than players per se
You're a complete spoofer. Start talking about a lad who isn't even on the panel and then saying we could/should be in Division 2. O Dempsey's playing Josephs in a league final (2 very ordinary teams) and your own team beating Portlaoise (doesn't matter who they had on the pitch) and Laois football is healthy? Seriously lad, you're a dreamer. We'll have your clown friend dripping his poison here later, obviously being fuelled by someone on the panel who isn't good enough to get on the team. Yet he can't explain how his own club is making such a pathetic contribution to Laois football despite having a third of the population at their disposal. Not that I have anything but respect for Portlaoise, but in all honesty their lack of contribution really grates me. They like he rest of Laois have f**k all ambition
You mean the fella who turned down Creedon at the beginning Year.
Nobody could make good of Laois just now. Nobody. Nobody wanted the job and a nobody got it. He was joined by the Chairman's son who hadn't the experience to even be involved, and throw in all the defections and the make up of the panel and it was easy to see it was going to be a tough year. We haven't one back on the panel ffs and here we have you boys looking for credit for somehow thinking you're ahead of the game. Forgive me if I don't give you the credit you obviously think you deserve, particularly when you haven't even the bollix to name six backs this great Division 2 team would be built on.
Only have to worry about Div 4 next year
Well then stop talking about Division 2 ya clown. Six backs please or can you not do it?
Quote from: BallyroanAbu on July 01, 2017, 08:08:47 PM
Quote from: Andy06 on July 01, 2017, 07:56:07 PM
Less of the gloating town1980.
To be fair he has shipped a quare lot of abuse of late, a lot of bullshitters on here had their arses handed to them today. On what planet did we ever stand a chance against Clare?
Little wrong with Laois Football that a man with abit of organisation, passion and discipline could not get us into Div 2 and performing better quite quickly.
He's a scurrilous little p***k. Gloating over Laois at their all time low is disgusting.
Quote from: Don Draper on July 01, 2017, 10:41:03 PM
He's a scurrilous little p***k. Gloating over Laois at their all time low is disgusting.
There's a few more like him here, a lot of them raised their little heads tonight. Some supporters they are....
What do you want people to do stick there head in the sand? If every player was like Padraig McMahon we would not have these problems. Unfortunately the attitude and losing mentality is seeping in from a litany of paid mercenarys who do not give two f**ks about laois or their suppporters. Even last night Creedon was more worried about his personal reputation than the damage his doing. I only say McMahon because he lives eats and breathes football and I know this personally, I am not commenting on any particular player.
There is a few sheep on here who would follow anything in blue and white, regardless of how players who represent that jersey behave and act.
Your boy McMahon got run through yesterday. He can't tackle either. Super footballer but soft as melted butter. There's no bite in these lads and there possibly never has been in some cases. No harm to them. I respect what they have given, but this is all about how poor our players are. They are not up to it. Simple as. No coach can change that.
High fielder you are actually some clown,, p mac was prob laoiss best player yesterday you ask for 6 backs,,, you no a hell amount about football do u??? What team played with 6 backs you are a total gobshite if you ask me, look at what Babu has stated long before this happened I agreed with most of what he said.you Tony and other clowns here obviously have yere head in the sand yes actually no nothing regarding a set up and what it takes to be competitive,, laois are a div 2 side with organisation
High Fielder I seriously take issue with that statement about P Mac, How can you call that man soft?? 10 Years of battling for his county, then to come back this year at the age of 34 with noting to gain? The man bleeds Laois football and BallyroanAbu has said one thing correct, if they were 15 players with the same metal of MacMahon, Laois would be far from Div 4, but unfortunately they deserve to be where they are.
Don't know about you but I feel our "bigger" players have lacked the desire or passion for a long time. Most of the players rather be seen walking around town in their Laois gear or posting on social media than f**king some pride in their jersey. Think it might be best for a big change up with the panel and get rid of this perception where lads think they're a lot better than what they are.
Things can't get much worse for us..... Hopefully
A big worry with this Laois team is the lack of leaders, considering the age profile and the number of championship appearances on the field you would expect a few but there was not. With about 15 minutes to go Timmons shouts up the field "Will ye stop feeling sorry for yourselves".. That's what it looked like, there was very little drive or fight in the team. Resigned to defeat when something could have been salvaged, much like Wicklow nearly did against us! I think you are harsh on McMahon High Fielder, I thought he was the best of the backs, not outstanding by any means but certainly deserves less criticism than most! Hard to know where to go from here, but Laois are certainly not a division 2 team.
He can't tackle. None of them can. I love Padraig McMahon as a footballer with ball in hand. One of the best I've seen in a Laois jersey going forward. But he's too loose to be a quality back. It's only telling the truth. Cahir Healy is the only lad we have capable of keeping it tight. No offence intended and I must stress I rate McMahon highly. But he can't tackle and never could
Quote from: town1980 on July 02, 2017, 10:59:21 AM
High fielder you are actually some clown,, p mac was prob laoiss best player yesterday you ask for 6 backs,,, you no a hell amount about football do u??? What team played with 6 backs you are a total gobshite if you ask me, look at what Babu has stated long before this happened I agreed with most of what he said.you Tony and other clowns here obviously have yere head in the sand yes actually no nothing regarding a set up and what it takes to be competitive,, laois are a div 2 side with organisation
Good luck in the league final. Some neck calling anyone a clown . You got that one badly wrong kid.
2017 has been one of the low points in Laois football and assuming some retirements will come 2018 will be no better (although we should get promoted from division 4). I hope there is a complete review done of Laois football from the bottom to the top by an external person and a plan put in place to get Laois on track. I know Wicklow have used Pillar Caffrey to complete such an exercise.
Not going to comment on the game yesterday but if it's the last time we see Ross in the Laois jersey I just want to say thank you for all the good times and memories. Ross has been a great servant for Laois and no one can question is commitment and passion for Laois GAA. I would like to see him involved coaching underage teams as we need everyone on board to get Laois football rising again.
Creedon wants to stay on. After presiding over numerous undisciplined performances he must go.
If you want Creedon to go at least offer some alternative person to manage laois. They won't be actually queuing around the corner for the job now, will they. The county board have a lot to answer for, they have now to get the finger out before football is lost altogether to Laois..
2013: Clare 0-10 Laois 3-17
2017: Laois 0-14 Clare 2-18
What has happened in 4 years? Have our players regressed that much? Clare improved by that much? A mixture of both?
Creedon can't stay on, he wasn't dealt the strongest hand but he failed to get the best out of the players so we have to look elsewhere. Unfortunately we're not an attractive proposition right now.
We will never be up there with the likes of Dublin, yet, I believe that there are good young players in the county who can make us competitive. Relegation to Division Four must be used to our advantage. It must be used to build a new team around Brody, Shane Nurney, Collins, Kelly, Buggie, Attride, Daly, the two Kingstons, O'Loughlin, O'Carroll, Farrell, Moore, Byrne, Paddy O'Sullivan and Colm Murphy (all Portarlington) etc. I would like to see someone like Ross Munnelly, Billy Sheehan or even Colm Begley taking them forward.
The County Board are a shambles and have presided over a decline in standards at county and club level. Just as Creedon's position must be reviewed, so too must the CBs. They cannot be re-instated year after year if they are doing a bad job. Or can they? I see someone tweeting that an outside review of the GAA at all levels in Laois is badly needed. Lets do it now as we build a new team in Div. 4!!
I think there is too many on the top table from de one club..Have too much say...Dont do anything for the hurlers,or footballers...how they didnt object to them 2 matches being played yesterday..,and last year letting that match go to kilkenny.Another thing how kieran lillis and gareth dillon didnt get a mach is beyond me....
We are attractive to one of our own there are a young managers in their 30's that should be given their chance. Are we going to keep going down the same route of outsiders are better simply because we have little insight into their merits and slights .
QuoteThey cannot be re-instated year after year if they are doing a bad job. Or can they?
They can be if no one else wants the jobs, which is generally the case. There is a lot of deadweight on that county board and they'll continue to drag us down until some new people take the initiative to get involved and try to freshen things up.
Gerry Kavanagh will finish his tenure this year, but god only knows who will replace him. Probably someone already on the county board, and there's no one in there I'd trust to run a parish bingo, never mind the GAA affairs of a whole county. It's up to the clubs on that count, they'll have to start nominating people to run against the lads that are there. If we don't do that, then we'll end up with the people and setup we deserve.
As for the game, it looked to me like they were nearly waiting for an excuse to give up. O'Loughlin's red card provided that, they threw in the towel before he'd even sat down in the stand. I had high hopes for this year, I thought Creedon would be better, but Laois have been a shambles this year and the fault ultimately lies at his feet. We have significant problems in the county, obviously, but Creedon's primary job was to get the team fit, prepared and motivated for the league and championship, but he didn't do this. But if he wants to stay on and no other candidates are identified, he could well be given another year. I wouldn't be surprised if our CB stuck with him
Does anyone know the clubs feeling towards the current county board setup? Living outside of the county I wouldn't be in the know as regards the different club committee's, is there anyone at any of the clubs that people would think a good shout for a county board position?
But high fielder your statements make us think yes that you are a clown along with tony
I'm with high fielder we simply dont have any decent man markers. None. A half fit Timmons is the best we have.
Any decent attack will and have taken us to the cleaners. Clare have some nice forwards..
There is no one in Laois that wants a replay over the 7 subs .. That says it all
We should have enough to get promoted .. division 3 is probably our level .. Clare are a much better team that Laois at the moment and they are
an average division 2 side so we definately aint a division 2 side anymore regardless whose in charge ..
