Menu

Show posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Show posts Menu

Messages - on the hop

#1
Laois / Re: 2024 Allianz Hurling League
February 13, 2024, 05:03:03 PM
Quote from: les Antiques on February 13, 2024, 10:56:38 AM
Quote from: on the hop on February 13, 2024, 08:24:52 AMfirst time to see the hurlers in a while and they made hard work on beating a very limited Kildare team who were down several injured players. Strong wind throughout the game was with Kildare in the first half and they started very strong before Laois got their bearings. Both teams deployed a sweeper at times which benefitted Kildare more as they got off a lot of shots, had they been more accurate they could have been further ahead. Laois seemed to have issues tracking players in the middle third. Despite the wind being very strong Laois seemed to persist in hitting high balls into the corners which didn't suit the inside line.

Scoring rate for both teams decreased in the second half as both seem to be very laboured at times, possibly doing heavy training. Laois exploited a few mistakes in the second half and finished with three good goals. Kildare fell away for 20 minutes where Laois scored well to open a gap. near the end they became a bit ill disciplined and let Kildare get a few scores. Wasn't the best performance but got over the line.


What are the facilities like at Hawkfields OTH ? Never been out there .

it always has the feel of a training / centre of excellence but the fact that newbridge is closed there isn't really much more of an option for the hurlers, Clane have a stand where a few club games are played in the hurling area of the county. There is a lot of games played there during the year with the lights and the majority of the county teams use it to train. i know that the camoige play a bit more in Kilcock recently , Rathcoffey and the Leixlip 4G astro pitch, the facilities have improved in a lot of clubs. its a narrow site, just over the length of a pitch and each pitch is in a row after that the further you go in. There are four pitches and a training area / wall ball.  pitch one with the small stand is the main pitch. it feels a bit short for hurling. Pitch two is often used for juvenile / LGFA matches and then there are two more training pitches. The dressing rooms are in the main building and are basic enough. They have built a fairly big gym there recently. Parking can be a disaster if there is a decent crowd there.
#2
Laois / Re: 2024 Allianz Hurling League
February 13, 2024, 08:24:52 AM
first time to see the hurlers in a while and they made hard work on beating a very limited Kildare team who were down several injured players. Strong wind throughout the game was with Kildare in the first half and they started very strong before Laois got their bearings. Both teams deployed a sweeper at times which benefitted Kildare more as they got off a lot of shots, had they been more accurate they could have been further ahead. Laois seemed to have issues tracking players in the middle third. Despite the wind being very strong Laois seemed to persist in hitting high balls into the corners which didn't suit the inside line.

Scoring rate for both teams decreased in the second half as both seem to be very laboured at times, possibly doing heavy training. Laois exploited a few mistakes in the second half and finished with three good goals. Kildare fell away for 20 minutes where Laois scored well to open a gap. near the end they became a bit ill disciplined and let Kildare get a few scores. Wasn't the best performance but got over the line.
#3
Laois / Re: Laois Senior Footballers 2024
February 05, 2024, 04:13:28 PM
It was a very open game in Wexford, the conditions and the pitch were good and that dreaded wind that often ruins games down there wasn't present. Both teams didn't really employ any heavy defensive tactics so their were plenty of shooting chances on both sides, Laois were fair more economical. Really strong performance in the first half, team played a very high pace game, snappy passing and avoiding going into contact at all times. A few noticeable things was that team attacked mostly down the stand side where Brian Byrne and Kevin Swayne operated, Shaun Fitz had a roving role which suited him and Niall Dunne did a lot of running to show for ball, much of it appeared to be a game plan to make space.

The second half was much more even, the little spurt of scores at the end tipped the second scoring in our favour. We did go flat for a period and a few of the players took some very sloppy options especially with poor shooting. I thought we got slightly leggy and should have made a few changes to freshen things up. There are a few issues to sort out which never is a bad thing, we still have issues with teams running at us through the centre, glen malone the wexford wing back clipped over three points nearly unopposed and Evan of all people ended up stopping a goal. There is a small lingering doubt that we might be vulnerable to pace up the centre. Roche got off some good short and medium kickouts but we were well beaten in terms of fielding high ball on both their and our own kickouts once we were high pressed, probably short a fielding centre fielder. The carlow game will be a different proposition and probably will be a tougher test.
#4
Laois / Re: Laois Senior Footballers 2024
January 28, 2024, 12:39:32 PM
good to get the win, first of the tougher games in the division to be out of the way. It looks like its going to be a very even division in terms of quality with everybody bar Waterford feeling they have a chance. Certainly the type of football played was alien to the Dublin / Monaghan game on tele later but we are where we are. we were far better than Longford who I was surprised were a bit flat but we gave them a small bit of hope with concession of two soft goals. There is an obvious change in style with less emphasis on direct goal to the full forward line and more through the hands which suits a few of our newer players. At times it was hard to figure out the shape of the team and players were constantly finding themselves in strange positions. Going forward we will probably have to modify things a bit, I can't see Roche been given such leeway again by other teams and we will need a better scoring return from the inside forwards. In fairness, we didn't really have an inside line for a lot of the times so an out ball wasn't really an option. interesting to see where Wexford are at today with their game in London before we travel their next week.
#5
Laois / Re: Laois Senior Football Championship 2023
August 15, 2023, 12:33:40 AM
First time to see any matches this year, I thought portlaoise have gone right back into the pack. Still playing a defensive system which will make it very hard for them to be beaten but likewise very hard for them to post a big score, the named forwards only scored 1-3 from play. Rosenalis were limited enough but still managed 0-5 from play by their forwards. David Dooley very tidy centre back for them.

