All-Ireland Football Qualifiers 2016

[portlaoisekid]

LIllis is not a chancer. Cheap shot . 

Typical laois the way our players are getting away Scot free again when we fail. There is alot more to this year's failure than the manager.

[Tony]

So do you think he's a fantastic manager, Portlaoise Kid? The difference a manager makes is massive and this group of players deserve better. Lillis is a fantastic man, personally, but he's way below par as a manager. We all know that. Lillis is a chancer in the sense that he wanted the Laois job, fair enough, but surely if he gave it any thought he'd know he was not up to it but he took it anyway. Let's not kid ourselves. We had the worst defensive record in the ENTIRE league. You don't get that with a good manager. In came Anthony and saved his blushes somewhat. It might be hard to take as a portlaoise man but he's not up to standard and he took that job likely knowing that. Why else would he have left so quick. I respect mick but he's set us back a year an we need to stop messing about, cop on and get a decent manager. We were onto something with McNulty ; lets hope Sugrue or Cunningham or someone COMPETANT can give this group of players a chance. I don't care what the perception is : they're great lads, they're hungry for success and they know they're under achieving. Give them someone competant like John or Anthony and we will reap the benefits.

[BallyroanAbu]

In fairness Mick Lillis has won more than either Sugrue or McNulty at club level.  It did not work out for him at county standard but I would not say he is a poor manager.

[Don Draper]

In fairness Mick Lillis has won more than either Sugrue or McNulty at club level.

I'm going to say Kerry county title won with an area side trumps most others.

[redsetanta]

In fairness to Lillis he has a very decent record as a club manager in Laois, Carlow and kildare. Is it true that Kavanagh was alongside him for these and why was it that Kavanagh didn't get involved with the Laois gig?

[Don Draper]

Comparing Lillis and Sugrue is pointless, it achieves nothing.

But I know whose cv impresses me the greater.

[ILikeStrawberryJam]

If the players have said to the county board officials we want Sugrue then
its a no brainer to go all out and try and get him. It may or may not work
but the he must have their respect and has a decent CV so he's definitely
worth a shot.

A bad appointment could see several players retire ..

[BallyroanAbu]

I am not against John Sugrue, however this has gone from Cunningham to Sugrue at the flick of a switch.  I think we have to think about what we are looking for, what we can achieve, how long we are prepared to give to achieve goals.  Also have we the money available to provide the backroom staff said managers want.

[Uisce]

It would be nice to get somebody in place so they could see some of the local championship games but I don't think it's the end of the world if they miss the majority. We are a relatively small footballing county, the pool of players will the mostly the same as what was there this year, I don't really think there are any hidden gems out there!

[portlaoisekid]

So do you think he's a fantastic manager, Portlaoise Kid? The difference a manager makes is massive and this group of players deserve better. Lillis is a fantastic man, personally, but he's way below par as a manager. We all know that. Lillis is a chancer in the sense that he wanted the Laois job, fair enough, but surely if he gave it any thought he'd know he was not up to it but he took it anyway. Let's not kid ourselves. We had the worst defensive record in the ENTIRE league. You don't get that with a good manager. In came Anthony and saved his blushes somewhat. It might be hard to take as a portlaoise man but he's not up to standard and he took that job likely knowing that. Why else would he have left so quick. I respect mick but he's set us back a year an we need to stop messing about, cop on and get a decent manager. We were onto something with McNulty ; lets hope Sugrue or Cunningham or someone COMPETANT can give this group of players a chance. I don't care what the perception is : they're great lads, they're hungry for success and they know they're under achieving. Give them someone competant like John or Anthony and we will reap the benefits.

TBH I don't think he is a great manager.I just disagreed with the term chancer, he gave everything to make Laois do well but it wasn't good enough. . He is decent manager no more than that, for example with my own club I thought his reign was very poor.

With regards to the future, what happens if laois can't get Sugrue ..?... I don't see many alternatives and certainly see none within the county so that means we go spending cash on an outsider and finding the right mercenary is tough...