As for Creedon he should probably go. Its been a disastrous year. The players just dont look fit. I think thats partly why there is so many
sending offs. Mis-timed tackles etc. We never looked like a team all year. Donie trying to do it on his own. Johnno plouging through the middle
Could another manager get them fit and motivated? i dunno ...
You get the feeling that a lot of them are just not willing to put in what is necessary to be competitive at inter county these days.
Question is if Creedon does go who would want it ..
i think there will be several retirements one way or the other.
A ten year plan needs to be put in place ..
Unison most of the lads you named there are either there already or have been tried and not good enough . We need kids who will be men not kids who will stay kids .
Why in this county do we accept this ? If we ask why or mention this is not good enough we are traitors to the cause. Well I am not a traitor and quite passionate about football, it's got me through some bleak times in my life. I don't think I have ever been as depressed as these last 5 years, they have worn away at the optimism I had. I know I have been bleating this for some time but Malachy or Clancy are really obvious choices. I am sure High Fielder, Tony or Don will call me an idiot but I genuinely think Laois Football needs Laois Men at the helm at this juncture. Also those players Unison mentioned have been tried by managers who I think have not a clue what they were doing so anything they have come up with I would consider null and void. Buggie is a decent player who I would have had starting this year.
Quote from: ILikeStrawberryJam on July 02, 2017, 07:08:52 PM
There is no one in Laois that wants a replay over the 7 subs .. That says it all
This is disgusting, it shouldn't matter whether we want it or not, our Co. Board should look for it, our Manager should look for it and the powers that be should insist that a replay must be played. They are the rules made by those guys and like it or not we have to play by the rules.
No mention of it at all on the Sunday game tonight but if it were any other team as has happened in the past it would be brought up and discussed by the panel. Are we really that insignificant now and are we just gonna stand by and let them away with this...
This is the rule:
The GAA's rule 6.44 b (ii) states that a team which exceeds the number of substitutes allowed can forfeit a game, be forced to play a replay or be fined, depending on the circumstances.Remember this...
http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/laois-facing-replay-with-armagh-after-seven-subs-blunder-34818768.html
http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/sport/laois-in-danger-of-championship-elimination-over-subs-used-v-armagh-740898.html
Don't think there's anything in the substitution issue. I think it was the second last Clare substitution I happened to be looking at the ref as he spoke to a Clare player. The ref definitely made the 'T' sign with his hand before the Clare player went off holding his wrist/forearm. Remember thinking it was a strange blood sub. There must have been some blood visible to the ref.
Only second time I saw laois this year and extremely disappointed. No aggression, work ethic, passion, stomach for a fight, support play, tackling....I could go on. No sharpness in terms of fitness or ball work. Peter Creedon has to accept some blame but remember teams in the past where players stood up during tournaments and took control of THEIR team if management was letting them down (offaly hurlers with Babs, Cork hurlers, French rugby and soccer teams). Some posters are saying we need laois people leading laois teams at this point. We had 20 or so LAOIS people wearing Laois jerseys on the pitch yesterday. They have to accept responsibility for not giving everything possible and more. You can say they give unreal commitment training I didn't see much yesterday where it matters...on the pitch.
Doesn't matter who your manager is or what poor system is in place. You're representing your county and you should 'die with your boots on' as the saying goes. Saw too many players taking easy options (eg shadowing alongside Clare players running with the ball instead of tackling hard like kildare did against Meath). People might point to creedon but these players are playing football 20+ years surely to god they know how to tackle at this stage or what have they been doing all this time.
Heard Mick Bohan (ex Dublin coach ) talk lately how Johnnie Cooper was constantly challenging him looking to improve his game , working on his perceived weaknesses. Would our players do that or are they just happy to tag along each year like sheep
We can live in fairytale land or we can live in the realistic world.
If you want to live in fairytale land like some posters on here : fine. Disregard that we don't have much pace on the team apart from O connor, donogher, attride. Disregard that we're an aging team with most of our top players approaching 30 or above with likely retirements from a few big names. Disregard that we don't have quality man markers at all in the county bar timmons and healy and cahir is a hurler now. Disregard that our forwards (bar Donie) are average and lack killer pace. Get Jim McGuinness back from China or equivalent and we'll be Div 2 in no time, all with magician like Clancy, Roe or Higgins.
I'm not slating those 3 men but last time I checked they weren't performing magic and can only work with what they've got.
If you want to be REALISTIC, you'll know that our squad is aging, we badly need new fresh talent. We BADLY need to compete with other underage structures to compete. Like Kildare underage - light years ahead of Laois underage and that didn't happen by accident. It's taken years but they are seeing some rewards now.
I don't even care if Creedon or someone else is there at senior next year. IT DOES NOT MATTER. Can you not see that? Senior is irrelevant for a few years. We'll need to focus only on underage and rejuvenate our dormant and tired club scene. We will not be division 2 in senior within a few years with the current players. We need fresh blood - fast, conditioned, strong players in their correct roles, to compete. That will be years in the making and it will require a main focus elsewhere than senior.
Take Sean Moore as an example - quality young footballer in Laois. Pre 2000's, he would be a fine prospect for the senior county team. We need the likes of him to be conditioned properly with a focus on strength training and speed. The old way is no longer going to fly and that is clear. We need to get quality people into underage again, good people who know what the modern game is. Otherwise the likes of Moore (nice young lad and nice footballer but slight and unconditioned) will be slaughtered by teams like Kildare, Dublin, Meath, etc in a few years.
Some good smart posts about the state of Laois football,pity county board wouldn't act on them
I honestly think a significant cohort of the panel are gone stale and institutionalised at this stage
A big cull is required to refresh the panel
I wonder can Creeden do it
Previously I thought he was great ,good communicator etc
Laois need a passionate disciplinarian at this stage
Of course at the end of the day I blame county board who just sit there and do nothing
A disgrace and the real reason we are here at this crossroads
Quote from: Tony on July 03, 2017, 07:31:17 AM
We can live in fairytale land or we can live in the realistic world.
If you want to live in fairytale land like some posters on here : fine. Disregard that we don't have much pace on the team apart from O connor, donogher, attride. Disregard that we're an aging team with most of our top players approaching 30 or above with likely retirements from a few big names. Disregard that we don't have quality man markers at all in the county bar timmons and healy and cahir is a hurler now. Disregard that our forwards (bar Donie) are average and lack killer pace. Get Jim McGuinness back from China or equivalent and we'll be Div 2 in no time, all with magician like Clancy, Roe or Higgins.
I'm not slating those 3 men but last time I checked they weren't performing magic and can only work with what they've got.
If you want to be REALISTIC, you'll know that our squad is aging, we badly need new fresh talent. We BADLY need to compete with other underage structures to compete. Like Kildare underage - light years ahead of Laois underage and that didn't happen by accident. It's taken years but they are seeing some rewards now.
I don't even care if Creedon or someone else is there at senior next year. IT DOES NOT MATTER. Can you not see that? Senior is irrelevant for a few years. We'll need to focus only on underage and rejuvenate our dormant and tired club scene. We will not be division 2 in senior within a few years with the current players. We need fresh blood - fast, conditioned, strong players in their correct roles, to compete. That will be years in the making and it will require a main focus elsewhere than senior.
Take Sean Moore as an example - quality young footballer in Laois. Pre 2000's, he would be a fine prospect for the senior county team. We need the likes of him to be conditioned properly with a focus on strength training and speed. The old way is no longer going to fly and that is clear. We need to get quality people into underage again, good people who know what the modern game is. Otherwise the likes of Moore (nice young lad and nice footballer but slight and unconditioned) will be slaughtered by teams like Kildare, Dublin, Meath, etc in a few years.
Completely agree. Football is now about advanced athleticism as well as skill. We are producing neither for years now. I remember listening to an interview with an Armagh player in the 2000s saying that playing Laois was a tough ask because there were so many young fellas flying around with pace, skill and energy that you could never relax. The problem back then was our lack of size. Now, we have size but little else and our best players are too old for inter county. Counties like Kildare, Dublin and Tyrone are producing players that are total athletes and have all the skills too. We are miles behind. The people who run football in Laois need to be replaced by people who can put us AHEAD of the curve, rather than always trying to catch up 10 years too late.
Fixing this will take years. Prepare for more days like last Saturday.
I was there in O Moore Park for my sins on Saturday amidst one of the smallest crowds I have seen this year and like most people who were there it was a painful experience.
Within three seconds of the start of the game we had won a free. At that moment my two year old chose to pull my leg for a snack and by the time I had given it to him and looked up we were a point down inside the opening minute and the same old foreboding that has come with every Laois match this season came back again.
There are some good posts on this thread and there are sadly a lot of bad ones but a general consensus seems to be that replacing Creedon is not the answer and that we simply don't have the players to compete at this level. This is something I can't agree with.
While we obviously don't have the players of yester year do we really have that worse of a team than Clare, Louth, Sligo, Antrim or Offaly of all teams? Now I know we have a lot of problems with the county structure and the board but for me I don't think we do and I think a lot of that comes from the manager. And if we have to start there.
Clare were no great shakes but for most of the game if not all of it looked comfortably better than us. Simply because they looked organised and had a plan and we, like nearly every game I have seen us play this year look like a shambles.
Examples of this would be the contrast in kickouts. The majority of our kickouts were long to the middle were a single laois man jumped usually on his own against 2-3 Clare players who broke the ball off him and we had no one even close to gather it up. Farrell must have been told to do a dummy run for each or own kickout's because he would start on one wing and loop around to the other and then back again as the ball was being kicked. No one from Clare even bothered tracking him and not one kickout landed near him.