Second game much better. Port still have what most other clubs don't have in a number of different scoring forwards. They did struggle on kickouts and the keeper and the full back line had their hairy moments. Stradbally had a  strong second half for a good period and though light in size in the forwards they had pace and lots of movement. Keeping forwards up at all times gave them an outlet. Deegan that came on in the second half probably should have been on earlier .

Not a whole lot in terms of new players that were involved already or previously asked.
#6
Laois / Re: Tailteann Cup 2023
June 27, 2023, 12:43:50 PM
Quote from: on the hop on June 27, 2023, 12:42:15 PM
https://twitter.com/noplanbgaa/status/1673324583292731393?s=48&t=eo8IWOjUnivmojLMPVblVw

Some of the defending was extremely poor even allowing for the defensive set up. The goal from the kickout was dreadful
#7
Laois / Re: Tailteann Cup 2023
June 26, 2023, 12:34:20 AM
On the game itself , it was a hard watch in there today.  There have been issues all year and even further back in relation to mobility and pace in the team, the defensive middle in particular. At times we seemed to go heavily defensive this year , even deploying Timmons as a sweeper. This had varying degrees of success , one in particular was the win in Sligo on a very heavy pitch. In hindsight the slower pace probably suited us at the time. For a variety of reasons we moved from rather than adapted this strategy possibly to add a bit more to the attack which struggled when isolated. There were worries going into today, a pacey looking down team were going to cause us problems, the lack of pace in some of the forward positions especially against attacking defenders, the concession of multiple chances per game and whether the consecutive games had taken its toll. Hopefully we weren't going to risk too many players that weren't fully fit, Croke park is not the place to take that chance. Even with this in mind , having conceded a record score against Dublin at home you would have hoped we had learned enough not to allow ourselves to be over ran by a down team that play a similar type of game. Keep it tight and competitive and see where it goes.

Well that illusion was shattered very quickly , from a lineball in the first minutes in the furthest corner of the pitch from our goal where we could have pinned them in , we conceded ground and let them unopposed go straight up the pitch into our middle and straight through on goals. No hits , no tackles , no blocks ,just a simple pace move. After that it was rinse and repeat , pop ball into space and multiple runners ahead of our players coming at angles. Nothing outrageous, just well executed give and go, pass and move. In fairness down had a bit of luck and displayed a high level of perfection with their passing and shooting but it was woeful on our part. Players running with their backs to the play , getting dragged out of the area in front of the goals to allow their runners to move into. Down must have been wondering are Laois that naive ? Are they really gone man to man ? The fact that they carved us open with our whole team at times inside the forty without any engagement in terms of a tackle was galling. I felt so sorry for the players at times especially in defense where there was no cover, imagine been one on one with a forward with half the pitch to cover. In the end a little spurt took the trauma off the score line. For the second time this year we conceded 40 points in a game and in both games it could easily have been more. Every weakness once again has been ruthlessly exposed, and this time its in a secondary competition against a team in a division above us. Maybe this down team will go and win the competition and establish itself as a great team but we conceded 8 goals in Croke park, it feels as bleak as that. I am sure lots will play out this week but I can't see how Sheehan can survive this.

The senior team is the flag ship team in the county , which attracts sponsorship, ambition and if going well interest. What's happening at the moment can't continue to become the norm. It will reach a point where it can't be retrieved.
#8
Laois / Re: Tailteann Cup 2023
June 17, 2023, 11:12:47 PM
It's Sunday the 25th on the fixtures
#9
Laois / Re: Tailteann Cup 2023
June 17, 2023, 07:37:46 PM
So it's down or Meath in the next round
#10
Laois / Re: Tailteann Cup 2023
June 12, 2023, 08:47:28 AM
So Limerick it is , probably the best of the draws. They have won two of their three games so much the same level.
#11
Laois / Re: Tailteann Cup 2023
June 11, 2023, 04:50:26 PM
Quote from: Butch Cassidy on June 11, 2023, 11:46:30 AM
He's trying to create a siege mentality for the players. Hopefully they get a nice draw and build on the win yesterday.

