Leinster Senior Football Championship 2020

[The PRO]

Dublin will play a good few fringe players this weekend they will be keeping their bit hitters till  Meath Donegal Mayo games i think we might keep it tighter than people think .
I'm going for a respectable 9 points defeat .

In a way, fringe players looking to impress could mean more punishment for us than a full strength Dubs team. Lads looking to bury a goal or 2 to catch Dessie's eye!
Anyway, hope we give it a good lash.

[Heshs Umpire]

Best of luck to the lads tomorrow. I'm sure they have their own targets to hit and I hope they do that. A win just isn't realistic but it'd be great to see a performance with plenty of character.

[Junior Ex Laoistalk]

Laois team to play Dublin tomorrow.



                                                   Niall Corbet (Clonaslee)

Trevor Collins (Graiguecullen), Mark Timmons (Graiguecullen), Robbie Pigott (Portarlington)
    Sean O'Flynn (Courtwood), Paddy O'Sullivan (Portarlington), Eoin Buggie (Stradbally)

                      Danny O'Reilly (Graiguecullen), John O'Loughlin (Rosenallis)

    Gareth Dillon (Portlaoise), Paul Kingston (Arles-Killeen), Brian Byrne (Graiguecullen)
         Evan O'Carroll (Crettyard), Kieran Lillis (Portlaoise), Gary Walsh (Ballylinan)

Subs: Matthew Byron (Courtwood), Mark Barry (O'Dempsey's), Ross Munnelly (Arles-Kilcruise), Michael Keogh (St Joseph's), Diarmuid Whelan (Ballyroan-Abbey), Alan Farrell (Ballylinan), Shane Bolger (Killeshin), Brian Daly (St Joseph's), David Seale (Portlaoise), Denis Booth (The Heath), James Kelly (St Joseph's)


https://www.laoistoday.ie/2020/11/14/laois-senior-football-team-and-panel-named-for-leinster-semi-final-with-dublin/

[Chrimtain]

The very best of luck to Laois today. Come off that field with your heads held high.

[Silkyskillssunshinee]

Good effort in that first half. If O'Carroll had got that goal in the first minute it would have been a real boost.

I expect the floodgates to open in this second-half with Dublin bringing on their strong bench. Plenty of encouragement to build on in Division 2 for next year though.

[Chrimtain]

Doing some foolish things like losing a free out through stupidity.

[BallyroanAbu]

What did JOL get yellow for ?

[mountrath1]

22pts..A dual county?? County board need to look closely with respect to how the county moves forward from a developmental perspective to be a dual one..

[High Fielder]

To be fair Mountrath, that's just the size of the gap between us and Dublin. I think this one is more a GAA wide problem. It's quite possible that the All Ireland Championship is no more than a glorified FA Cup. I certainly cannot justify sending a team out to get that sort of mauling. It's not even sport in my opinion, and no fault of Dublin's either. They're in the business of winning football matches.

[Butch Cassidy]

I agree High Fielder. Unfortunately it's just the gap between Dublin and Leinster and if anything its widening. Laois spent 800k preparing country teams last year yet they are miles ahead from the top table in both codes. You wonder is it sustainable.

On the game itself I thought Timmons was very good. When he goes he'll leave a big gap at #3. We kept running into blind alleys that lead to turnovers, very frustrating. Laois could really do with a full time S&C coach that works with all teams from u14 up. The difference in pace and power is crazy especially with the younger members of the panel.

[town1980]

Butch we were beaten by 22 points and you think Timmons was good,, he is 34  h has been brilliant but time is up bringing on Ross the same it's time to pass the baton on,, we are light years away everyone take there heads outa the sands paying both managers the money there on for absolutely nothing is ludicrous I think when there is Laois people that will do the same ie get beat by 21 points in  football and yee can shite on all yee like it's not gonna change who we have ,, we don't av the pick players simple as ,2 portlaoise men after 13 in a row playing ffs it all makes sense

[on the hop]

The facts make awful reading, 3-2 before the water break and 2-20 to 0-5 for the rest of the game. 1-16 alone in the second half and Dublin not even at full steam.  An absolute tanking. Would have thought we might some sort of plan or maybe we did.

[High Fielder]

Dublin don't mess about. This is a proper indication of the gap that exists between the likes of us and them. League matches and to a large extent, games against other teams, do not give us a proper idea of the chasm. Nobody is at fault here. Our players can only be as good as they are able to be. I've been saying this for a long time. The GAA has a problem. This isn't sport.

[Laois Rising]

Tell me what other Portlaoise players should be starting for Laois Town1980? Ridiculous statement. For years I have been sick of watching Portlaoise players half commiting to playing for Laois or if they don't make starting fifteen get a hump and drop themselves off the panel. Portlaoise representation is an indictment of your current standing in Laois GAA in 2020 and looking at what is coming through in your club it will be a long time before a Laois senior team is backboned by Portlaoise players.

I know Laois got a tanking yesterday but that is the nature of a team like Dublin being so professional in set up in this modern era. Every individual on their team is that bit better than on Laois team. No shame in that. Over the course of 70 minutes it is inevitable that they will keep a scoreline ticking over and ultimately stretch out of sight. Lets be honest, even our golden generation team of 2003-2006 would probably struggle to get within 10 points of that current Dublin team.   

High Fielder is right the GAA has a problem. The sooner the league is switched to the summer and becomes the priority competition for the 20-25 or so counties that will never get in an asses roar of winning an Ireland the better.  Play the league and championship in tandem but at least have a serious competition for counties to compete in come end of the inter-county season. It's farcial to have teams training for and spending a  fortune on a competition that they are canon folder and simply making up the numbers.

[blueandwhite1]

Laois have been somewhere between the 20th and 16th best football team in Ireland for a number of years now. We rarely beat anyone in the top 10 these days and usually beat teams in the bottom 10. The gap between us and Dublin is not just a Laois problem. Most counties are miles behind. Dublin changed the game in the last 10 years and have become a professional outfit in terms of their fitness, athleticism, playing structure and skills. This is driven by many things - population, organization, leadership and importantly - money. Money buys you coaches in schools, marketing teams, fitness centres, a pile of physios, etc. etc. The GAA pumped money into Dublin in the late 90s and 2000s as it was on the decline. However, Dublin is now self financing at levels that the GAA could never afford.

Sad to say but we can only realistically expect to be as good as maybe Monaghan or Armagh. Even with a rare group of talented footballers like we had with the minors you can only go so far. Kildare are proof of that and they have alot more resources than us. Football has changed utterly and can't see it ever going backwards. Mayo, Donegal, Kerry, Tyrone, Cork, Galway and Dublin have disproportionate resources in terms of finance and playing populations. Other counties are likely to pass us out too unless we have a big benefactor or the GAA start spending on weaker counties to a much greater extent. They will only do this when it is too little too late as they really don't give a damn about small counties. We don't generate revenue or headlines.