Clare on the other hand took short kickouts. They won their first 5-6 kickouts with short ones to the backs while our forwards retreated up the pitch allowing them 40-50 yards before even attempting a tackle. Indeed some of their early scores came from a kickout and then 2-3 passes up the pitch without a single laois hand touching a Clare player which is criminal at this level.
After the first 5-6 kickouts someone decided that we had to push up on them which resulted in the Clare backs getting into a huddle and then breaking in all directions at once to receive the short kick out and hand pass it back to their keeper. As soon as the keeper received the ball again the Laois forwards retreated back and the same thing happened again. It was a snapshot of everything we have done this season. It was half arsed.
Under Creedon we have looked to play a defensive game with players crowding back and often a lone Donnie or an empty pitch ahead of them. At like most things done this year again it is half arsed. Players don't seem to know what to do in this defensive system apart from get back. Its like being told today you have to build a house here's a hammer and having no clue what to do after that. No one seems to know how to track runners, when to double mark, at what point you stop retreating and at what point you push up. With frightening regularity a static midfield is facing 2-3 players running full speed at them and is quickly over run.
Our fitness this year has also been shocking and this is something we never really had a problem with before. Against Kildare we were blowing after 20 mins and in most games this year we have faded off badly at the end.
Our support running is non existent at times and our movement off the ball is criminal. One of the worst examples of this was in Tullamore when late in the game Brody had to solo out the ball. He ended up in Kildare half, alone with four Kildare players around him and not one Laois player within twenty yards. This is not a skill issue or not having the player's issue. Its players not being fit enough or arsed enough or coached enough to run in support.
After watching Laois this year I have no idea what Creedon has done or what he has hoped to achieve. I can't say we are an attacking team or a defensive team. All I know is we are a poor team. To say the players are not there is an easy excuse but all the above are just simple examples of bad play. Nothing to do with skill. It's about bad management and organisation and fitness. We might not be able to change the players but we can change these things with a better manager.
Someone made a comment about Jim McGuinness a couple of posts ago and I ll be honest before the Donegal job I had never heard of the man. I m sure there an awful lot of managers out there in a similar vein managing at club or college level waiting for a chance. Look at Cian O Neill with Kildare. There are still only a small few county managers jobs available each year. Managers that have a plan at least or think outside the box.
Because at the moment we are playing with no definite plan of action, players don't know what to do or when to do it and in such a situation good players look average at best and average players look very poor.
Would the likes of Noel Garvan have anything to offer the senior set up. Could he manage? Amybe alongside someine else?
Creedon wants to continue. I suppose it is handy money, and after all, expectations are never too high in Laois. Sure we're just happy to be taking part. Carry on Peter, but you have some neck!!!
Tony come on for the last 6 months Creedon was your man to turn things round, now because he failed no one can succeed. High Fielder we have the players to be competive in Div 2, it's about time we remember we have some pride. The problem these days that most players think they are bigger than the jersey, it's all about I rather than the team. The brutal thing is some of them don't even realise they are doing this. In the way you have stuck your neck out I will continually, Padraig Clancy is the man to take Laois forward, I think Malachy deserves it more on form and logic. But my personal opinion is that Clancy has the X Factor to bring a lot of diverse sections within Laois to pull together in one direction. I am utterly convinced of this no matter how much ridicule I have to take.
Quote from: BallyroanAbu on July 03, 2017, 06:02:17 PM
Padraig Clancy is the man to take Laois forward, I think Malachy deserves it more on form and logic. But my personal opinion is that Clancy has the X Factor to bring a lot of diverse sections within Laois to pull together in one direction.
Maybe you are right BallyroanAbu about Clancy. He would be fully committed anyway. We still need to look at how the GAA is run in the county.
Your 100% on that but very hard to sort
Ah come off it Ballyroan. Let's say we get the same Leinster draw for 2018 as 2017. We might get past Longford 50/50 but do you think with the current squad and it's lack of pace and overall ability we'll come anywhere near Kildare, with Clancy as the only difference? Do you think Clancy with a couple of years can turn this around? You seem like a genuine guy and I respect your posts, I just don't think you're thinking about our serious limitations accross the board, not just at senior level. That's my point - this goes all the way down through gaa culture in Laois. Creedon didn't just get us to an all time low by himself - this has been coming since 2007!! We've been shamed for years now, terrible defeat after terrible defeat! Antrim, tipp, hidings from Kildare - do you remember all that? Creedon wasn't here then but the players were. We've had poor season after poor season since 2007, apart from a couple of years with McNulty but he wasn't flashy enough so we ran him! In my opinion, that was our man - he made us competitive - but even then it was ugly football, I agree - a real double bagger. It's how you get an average team competitive though. Clancy is a nice fellow but come on you'll have to admit that he's not going to change the disease we have throughout laois gaa. On a side note I do respect your posts and appreciate you writing coherantly and not maliciously, like another poster. At the end of the day we all want what's best for laois.
Looking at the panel the following players are 30+
Timmons
Booth
Mcmahon
Strong
Meaney
Quigley
Begley ( i think)
Donaher
Conway
Walsh
Ross
thats 11 potential starters .. 8 starters (ross came on) booth was injured ..
We have been getting hiding at underage for a decade ..
So who replaces these players when 90% retire over the next 2 years
There is a some talent coming through but lets face it, it very limited
BallyroanAbu its clear you're a passionate Laois gaa man and i agree with a lot of your posts but i just dont
get your optimism about Clancy. I've no problem with him getting the job but like Tony said we've been in
a serious decline for 5+ years now . . i cant see Clancy having a major impact as they players aint there but
i'm open minded about who gets the job ..
we did seem tactically clueless all year and unfit so Creedon has to take his share of blame there .. It does appears that some players
are going through the motions this year, so maybe a bit of a clear out might help ...
We will get promoted as we are better than most of the teams down there although not much better than Carlow anymore
The crowds will be in the low hundreds next year meaning less money .. its a bit of a vicious circle now .. i guess we're reaping
what we sowed ..
The only way out of this mess is to get the underage structures right and slowly over a long period of time we will hopefully
drag ourselves up the divisions ..
I think you could be surprised by Clancy, what's our options otherwise hire some fella nobody else wants, and give him €25,000 for the pleasure. I really think it's a no lose situation if a young Laois Manager has success I think the multiplier effect of a Laois Man in charge would be huge. Even at your best guesstimate we will be 10 years sorting out underage we really don't have that time. I am telling you like him or don't Clancy has a X factor which draws people to him that otherwise would not look twice at us. I am sure he has plenty of faults but I really don't think they matter or are relevant.
I would love to see Clancy involved but not as manager just yet. Maybe put him in with Creedon and let him see the setup at first hand and with his experience as a player having gone through a number of managers he would have a lot to offer. If we got out of Div.4 fairly soon and Clancy take over then he might have a good young squad to work with.
There is no point pinning our hopes on the current squad as they are going to fall apart next year so let's be patient and hope our Co. Board take into account how serious this situation is and take steps to rectify it.
Clancy would be mad to take on this job at this point because let's call a spade a spade here this group are gone. They have being going down hill since Healy got his second yellow against Galway in'13 and have being going down steadily since with nothing coming through.
The place for clancy is with the u20 or u17 or development squads, he needs to learn a bit as well.
If he goes in with the seniors at this point he will forever be associated with a sinking ship in my opinion
.
I heard the CB have received the most funding (after Dublin that is) of any Leinster country can anyone confirm.....and how was it spent.
we have to start a rebuild now, and not spend talking about rebuilding and letting the grass grow under our feet.
after 8 months at the helm I cannot think of one positive aspect of creedon's tenure. sacking managers will not solve the underlying issues, however a deadbeat in charge will not help a revival movement. the lack of fan support(pathetic actually last Saturday) indicates the general laois public have zero faith in this manager. he must go.
we don't want one of the usual cast of journeymen managers to replace him........perhaps find a coach from the sigerson level seeking a challenge and add some of the local former players to his management team, and find a specialist defensive coach.
The problem I see ahead, is that the clowns at county board level have not the personal and collective acumen to put together a management set up to help the rebuild, always easier to get one of the journeymen clowns from the circus.
I could start criticising players on fitness, discipline and application, but with the season over, we cannot change the past, easier to address the future.
Quote from: Helmut on July 03, 2017, 12:17:29 PM
I was there in O Moore Park for my sins on Saturday amidst one of the smallest crowds I have seen this year and like most people who were there it was a painful experience.
Within three seconds of the start of the game we had won a free. At that moment my two year old chose to pull my leg for a snack and by the time I had given it to him and looked up we were a point down inside the opening minute and the same old foreboding that has come with every Laois match this season came back again.
There are some good posts on this thread and there are sadly a lot of bad ones but a general consensus seems to be that replacing Creedon is not the answer and that we simply don't have the players to compete at this level. This is something I can't agree with.
While we obviously don't have the players of yester year do we really have that worse of a team than Clare, Louth, Sligo, Antrim or Offaly of all teams? Now I know we have a lot of problems with the county structure and the board but for me I don't think we do and I think a lot of that comes from the manager. And if we have to start there.
Clare were no great shakes but for most of the game if not all of it looked comfortably better than us. Simply because they looked organised and had a plan and we, like nearly every game I have seen us play this year look like a shambles.
Examples of this would be the contrast in kickouts. The majority of our kickouts were long to the middle were a single laois man jumped usually on his own against 2-3 Clare players who broke the ball off him and we had no one even close to gather it up. Farrell must have been told to do a dummy run for each or own kickout's because he would start on one wing and loop around to the other and then back again as the ball was being kicked. No one from Clare even bothered tracking him and not one kickout landed near him.