i think Limerick possibly would be the best draw, Antrim and Meath would be slightly tougher away from home. Timmons would be a big loss as he is nearly our top scorer at the moment !!!!.
#12
Laois / Re: Tailteann Cup 2023
June 04, 2023, 11:44:23 AM
Quote from: High Fielder on June 04, 2023, 10:43:21 AM
I'm surprised by your post OTH. 2 things. Did you not see this coming? And, with all due respect to any player, I don't think it matters who isn't there next year. What we need to fix won't be done so this year or next. In fact based on our current standing it's meaningless. We don't have the players (now) to fix this. Hopefully we will in the future, but things need to change
i was trying to be positive after a few of the comments here after the offaly match !!!!! in fairness we were playing a team that had finished bottom of division four having conceded 117 points against scoring 82 points and i see on Laois Today they had lost 14 out of their last 15 games. so i wasn't expecting them especially as they play a heavily defensive game to notch up 2-14. i listened to the podcast on Laois Today and in fairness it was commented that this could be a banana skin, so maybe i was naïve in thinking with four of the better scoring forwards in the county playing that we could knock up a reasonable score. we had a goal to play for and a target which again i hoped would be the more than a motivation to see things through.

As for the other point, i am worried about next year and going forward into the future because its not just the football but it seems there are issues in a number of codes. Your senior adult teams are your flag ship teams that usually when going well generate interest, investment and opportunism in a county. when its over i hope there is a proper debate on whats happened.
#13
Laois / Re: Tailteann Cup 2023
June 04, 2023, 10:29:54 AM
Heading into injury time yesterday two points down the thought crossed my mind that it would be better if this ended today. a treasonous thought in a way but they dug out a draw which keeps things alive for another week, the draw for the next round will decide a lot and the attitude of the squad going forward, you have to fear any draw up north, that game in 2009 in Newry and the horrible vibe afterwards is still a memory. its hard to believe that from the start of the year where we were expecting promotion and a good run in this competition to now where we were suffering an eight point turn around and fighting for our lives against one of the poorest teams in the county. Maybe we got ahead of ourselves or over estimated how good the team was but that delusion should be gone now as we are clearly in the bottom three/ four counties in the country.

The big fear now is a bad defeat to end the year, which leads to a number of the older players retiring and a weak enough squad getting further hollowed out. As has happened in other counties and even at club level if your main adult team does not become an attractive proposition for younger players then they won't commit and you eventually stagnant at a level.
#14
Laois / Re: Tailteann Cup 2023
May 21, 2023, 09:46:49 AM
That felt like a defeat, you would be fooling yourself if you thought any other way. The players walked off very dissappointed and even Sheehan said "we are on the floor" afterwards in his interview. Offaly stood on the pitch surrounded by their supporters celebrating a victory of sorts. It was an awful game at times, real poor quality stuff where neither side seemed to know what they were at and only got entertaining near the end both on the field and the terrace where a few hold me back merchants half squared up to each other. 6 points up with 2 minutes on the clock but once the 5 minutes extra was signalled we seemed to take the few steps back defensively and retreated from the 40 back towards the 30 and at times even closer. It made it much easier for them to shoot from there. The shape went out the window and we were praying for a draw. We committed so many self inflicted wounds, the wild shooting in the first half and at the end from players who should no better, the two turnovers in injury time and the 1-1 we conceded from nothing balls into the square where we outnumbered them and still managed to mess it up. Two weeks to London and it's hard to know where it goes after that.
#15
Laois / Re: Tailteann Cup 2023
May 15, 2023, 12:34:45 PM
In many ways it turned out as expected, well beaten by a better team but none of the trauma of the Dublin game. With our heavily defensive approach we weren't going to give up as many goal chances as the last day, we did give three with one converted (recurring theme all year) , the penalty was the refs gift to them. The rumoured changes came to pass and the keeper did ok and joins the  ever increasing keepers to have played in the last few years. Lacey unfortunately was hooked early but is he really a corner back?, paddy o Sullivan was back in his normal position but doesn't seem to be going well at the moment. Finn in allowed Larkin to wing forward where he worked hard. The Doyle situation is hard to figure out , was he full forward? , was he a distraction tactic on kickouts ? Was he there to contest long ball ? It's hard to know because bar one cross ball nothing went near him and at the end we were ballooning balls in that might have actually suited him if he had come on than started. Once I saw him running back into the defensive screen there was no reason to believe that he had the mobility to get back to full forward for any ball in to help Evan , go what was his selection for then ?

With such a defensive screen we unfortunately ran into a Cavan team that could kick points outside the zone. 20/26 is good shooting but at times there was no pressure. The gift of the penalty and not using the wind enough in the first half was going to make the second half a slog. The period from the 3rd minute of injury time when Evan scored to the 58th minute when Lillis popped a point we were hammered. The legs seemed gone and a very heavy defeat looked on the cards but in fairness they battled back and got it into single digits. The concession rate is still a huge issue, even taking out the Dublin record score , we still have conceded 4-33 in the Wexford/Cavan games.  Lose to Offaly at home then we don't really deserve to go any further.