[Tony]

Ah I explained the context of using that term above. So was Tomas "I am extremely surprised I got this job" O' Flaherta. There's no way we should be getting men like that if we've any ambition at senior level.

As Wooly says, this is a great time to get the Laois job. Why? We have a good chance of winning Division 3 if prep is correct AND there's a good chance of us getting to Leinster Final if we avoid Dublin on our side of the draw. A good league and 2nd best team in leinster should be a target for us, and beyond : quarter final of A/I. We still have a good side, provided we don't ruin that by appointing another below average manager. If we get a manager like Pat Roe or someone who is not up to scratch at this level, we seriously might as well just forget about it. And no I really don't mean any offence by that - personally, Pat Roe is a lovely man but the CB have got to get serious about this appointment.

[portlaoisekid]

I agree.. but do you trust our cb to get the right man ? I don't .

[Tony]

I agree.. but do you trust our cb to get the right man ? I don't .

No way do I trust them to get the right man, but I hope they've woken up a bit with 2 very poor appointments in a row. I fear we'll get someone who's just not up to it, and that would be a huge shame for these players.

[Keyser Söze]

Not hugely up to speed on the football side of things. But I find the unfolding process interesting.

From the local scene, the only ones I can think of would be Sugrue, Pat Ryan, Joe Higgins, Tommy Conroy.
People always mention Mick Dempsey- it's not going to happen.

Tommy Conroy seems to be highly rated, but has never seemed to be in a position to dot he job.
Pat Ryan has had a couple of one-off successes in GAA, impressive but more or less in isolation. I doubt he has the time with boxing commitments.
Joe Higgins has done nothing to suggest he is up to the job. Has potential I would imagine.
John Sugrue is an interesting one. He is an intelligent and well rounded guy. Has he the necessary experience? I'd say not. Time wise I would presume if he could commit to South Kerry while living here, he'd manage to make the time for the Laois job.
Mick Lilis arguably has a much better management record than any of the above, and he seemed way out of his depth.
So I don't see how the County Board can risk appointing any of them as the main man.

Outsiders;
I don't think Anthony Cunningham is interested in the job. A Division 3 team that are not even playing his main sport, based in the same province as Dublin. What can he possibly achieve from his perspective? There are a couple of much more attractive hurling jobs available/going to be available within the next 12 months. He doesn't need this one. Also he is a co-director of a sports coaching company with Michael Fennelly- I'd say there is committment (& hassle) free money to be made there for a man of his stature during the summer months. 
I always felt Kevin McStay had great potential but irrespective of the fact that it hasn't really worked out, he is committed elsewhere.
John Evans- seems a bit of a spoofer, but has had success elsewhere and always seems to have teams well tuned in for the league, which I think is vital for where this team is currently at.
Jason Ryan- Whatever about Kildare, he did a fantastic job with Wexford. We are coming off a similar base to where Wexford were.
Luke Dempsey- Just no.
Tommy Carr- Ditto.


I cannot think of too many more outsiders with experience who would come on board.

From the above I would think a combo of Jason Ryan, John Sugrue plus two more from local scene- two of Padraig Clancy, Fergal Byron, Tom Kelly, Joe Higgins, Kevin Fitz would be one of the more attractive propositions. If Pat Ryan had the time, I'd certainly have him on board.
Another attraction of Ryan is that he has experience working under McGeeney and then taking over. If it worked out that Sugrue or one of the others was interested in learning his trade a little for a couple of years and then stepping in.

Winning Division 3, and reaching a Leinster Final/Semi are very reasonable targets. But they are not attractive enough for a big name (ala Cunningham) even if we had the money.

[Joeythelips]

Who was responsible for getting Cunningham in? I suspect the players were not happy with the way things were going and had a word possibly. Calling Lillis a chancer is a bit insulting, he is a proud Laois man with a good record at club level, but inter-county is a different kettle of fish these days, and some of the things he was saying in post match interviews was strange to say the least. He was shown to be out of his depth but in fairness he realised this himself and stood aside. I dont know much about Sugrue, but it sounds like the players respect him so thats a plus. Our players know they are as good as whats out their and given a good structure and backroom team in place they could be a seriously competitive team.