Clare on the other hand took short kickouts. They won their first 5-6 kickouts with short ones to the backs while our forwards retreated up the pitch allowing them 40-50 yards before even attempting a tackle. Indeed some of their early scores came from a kickout and then 2-3 passes up the pitch without a single laois hand touching a Clare player which is criminal at this level.
After the first 5-6 kickouts someone decided that we had to push up on them which resulted in the Clare backs getting into a huddle and then breaking in all directions at once to receive the short kick out and hand pass it back to their keeper. As soon as the keeper received the ball again the Laois forwards retreated back and the same thing happened again. It was a snapshot of everything we have done this season. It was half arsed.
Under Creedon we have looked to play a defensive game with players crowding back and often a lone Donnie or an empty pitch ahead of them. At like most things done this year again it is half arsed. Players don't seem to know what to do in this defensive system apart from get back. Its like being told today you have to build a house here's a hammer and having no clue what to do after that. No one seems to know how to track runners, when to double mark, at what point you stop retreating and at what point you push up. With frightening regularity a static midfield is facing 2-3 players running full speed at them and is quickly over run.
Our fitness this year has also been shocking and this is something we never really had a problem with before. Against Kildare we were blowing after 20 mins and in most games this year we have faded off badly at the end.
Our support running is non existent at times and our movement off the ball is criminal. One of the worst examples of this was in Tullamore when late in the game Brody had to solo out the ball. He ended up in Kildare half, alone with four Kildare players around him and not one Laois player within twenty yards. This is not a skill issue or not having the player's issue. Its players not being fit enough or arsed enough or coached enough to run in support.
After watching Laois this year I have no idea what Creedon has done or what he has hoped to achieve. I can't say we are an attacking team or a defensive team. All I know is we are a poor team. To say the players are not there is an easy excuse but all the above are just simple examples of bad play. Nothing to do with skill. It's about bad management and organisation and fitness. We might not be able to change the players but we can change these things with a better manager.
Someone made a comment about Jim McGuinness a couple of posts ago and I ll be honest before the Donegal job I had never heard of the man. I m sure there an awful lot of managers out there in a similar vein managing at club or college level waiting for a chance. Look at Cian O Neill with Kildare. There are still only a small few county managers jobs available each year. Managers that have a plan at least or think outside the box.
Because at the moment we are playing with no definite plan of action, players don't know what to do or when to do it and in such a situation good players look average at best and average players look very poor.
I think this is a superb post.
As I was sitting there on Saturday watching our lads being fairly easily dismantled, I began to think of High Fielder! I had never bought into High Fielder's idea that these players weren't good enough but looking at them on Saturday, I began to think that maybe he was right. The Laois player with the most composure on the ball is the goalkeeper ffs! Only Stephen Attride and young Farrell seem to understand that a quick ball is always preferable no matter what your game plan. Of the big names, JOL and Donie Kingston don't look fit and Begley and Quigley are just not playing well. Of the experienced players, only Mark Timmons, despite the lack of fitness work and despite serious injury, is the only one to do himself justice. Looking at it on Saturday (and looking at what we've been seeing for the last few years) you couldn't just dismiss the possibility that these lads are just playing at their level and that's it. He's also right that we don't have very defensive minded players in the squad.
Still, I still think Helmut's post above is more correct. When McNulty was in charge, the same players were only conceeding about 10-12 points a game. Peter O Leary was playing in the corner back position. We've all seen teams more limited than Laois really making life difficult for higher level opposition - last year's Fermanagh team have hardly better players than us. They do have a fantastic manager though.
I think we've been really let down by successive management teams. And I think we've been let down by the players themselves. Fellas playing inter-county football shouldn't have arses the size of Stradbally. You shouldn't need a manager to tell you that. That might have changed if there was someone challenging for their positions of course. Ultimately though the really best players motivate themselves from within. If anyone saw Cahir Healy or Sean Downey playing with the hurlers over the last few weeks, you'd know what that means.
I think we have some talent but we don't have the desire, the organisation or the togetherness to go with it. This group have certainly underachieved in the last few years and it's a real shame to see that that basic talent has gone to waste.
My hope is that although the talent might be weaker in the coming years, we will be able to assemble a team of committed and bright players (Brody, Farrell, Attride) who can grow into their role as leaders of the county eam in the next 3 or 4 years. It's going to be tough!
Quote from: oneflewoverthecuckoonest on July 03, 2017, 10:07:20 PM
. the lack of fan support(pathetic actually last Saturday) indicates the general laois public have zero faith in this manager. he must go.
Look whatever about Creedon going or staying this above quote is wrong. Have you not been to Laois games the last 5 - 7 years? The support has been miniscule and has been for some time. To say that indicates that the public have no faith in the manager is wrong - sure it's been this way for years! Pretty much since 09 we've been getting worse and worse crowds. At the end of the day, nobody wants to go watch their team play very poorly and unfortunately that's what we've generally being doing the last 10 years. The supporters will come back once we have a team that's achieving progress and creating a buzz.
Quote from: ILikeStrawberryJam on July 03, 2017, 07:20:24 PM
Looking at the panel the following players are 30+
Timmons
Booth
Mcmahon
Strong
Meaney
Quigley
Begley ( i think)
Donaher
Conway
Walsh
Ross
thats 11 potential starters .. 8 starters (ross came on) booth was injured ..
We have been getting hiding at underage for a decade ..
So who replaces these players when 90% retire over the next 2 years
There is a some talent coming through but lets face it, it very limited
BallyroanAbu its clear you're a passionate Laois gaa man and i agree with a lot of your posts but i just dont
get your optimism about Clancy. I've no problem with him getting the job but like Tony said we've been in
a serious decline for 5+ years now . . i cant see Clancy having a major impact as they players aint there but
i'm open minded about who gets the job ..
we did seem tactically clueless all year and unfit so Creedon has to take his share of blame there .. It does appears that some players
are going through the motions this year, so maybe a bit of a clear out might help ...
We will get promoted as we are better than most of the teams down there although not much better than Carlow anymore
The crowds will be in the low hundreds next year meaning less money .. its a bit of a vicious circle now .. i guess we're reaping
what we sowed ..
The only way out of this mess is to get the underage structures right and slowly over a long period of time we will hopefully
drag ourselves up the divisions ..
Timmons
Booth
( Wasnt picked /Not injured)Mcmahon
Strong
Meaney
Quigley
Begley ( i think)
(Minor in 2003 so he must be 32 this year at least)Donaher
Conway
Walsh
( Was a minor in 2007 so he is 27 now)Ross
sorry Tony, yet another defensive reply on your part re Creedon.
Tony........
one simple question, and I will leave it at this.
Can you name one positive aspect Creedon brought to Laois this past season?
Quote from: Tony on July 03, 2017, 06:59:48 PM
Ah come off it Ballyroan. Let's say we get the same Leinster draw for 2018 as 2017. We might get past Longford 50/50 but do you think with the current squad and it's lack of pace and overall ability we'll come anywhere near Kildare, with Clancy as the only difference? Do you think Clancy with a couple of years can turn this around?
The point you keep missing is this;
Nobody expects that we would beat Kildare as is under any manager, Creedon, Clancy or Jack Charlton. It's not the Kildare result that has many people questioning Mr Creedon.
But Clancy doesn't have to achieve that to be an improvement on Creedon.
All he has to do is not lose to the likes of Sligo, Antrim and Offaly in the league!
Quote from: oneflewoverthecuckoonest on July 03, 2017, 10:49:01 PM
sorry Tony, yet another defensive reply on your part re Creedon.
Tony........
one simple question, and I will leave it at this.
Can you name one positive aspect Creedon brought to Laois this past season?
I can tell you what he is going to say......
No players went to America after the Kildare match!
Money well spent wasn't he!
It's just a fact: crowds for Laois games have been pathetic and dire these last 5-7 years and not just 2017. Everybody at the games know that. There's hardly ever a cheer for the lads when they come out. We're nearly always outnumbered, even from smaller counties and even in O'Moore Park. This has been the case for years on years and anybody who is going to the games will tell you that. It's not even up for discussion as it's a clear as day fact that anyone with common sense can figure out.
I was at the Clare game there on Saturday as a neutral. Was shocked at how uninterested Laois looked especially after the sending off. It was odd, so many of the backs just shadowed their man instead of putting in a hit or a block or something.
Can't remember 1 good shoulder or even a hit on a man that might get a yellow but will get the team going.
The whole thing was so passive, it was like once they lost JOL, they just totally gave up, not that they were doing much up to then.
Have to feel sorry for Donie Kingston and McMahon in the backs too. Bit of quality and interest about those 2.
I see some people here defending the manager and saying you can't do better. He has to go, you can tell by body language of the team, they couldn't give a shit about him.
I see today he is looking for another year! If he gets it, Laois will remain in Div 4 and then he will be sacked. You need an internal manager, and somebody who will get the Portlaoise element back on board.
I see a lot of posts here are saying it'll be a year in div 4 to rebuild and we'll get out. A lot of teams come down from Div 3 and think they'll get straight back up. Ask Wexford, Limerick, all who have spent 2 or 3 years now in Div 4. The top 4/5 in Div 4 are equal to a lot of Div 3.
Laois
Antrim
Carlow
Limerick
Leitrim
Waterford
London
Wicklow
The supporters cannot be blamed for boycotting Laois matches. Players being continually sent off is indicative of the malaise that infests the set up in Laois at the moment from top to bottom. Players are not committed, Management are useless and the county board couldn't give a toss.
Expect one man and his dog watching them in Div 4 next year.
Failure cannot be rewarded. Therefore Creedon must be given his p45.
If the fact that we are in Div 4 does not motivate those in charge to change things drastically in the county, then we might as well do as Kilkenny footballers have done and pull out of the championship.
Quote from: Junior Ex Laoistalk on July 01, 2017, 08:53:46 PM
Quote from: Unison on July 01, 2017, 04:58:59 PM
Quote from: Andy06 on July 01, 2017, 04:53:48 PM
Another chap sent off when the game was in the mix. F*cking pathetic
Have listened to local journalists criticise poor Laois support, but I pity Laois supporters. Why support unfit and indisciplined teams? My advice is keep your money in your pockets.
Both of you guys were obviously at home and not at the game. O'Loughlin received a second yellow card but no-one can remember him getting the first one. He was being pulled and dragged off the ball and eventually shoved his marker away. The ref as usual took the handy way out and issued two yellows. The only other Laois player that received a yellow before that was Stephen Attride, not O'Loughlin.
Having said that Clare were the better team by far, way fitter and some great movement from their forwards. They deserved their win even tho' they did use 7 subs. I don't think a replay would do Laois any favours but it's out of their hands now.
7 Subs Used:
Clare: Joe Hayes; Gordon Kelly, Kevin Harnett, Martin McMahon; Pierce Lillis, Ciarán Russell, Dean Ryan; Gary Brennan, Cathal O'Connor; Cian O'Dea, Eoin Cleary, Sean Collins; Keelan Sexton, David Tubridy, Jamie Malone. Subs: John Hayes for Russell (56 mins), Gearoid O'Brien for Tubridy (56 mins), Seanie Malone for Sexton (61 mins), Darren Nagle for O'Dea (61 mins), Eoghan Collins for Harnett (64 mins), Darragh Bohannon for Lillis (69 mins), Kieran Malone for S Collins (69 mins).
Eoghan Collins for Kevin Harnett was a bloodsub
Quote from: BallyroanAbu on July 03, 2017, 06:02:17 PM
Tony come on for the last 6 months Creedon was your man to turn things round, now because he failed no one can succeed. High Fielder we have the players to be competive in Div 2, it's about time we remember we have some pride. The problem these days that most players think they are bigger than the jersey, it's all about I rather than the team. The brutal thing is some of them don't even realise they are doing this. In the way you have stuck your neck out I will continually, Padraig Clancy is the man to take Laois forward, I think Malachy deserves it more on form and logic. But my personal opinion is that Clancy has the X Factor to bring a lot of diverse sections within Laois to pull together in one direction. I am utterly convinced of this no matter how much ridicule I have to take.
Keep believing this guff and you'll be a very disappointed punter. These players cannot defend. They don't know how to tackle. Look at how much we concede - not just to good teams, but bad teams too. There isn't one back on the panel that knows how to defend properly. Not even one. Even Wicklow got amassive score out of us. I hate to sound condescending, but you do understand that when you concede so much, you have to score more to win matches? Start looking at the evidence in front of you rather than making a theoretical assumption about where you think/hope Laois football should be. Every half decent or good team is based on a solid foundation - a good set of backs. We have none. We had a tendency to leak big before Creedon came in and we're getting older, slower and less interested now. The heads drop, the missed tackles mount up and ah sure we've been here before. Feeling sorry for ourselves. It's going to take years to rectify this. Years of coaching. In many respects, I'm not even bothered about the current Senior team. Unless they prove otherwise, they're a very poor panel of players and I personally think it would take a genius or genie to get anything out of them. We need to focus on the future now.
The problem with any fella that has done abit of coaching is a belief that coaching is the solution to the problem or even talent (especially at amateur level). I believe at the level we're at motivation, passion and organisation are missing. You can always hire a coach and backroom staff but to have someone who inspires lads to turn up to training on a wet Wednesday in November is priceless. There are literally thousands of coaches, S&C but very few leaders/managers. Clancy is the man Laois need, you can buy in whatever expertise you need. He simply inspires belief both on the pitch and off it. I think Laois would find it a hell of lot easier to get money from sponsors with a Laois man at the helm. I would also like to mention, that Creedon when I asked for him to be sacked mid way through the League I was berated but how much money has he now cost in our support base. Simply paying him has cost north of €100,000, I was sneered at when I tried to correlate his performance on the field and the future economic cost to our county. You will have very little improvement in any set up without money and I simply see very little more money being found if we continue down our woe is me road. Clancy is box office, laois are generally well disposed to him and he is not afraid to milk it. This in the short term means some money being found for the county set up, its up to him and the county board to build on that.
I
Motivation and passion can never be a substitute for technical failings. Clancy can't make players do things that they don't know how to do. I actually am starting to feel sorry for Padraig Clancy. You're building him up too much. The man has been coaching a couple of years ffs!
This is not a high profile job, it's Div 4 football I would think below club standard in some counties, not bloody Dublin his going to manage. Next year is London, Waterford Leitrim this is his next step.
Does he want me job?
I don't know but I am sure he can be persuaded.
Quote from: BallyroanAbu on July 04, 2017, 10:01:59 AM
Clancy is the man Laois need, you can buy in whatever expertise you need. He simply inspires belief both on the pitch and off it.
Clancy is box office, laois are generally well disposed to him and he is not afraid to milk it.
God, it's a wonder Real Madrid are not knocking down the door for him!!
I had massive respect for him as a player but no exposure to him as a coach. In fact, the only person I have ever heard extolling his virtues as a manager is your good self. Anyone else on here have a view on his capabilities? Surely a few years managing an underage Laois team would show what he is made of?
Personally, I think it is important that we have a good manager but we are so limited in terms of talent that it won't matter much. Would prefer to see the likes of Clancy and McNulty involved at U14/15/16 levels.
Agreed. These lads aren't even wet behind the ears in management terms. I accept it's not a high profile job, but it's the best managerial role in Laois, so it deserves some sort of respect.
The manager is not the problem here guys it's the lack of county standard players. If we had good players Creedon wouldn't look like such a clown
Lots to ponder on here, its actually a decent thread when people don't get personal. I think everyone on here wants Laois to be the best they can be regardless of who is in charge or who is on the team. We can only judge both on what we have seen, everything else is speculation.
1. Management: Judging Creedon we can see that he has been unsuccessful in getting the most out of the players as was Mick Lillis, both oversaw relegations in the league along with dismal championship performances. However the reality is we have gone through a few management teams now since Micko and only Justin McNulty was relatively successful. The word coming from the panel we heard earlier in the year that Creedon was doing great, training was of a high standard etc, this was coming from players and former players who have played under many set-ups at club and inter-county level so we were optimistic but given their performances would certainly make you question this. People saying we will find a management set up that will suddenly inspire everyone and we will be back in Div 2 are been a bit unrealistic in my opinion.
2. Players: The fact that successive management teams have failed also points to our players. We have had successive relegations and the in 2015 survived relegation by the skin of our teeth. So its fine saying those management setups were not good enough (which they were not) but it also tells us something about the talent available in the county. Here is the team that pushed Dublin close in the AI quarter final in 2012 : Eoin Culliton, Cahir Healy, Kevin Meaney, Peter O'Leary, Darren Strong, John O'Loughlin, Conor Boyle, Brendan Quigley, Colm Begley, Ross Munnelly, Gary Walsh, Damien O'Connor, Billy Sheehan, Pádraig Clancy, Colm Kelly. Now take a look here http://www.laoisgaa.ie/playerProfiles (http://www.laoisgaa.ie/playerProfiles) and you will see we are relying on the same few to carry the load. It shows we have very few players of real quality coming through, not just to make up the first team but to make the whole panel competitive. Teams that are really competitive have a good squad of players which means training is very competitive, any drop in standards and you would simply lose your place. With rumours of drinking and general indiscipline it would appear that this is not the case currently in our squad. No manager needs to tell players what to do if the squad is competitive then when you drop your standards you lose your place. The face that the best defender on the county is on the hurling panel does not help either but no one can really argue with that as its a personal choice.
3. Solutions: A good gauge of the health of the game within the county is to look at the club scene which is not particularly healthy at the minute, a fairly average Stradbally side are the county champions at present and Portlaoise who have been the standard bearers for so long are on a downward curve also. In fairness there is good work been done at underage in some clubs given recent feile results and this is the key to it as I have said in a previous post. If we invest in good standard coaches to go around to clubs and help get the juveniles up to a decent standard when it comes to skills this will help make the under-age scene competitive, then we have development squads cherry pick the best from u-14 up and train them to a higher standard again. Players who make the grade will go on to make the county panels competitive while the ones who don't will filter back into the club scene which will also become more and more competitive, it does not guarantee success but ti should help to create a conveyor belt of talent coming through. It needs a lot of investment but it can be done, in some case it already has begun with some clubs as I see how a club like Rosenalis are progressing recently. We also need to train up Laois people in regards to coaching so we are not always forking out to people outside the county.
One other point which may be relative or may be stupid is when it comes to cost and quality of training, I don't know what way it works currently but it seems very expensive to run an inter-county team. Why could both hurling and football panels not combine when it comes to training, obviously they would do skills and training matches separately but the basics like fitness, strength and conditioning could be combined especially at the start of the year, almost like a big boot camp. So you would have one big panel of players who all want to be successful for the county pushing each other hard in training. You would have one fitness coach and one S&C coach which would even save money. It would have to well planned out but from my paltry experience we are all competitive in training so the harder it is the more you push yourself. Just a thought, would be nice for Laois to be innovative and lead the way at something, we tend to be very sheepish and just copy the crowd and if it does not work feel sorry for ourselves.
Jack Nolans take on the state of things
https://soundcloud.com/midlandssport/laois-football-at-an-all-time-low (https://soundcloud.com/midlandssport/laois-football-at-an-all-time-low)
P clancy is only in the management circles 3 years so in my opinion its the people who hired him should be the ones who can tell us if he is up to that standard,,mcnulty was very young when he had taken over laois and laois took a big chance when employing him,i think he did a super job and tried to introduce a system that not everyone liked but he was true to his game plan and so were the selectors and players,,even a few players would tell us what clancy is like etc,,they games i looked at last two years with ballyroan he definately made them more competitive and seemed to have a buzz there too,,i seen the graig/portlaoise game a few weeks ago i commented how graig looked fit and organised but the only people who can in MY opinion is the lads that seem him in action every night,,im not for or against the man but i would like more info on the way he controls his teams
Quote from: Joeythelips on July 04, 2017, 12:03:34 PM
Lots to ponder on here, its actually a decent thread when people don't get personal. I think everyone on here wants Laois to be the best they can be regardless of who is in charge or who is on the team. We can only judge both on what we have seen, everything else is speculation.
1. Management: Judging Creedon we can see that he has been unsuccessful in getting the most out of the players as was Mick Lillis, both oversaw relegations in the league along with dismal championship performances. However the reality is we have gone through a few management teams now since Micko and only Justin McNulty was relatively successful. The word coming from the panel we heard earlier in the year that Creedon was doing great, training was of a high standard etc, this was coming from players and former players who have played under many set-ups at club and inter-county level so we were optimistic but given their performances would certainly make you question this. People saying we will find a management set up that will suddenly inspire everyone and we will be back in Div 2 are been a bit unrealistic in my opinion.
2. Players: The fact that successive management teams have failed also points to our players. We have had successive relegations and the in 2015 survived relegation by the skin of our teeth. So its fine saying those management setups were not good enough (which they were not) but it also tells us something about the talent available in the county. Here is the team that pushed Dublin close in the AI quarter final in 2012 : Eoin Culliton, Cahir Healy, Kevin Meaney, Peter O'Leary, Darren Strong, John O'Loughlin, Conor Boyle, Brendan Quigley, Colm Begley, Ross Munnelly, Gary Walsh, Damien O'Connor, Billy Sheehan, Pádraig Clancy, Colm Kelly. Now take a look here http://www.laoisgaa.ie/playerProfiles (http://www.laoisgaa.ie/playerProfiles) and you will see we are relying on the same few to carry the load. It shows we have very few players of real quality coming through, not just to make up the first team but to make the whole panel competitive. Teams that are really competitive have a good squad of players which means training is very competitive, any drop in standards and you would simply lose your place. With rumours of drinking and general indiscipline it would appear that this is not the case currently in our squad. No manager needs to tell players what to do if the squad is competitive then when you drop your standards you lose your place. The face that the best defender on the county is on the hurling panel does not help either but no one can really argue with that as its a personal choice.
3. Solutions: A good gauge of the health of the game within the county is to look at the club scene which is not particularly healthy at the minute, a fairly average Stradbally side are the county champions at present and Portlaoise who have been the standard bearers for so long are on a downward curve also. In fairness there is good work been done at underage in some clubs given recent feile results and this is the key to it as I have said in a previous post. If we invest in good standard coaches to go around to clubs and help get the juveniles up to a decent standard when it comes to skills this will help make the under-age scene competitive, then we have development squads cherry pick the best from u-14 up and train them to a higher standard again. Players who make the grade will go on to make the county panels competitive while the ones who don't will filter back into the club scene which will also become more and more competitive, it does not guarantee success but ti should help to create a conveyor belt of talent coming through. It needs a lot of investment but it can be done, in some case it already has begun with some clubs as I see how a club like Rosenalis are progressing recently. We also need to train up Laois people in regards to coaching so we are not always forking out to people outside the county.
One other point which may be relative or may be stupid is when it comes to cost and quality of training, I don't know what way it works currently but it seems very expensive to run an inter-county team. Why could both hurling and football panels not combine when it comes to training, obviously they would do skills and training matches separately but the basics like fitness, strength and conditioning could be combined especially at the start of the year, almost like a big boot camp. So you would have one big panel of players who all want to be successful for the county pushing each other hard in training. You would have one fitness coach and one S&C coach which would even save money. It would have to well planned out but from my paltry experience we are all competitive in training so the harder it is the more you push yourself. Just a thought, would be nice for Laois to be innovative and lead the way at something, we tend to be very sheepish and just copy the crowd and if it does not work feel sorry for ourselves.
Great piece Joey and you make a lot of sense. Lots being said about managers etc but you have made sense of our situation. I like your solutions. To elaborate on coaching we need to return to the way we used to do it,i.e. get as many players in at 14-16 and coach coach coach, practice practice practice. Keep everyone interested/make it attractive etc and by the time they reach the minor (u17) we should have competitive teams rolling out almost every year.
Your idea on combined physical training is an excellent idea...
Good man Joey, the most sensible post I've seen here for a long time. Any chance you could get someone from the Co. Board to read and act on this..
Quote from: Junior Ex Laoistalk on July 04, 2017, 04:21:14 PM
Good man Joey, the most sensible post I've seen here for a long time. Any chance you could get someone from the Co. Board to read and act on this..
Not sure that the ones on the county board can read.......
talk all ye want whats happening on the ground is not good enough ,their was laois u 16 training tonight only ten turned up ,after beating louth well and 27 at match ,out of ten only two or three will get a game saturday ,very rarely see manager at training only matchs,coachs always their,this is next years minor team,they know they dont have to train to get a game ,is all failing apart at senior & underage
Quote from: laoisboy on July 04, 2017, 10:39:25 PM
talk all ye want whats happening on the ground is not good enough ,their was laois u 16 training tonight only ten turned up ,after beating louth well and 27 at match ,out of ten only two or three will get a game saturday ,very rarely see manager at training only matchs,coachs always their,this is next years minor team,they know they dont have to train to get a game ,is all failing apart at senior & underage
Thats funny, you have the very same incomprehensible style as town1980.
Joey and a lot of your posts miss one major fact we don't have the money to implement f**k all. We are at the mercy of National and Provincial Councils. I would not hold my breath on that. On the good news I see Pat Flanagan is now available he should meet a lot of the criteria some of you are looking for in a manager. Hope it goes well.
Quit being so mealy mouthed. You've had your say and God knows we all know now that Padraig Clancy is the Second Coming. Save your energy and petition your County Board delegate to come around to your way of thinking. You've worn people to the bone on here with your griping and sniping. You may well be right in the end, and I sincerely hope you are. Just try playing a different tune for one day, because it's obvious that you care
Quote from: laoisboy on July 04, 2017, 10:39:25 PM
talk all ye want whats happening on the ground is not good enough ,their was laois u 16 training tonight only ten turned up ,after beating louth well and 27 at match ,out of ten only two or three will get a game saturday ,very rarely see manager at training only matchs,coachs always their,this is next years minor team,they know they dont have to train to get a game ,is all failing apart at senior & underage
Would the U16 squad not be short a good few lads who are up with the U17s?
Quote from: BallyroanAbu on July 05, 2017, 08:46:25 AM
Joey and a lot of your posts miss one major fact we don't have the money to implement f**k all. We are at the mercy of National and Provincial Councils. I would not hold my breath on that. On the good news I see Pat Flanagan is now available he should meet a lot of the criteria some of you are looking for in a manager. Hope it goes well.
We surely are spending money, surely the treasurer gives a report each year on what is spent and I would imagine its not f**k all.
Also thats a bit of cheap shot at Pat Flanagan, he has a decent managerial record especially when he led westmeath to promotion to Div 1, if you were hiring a person as CEO of a company, looking through their CV would surely be a reasonable idea I would imagine.
At present if the likes of a Mickey Harte or Jim McGuinness took charge of Laois they would most likely struggle based on what we have seen over the past few years. Your suggestion of Clancy as manager is unusual in that he does not seem to have much of a managerial record at all, he has been a fantastic servant to Laois GAA as a player but I think it would be an unwise move for him and the county board.
I do agree with you that we should be aiming to have passionate Laois men in charge of our teams but they need to start at underage or club level to prove they can indeed manage.
Why would you pick Clancy, whats his managerial record, one year over Timahoe Junior Bs reached a semi/final, First year in Ballyroan got hammered by Timahoe, an intermediate team in a league semi/final, scrapped a win over a bad crettyard in the 1st round of championship, hammered by a heath team we got a draw off the year before in the next round and knocked out by Graigue the round after. Come to last year got to quarter final beat by arles/killen i.e the kingstons. Give him a few more years at club and see how he gets on. The likes of Joe Higgins should be closer to the job than Clancy and has intercounty expierence albeit with the women. Not saying he's the answer but surely more deserving than Clancy and McNulty for that matter at the moment.
If creedon goes, and I believe he should, the will most likely head for Flanagan. That'd complete the merry-go-round if he comes to us and flatherta goes to the biffos. A decent guy maybe, but a nothing appointment.
I partially disagree with joey, if you'd mcguiness or money Harte over us, we'd be at least competitive in div. 3, and not getting done by 12 points by a poor Louth side in the 1st round of the league, getting beat by Sligo, Antrim, biffos and then getting tonked by Clare at home. Leave Kildare aside, they're well ahead of us, but let no-one tell you Antrim, biffos, Louth, Sligo, have that much better talent than we have, these teams are piss poor, and they can beat us at will.
I'm sensing one man in ballyroan doesn't like Clancy anyway ;D
Laois are in decline. It comes in cycles. Very few county teams can sustain success year in year out. Laois have done very well in the last fifteen years or so on a national level given the population and number of clubs. I would say they have punched above their weight. To be a perennial provincial contender requires a lot of boxes to be ticked on an annual basis. A strong and deep playing pool a knowledgeable and experienced and respected back room team, a supportive county board and a progressive club structure. If any of these falter the cycle will be short lived.
The present Laois panel contains a significant number of players who have given sterling service to the county; I would say a number of them have notions above their station and that is part of the problem; they are living off past glories and cannot accept that their status has changed.
Its a time to regroup and readjust.
Time to get the desire back that drives any successful squad.
There are enough players of a high standard for Laois to compete with all bar Dublin and possibly Kildare at present in Leinster. Don't talk the county down so easily. Laois teams traditionally are gutsy, spirited fighters; with the various qualities I have referred to earlier in place there is no reason Laois cannot bounce back. In the medium term.
Don't be so hard on the players representing the county or the people behind the scenes. Support, encourage, do something positive.
Give it to Higgins, McNulty or Clancy but for God Sake give someone who is in Laois. It's like a black mark against you if your from Laois but if you talk complete toss from somewhere else lets roll out the red carpet. I can't understand it, why should TOF of got the job, he was ran out of Galway yet we had him for 3 years. Creedon was a joke but Clancy or Higgins no they know nothing. They are in Div 4 go with a Laois Man, I for the life of me cannot see why someone from Laois should not get the job, what sort of example are you setting continually hiring journey men no one else wants. Pat Roe did a good job with Wexford one time again his home county "NO". You ask why there is no passion in this county because we seem to want to deny those with passion any chance of progress.
Quote from: BallyroanAbu on July 06, 2017, 12:34:30 AM
Give it to Higgins, McNulty or Clancy but for God Sake give someone who is in Laois. It's like a black mark against you if your from Laois but if you talk complete toss from somewhere else lets roll out the red carpet. I can't understand it, why should TOF of got the job, he was ran out of Galway yet we had him for 3 years. Creedon was a joke but Clancy or Higgins no they know nothing. They are in Div 4 go with a Laois Man, I for the life of me cannot see why someone from Laois should not get the job, what sort of example are you setting continually hiring journey men no one else wants. Pat Roe did a good job with Wexford one time again his home county "NO". You ask why there is no passion in this county because we seem to want to deny those with passion any chance of progress.
Woukd Mark Kavanagh take it I wonder?
Quote from: town1980 on July 05, 2017, 11:11:22 PM
I'm sensing one man in ballyroan doesn't like Clancy anyway ;D
I do like him actually, a very sound man but facts are facts he's achieved nothing of note yet, he's been built for a fall by my fellow clubman. I mentioned Higgins because he's also a young manager but has achievements behind him, has made club finals/all ireland semi finals.
As for the senior team itself now is probably the time to get rid of the older lads they have served us well but now is the time to come up with a long term plan for the team and rebuild from the bottom division and unfortunley the likes of timmons, strong, mcmahon, begley, donoher etc.
Build the foundations now for underage and club leagues/chamionships and see where we go
Now in fairness ballyroan abbey he has only taken your club and you or any of us would not expect ballyroan to have gotten to a county final,my outlook on him was he made tee more competitive for the time he was there and he looks to be doing the same with graig now time will tell on that,, my club we're going for ten in a row so getting to a final is not an achievement, wining one like stradbally was and fair play to them, but I do see Higgins mal or Clancy as the men to instill a bit of passion that's needed, I personally would interview all three
You can be a life time building juvenile, I am not saying don't improve it. But to focus on juvenile to the detriment of your Senior Team is a fools errand. Your Senior Team sells it to your kids they have to aspire to something. Nobody is going to back a juvenile set up with cash. Go ahead get your structures right but juvenile is the not place to put all your eggs and if it goes wrong you have ignored all else in the face of it.
So BallyroanAbbey we're we not vastly improved last year, because while your knocking what went on you forget we should have been beaten by far more against Arles 3 years ago and last year were somewhat unlucky to lose. We made massive improvements under Clancy and hopefully we can hold on to them. i am not hard on anyone but a lot of people in Ballyroan think they could of better, I personally feel under Clancy we were over achieving with an u20 team.
Joey not hitting out at you but this county will struggle for money as a result of been in Div 4. I think already our sponsors are not happy. Senior team is the seller you use it to earn more revenue.
Would anybody take a look at Michael Murphy managing Stradbally
Seems to organise and maximise any team that he has managed, intelligent
I would certain listen to his view in an interview scenario
Quote from: Laoisguy on July 06, 2017, 09:31:31 AM
Would anybody take a look at Michael Murphy managing Stradbally
Seems to organise and maximise any team that he has managed, intelligent
I would certain listen to his view in an interview scenario
And he is in the vicinity of CB three or four nights a week.. :-* :-\
I would give Creadon another go at it, we cant go any further down and maybe it was needed to wake us up. If he does get turfed out well its hard to know where we go from here, Hercules wouldn't have the strength to lift us up at this stage, Jason Ryan was interested before, I still think he has a lot to offer a county set up. Jack Sheedy was interviews last time aswell and doing a decent Job up in Dublin by all accounts,
Quote from: Laoisguy on July 06, 2017, 09:31:31 AM
Would anybody take a look at Michael Murphy managing Stradbally
Seems to organise and maximise any team that he has managed, intelligent
I would certain listen to his view in an interview scenario
Great idea. Maybe there's a Stradbally man out there to manage the hurlers too.
Who is michael Murphy?
I'm not from Stradbally :)
Consistantly good reports about his style that's all
is it martin murphy from gracefield ?
Yes sorry Martin
Quote from: Laoisguy on July 06, 2017, 01:43:44 PM
I'm not from Stradbally :)
Consistantly good reports about his style that's all
Denying can sometimes mean confirming ??? :(
My preference would be to keep Creedon on board for another year and refresh the backround set up. Maybe add Ross in there if he retires and a good S&C coach like barry solan. The ones we had this year were of a primitive standard. A plus I see from this year was blooding a lot of new players like Farrell and Kelly. It's a transitional phase. If we end up getting a new manager each year I can't see the momentum. The players love Creedon and each player I've spoken to has praised the set up. I was dissappointed with his performance overall but a man with a couple years club experience is highly unlikely to just become an amazing inter county manager as there's a huge difference in both jobs. Creedon is not the be all and end all manager but he is committed to the cause and I can see us making an improvement in season 2 if changes and improvements are made.
That's my opinion anyway, no need to get personal.
Quote from: Tony on July 06, 2017, 04:46:12 PM
The players love Creedon and each player I've spoken to has praised the set up.
'Love' my backside!! Given that they were unfit, indisciplined and did not perform for him on match days, I don't understand how the players could say that they 'loved' Creedon, unless it was because it was a soft regime under which to train and play.
It seems to me that there is not one good reason for retaining him. He brought Laois down to the bottom basement of inter county football and I think it will really turn supporters away if he is retained.
Quote from: Tony on July 06, 2017, 04:46:12 PM
My preference would be to keep Creedon on board for another year and refresh the backround set up. Maybe add Ross in there if he retires and a good S&C coach like barry solan. The ones we had this year were of a primitive standard. A plus I see from this year was blooding a lot of new players like Farrell and Kelly. It's a transitional phase. If we end up getting a new manager each year I can't see the momentum. The players love Creedon and each player I've spoken to has praised the set up. I was dissappointed with his performance overall but a man with a couple years club experience is highly unlikely to just become an amazing inter county manager as there's a huge difference in both jobs. Creedon is not the be all and end all manager but he is committed to the cause and I can see us making an improvement in season 2 if changes and improvements are made.
That's my opinion anyway, no need to get personal.
Complete Madness
Quote from: BallyroanAbu on July 06, 2017, 04:58:27 PM
Quote from: Tony on July 06, 2017, 04:46:12 PM
My preference would be to keep Creedon on board for another year and refresh the backround set up. Maybe add Ross in there if he retires and a good S&C coach like barry solan. The ones we had this year were of a primitive standard. A plus I see from this year was blooding a lot of new players like Farrell and Kelly. It's a transitional phase. If we end up getting a new manager each year I can't see the momentum. The players love Creedon and each player I've spoken to has praised the set up. I was dissappointed with his performance overall but a man with a couple years club experience is highly unlikely to just become an amazing inter county manager as there's a huge difference in both jobs. Creedon is not the be all and end all manager but he is committed to the cause and I can see us making an improvement in season 2 if changes and improvements are made.
That's my opinion anyway, no need to get personal.
Complete Madness
There is no talking to the man.
Watch the definition of the term "success" change multiple times between December 2017 & July 2018 if he gets a second year.
Right.
Realistically who can we get.
Creedon : a man who knows the setup and players now in Laois and wants to improve for 2018. Not exactly the best manager in the world but average and methods well liked.
Clancy : a man with a couple of indifferent seasons at club management and zero county management experience. But ballyroan says he might have the x factor, whatever that is.
Roe : a man who has failed at underage management.
Malachy : promosing for maybe 5 years but does not want the job for 2018 I hear.
Higgins.
We don't exactly have the best choice in the land do we. As I said before I don't think senior will even matter that much in the next few years. My preference will be Creedon, THAT IS MY OPINION, and so I don't know why you're arguing. Get Clancy in if you want but when he proves he's no magician, then at least will ye become a little bit realistic? I've nothing against Padraig by the way, sound man.
Who said anything about Roe? Give it to a young Laois man - Munnelly or Clancy. Creedon is a proven failure.
Why not Chris Conway? He would be passionate and has a good coaching record. I'd imagine he wouldn't tolerate any crap either.
Quote from: SCFC on July 06, 2017, 07:14:24 PM
Why not Chris Conway? He would be passionate and has a good coaching record. I'd imagine he wouldn't tolerate any crap either.
Chris might be the right man to clear out the deadwood in there. It might be time to clear the decks. No offence to the lads over 30, but their time may have come and gone. Chris wouldn't mind egos I suspect.
Quote from: SCFC on July 06, 2017, 07:14:24 PM
Why not Chris Conway? He would be passionate and has a good coaching record. I'd imagine he wouldn't tolerate any crap either.
Absolutely.best suggestion so far. I would love to see Chris get the job. Passionate and cool at the same time, intelligent , clever,honest, loyal club man along with a great football brain. If he could bring half of those traits to the county team we would do fine. I always say we would have won Leinster in 2004 had he been available.
No issue with Chris, so Clancy and McNulty who manage Senior Club Teams are out but Chris who coached only schools team is in? What is the actual criteria for a Laois Manager.
Also I would beg to differ on Clancy's record if it's looked at properly he did quite well. I am pretty sure Clancy got offered most of the Laois Club jobs last year. In fairness his couple of years in Ballyroan were decent and if BallyroanAbbey wants to argue he knows who I am and where I am. Malachy undoubtably has the best C.v on paper just not sure he is enough of a unifying force. But if he got the job I would be happy.
Creedon can head on back to Tipp, undoubtably a disaster. Tony the clubs won't stomach a second year but maybe the County Board have bigger balls than I think.
Quote from: BallyroanAbu on July 06, 2017, 10:18:18 PM
No issue with Chris, so Clancy and McNulty who manage Senior Club Teams are out but Chris who coached only schools team is in? What is the actual criteria for a Laois Manager.
Chris Conway managed a club to a Tipperary SFC title a few years ago. Not to be sneezed at.
Quote from: The PRO on July 06, 2017, 10:34:24 PM
Quote from: BallyroanAbu on July 06, 2017, 10:18:18 PM
No issue with Chris, so Clancy and McNulty who manage Senior Club Teams are out but Chris who coached only schools team is in? What is the actual criteria for a Laois Manager.
Chris Conway managed a club to a Tipperary SFC title a few years ago. Not to be sneezed at.
But is it quite up there with being an also ran in the ultra competitive Laois senior championship?
Quote from: The PRO on July 06, 2017, 10:34:24 PM
Quote from: BallyroanAbu on July 06, 2017, 10:18:18 PM
No issue with Chris, so Clancy and McNulty who manage Senior Club Teams are out but Chris who coached only schools team is in? What is the actual criteria for a Laois Manager.
Chris Conway managed a club to a Tipperary SFC title a few years ago. Not to be sneezed at.
Managed a 9 team combo of north division hurling teams to win a county title in 2011,the first county title won by a notrh team since 1975.
Impressive management feat pulling that all together,given the laissez faire attitude to football in that division,he should put in for a job with Slieve Margey.
Tony jeez creedon,o flatherta all had experience and lets be honest they are were abs shite,as I stated mcnulty came in very young no intercounty expierience but had a plan,if you look at Malachi he has a plan you look at Ballyroan last two year they clearly had a plan graig to me looked as I said to have a plan, joe hig had a plan ,, the first two dummies waste of time and money,interview all 3 and hear there voice
Quote from: town1980 on July 06, 2017, 11:03:06 PM
Tony jeez creedon,o flatherta all had experience and lets be honest they are were abs shite,as I stated mcnulty came in very young no intercounty expierience but had a plan,if you look at Malachi he has a plan you look at Ballyroan last two year they clearly had a plan graig to me looked as I said to have a plan, joe hig had a plan ,, the first two dummies waste of time and money,interview all 3 and hear there voice
Malachi? We could do with a prophet alright.
Chris would have the more impressive coaching record in comparison to Clancy to be fair.
Could never understand how he wasn't given a crack at the minor job, given he has been coaching minor aged players for years in Knockbeg, and doing fairly well at it. You'd have to imagine in any other county if there was an ex player coaching at colleges 'A' standard for years they would be brought into the minor or underage setup in some form.
I'd be up for some patience with a manager, we're not a premier league club. However, if Creedon is to get the boot, my preference would be Chris Conway. ALWAYS at Laois games, even most away matches. He nearly always brings the little family with him. Knows the club scene inside out. Passionate laois man and gaa man which the Conways in Arles always are. Conway followed by Malachy followed by Clancy. I wouldn't be happy getting anyone else really.
Quote from: steven seagal on July 07, 2017, 09:17:29 AM
Could never understand how he wasn't given a crack at the minor job, given he has been coaching minor aged players for years in Knockbeg, and doing fairly well at it. You'd have to imagine in any other county if there was an ex player coaching at colleges 'A' standard for years they would be brought into the minor or underage setup in some form.
I think he wanted to play as long as he possibly could with the club and wasn't interested in managing teams outside the school.
The North Tipp job was a once off but certainly proof that he has the capability to manage more than schoolkids.
http://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/sport/258608/laois-football-what-can-be-done-to-get-the-county-moving-in-the-right-direction.html (http://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/sport/258608/laois-football-what-can-be-done-to-get-the-county-moving-in-the-right-direction.html)
Anyone read the Leinster Express article. A lot of the stuff in the article has been debated on here before. There needs to be change and it's going to have to come from the CB so a shake up there is needed. Are there any young, ambitious club men willing to get involved at CB level and try and drive things?
You're right about Chris. I don't think he will get involved in any high profile management until he hangs up the Arles boots!
while i cant disagree with anything said about conway i would advocate for all persons,,joe hig ,malachy,chris,clancy to be interviewd see what there plan would be and then let the best man who the officials see fit to take the reins to drive the county forward,chris has always been touted but in laois he just hasnt taken a team yet thats not saying his not right up there,malachy has won finals joe has gotten teams to finals and clancy who i have seen on the line made progress with ballyroan and i seen it up close in a game with graig v plaoise i think all four have good qualities but all four might not want the job 3 of them have small kids and joe has his own buisness going so they might not even want the job,interview them all give the clubs one member in the room to be there in the background listning and let everyone be happy with the appointment then move forward together,we need some one who can generate the money side we need someone marketable we need someone with a plan and someone who commands respect and will gel this proud county together like o dwyer did not much to ask for but thats the criteria in my opinion
Quote from: town1980 on July 07, 2017, 11:21:26 AM
while i cant disagree with anything said about conway i would advocate for all persons,,joe hig ,malachy,chris,clancy to be interviewd see what there plan would be and then let the best man who the officials see fit to take the reins to drive the county forward,chris has always been touted but in laois he just hasnt taken a team yet thats not saying his not right up there,malachy has won finals joe has gotten teams to finals and clancy who i have seen on the line made progress with ballyroan and i seen it up close in a game with graig v plaoise i think all four have good qualities but all four might not want the job 3 of them have small kids and joe has his own buisness going so they might not even want the job,interview them all give the clubs one member in the room to be there in the background listning and let everyone be happy with the appointment then move forward together,we need some one who can generate the money side we need someone marketable we need someone with a plan and someone who commands respect and will gel this proud county together like o dwyer did not much to ask for but thats the criteria in my opinion
Read this:
http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/punctuation/
Quote from: blueandwhite1 on July 07, 2017, 09:51:05 PM
Quote from: town1980 on July 07, 2017, 11:21:26 AM
while i cant disagree with anything said about conway i would advocate for all persons,,joe hig ,malachy,chris,clancy to be interviewd see what there plan would be and then let the best man who the officials see fit to take the reins to drive the county forward,chris has always been touted but in laois he just hasnt taken a team yet thats not saying his not right up there,malachy has won finals joe has gotten teams to finals and clancy who i have seen on the line made progress with ballyroan and i seen it up close in a game with graig v plaoise i think all four have good qualities but all four might not want the job 3 of them have small kids and joe has his own buisness going so they might not even want the job,interview them all give the clubs one member in the room to be there in the background listning and let everyone be happy with the appointment then move forward together,we need some one who can generate the money side we need someone marketable we need someone with a plan and someone who commands respect and will gel this proud county together like o dwyer did not much to ask for but thats the criteria in my opinion
Read this:
http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/punctuation/
You are wasting your time :) :) :)
This is very welcome news, serious amount of experience and knowledge on that committee, hopefully our county board listen to what they have to say. But fair play this is definitely a step in the right direction.
http://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/sport/258785/comment-laois-gaa-take-first-steps-to-recovery-but-a-marathon-journey-awaits.html
I see Pete McGrath is back on the market after his Fermanagh tenure ended . Always had great time for him . Looks like Derry are keen on him .
Quote from: town1980 on July 07, 2017, 11:21:26 AM
while i cant disagree with anything said about conway i would advocate for all persons,,joe hig ,malachy,chris,clancy to be interviewd see what there plan would be and then let the best man who the officials see fit to take the reins to drive the county forward,
Give the job to the whole foookin lot of them because I was listening to the last game on national radio, RTE commentary and it was sickening to hear a commentator say "I wonder do the Laois players know there is at least 35 minutes left in this game because I see some of them are unfit and walking around with their heads down" or words to that affect, along with making a further comment about the difference in fitness between the two teams. Neither the manager responsible for that level of criticism, or the ones who hired him should have any say in the future. Reminds me of the old junior player soloing up along the sideline, toe to hand, hop, toe to hand, hop and one of his own supporters shouts at him, "will you for jaysus sake go on Joe, your not pulling a plough"