Leinster Minor Football Championship

[Laoiseabu]

Where's the future? It's all a solid mess

I follow all the games very closely in Laois football whether it be club or county and I hate to say it but we STILL haven't hit rock bottom yet despite us being in division 4.  I can visibly see our underage teams particularly our minor teams becoming increasingly further off the mark every year . It was like men vs boys down in Wexford park tonight . Wexford were physically a much more superior team to Laois and we had no answer to their power and pace . Laois are not lacking ability or anything but the department where we are CONSTANTLY getting shown up in at all levels is our size , power , pace and mobility compared to other sides . Interestingly enough that Wexford team lost to Wicklow by 3 points and Wexford only bet Carlow by 3 points which suggests that Wexford are nothing special themselves
I think in 3-5 years from now that our senior team will be worse than it currently is now to be honest. I mean for a start the likes of Timmons , Lillis and J Finn who have been great servants will probably pack it in in the next year or two . More worryingly when P Kingston (30 next year ) and particularly OCarroll ( 29 next year ) move on there will be a gaping hole up front . None of the forwards I've seen at minor or u20 for us the past few years look like they will be anywhere near the level of Paul or Evan . I haven't seen anyone as of yet who is capable of replacing OCarrolls  size , ball winning ability , ability to get fouled and draw frees and ability to break the tackle and bully full backs with his sheer size . He brings others into play too by plucking dirty ball and throwing it around to others . He's also comfortable shooting off both feet and taking frees with both feet too. Them attributes are not easily replaced especially in a county like Laois where we struggle to do even the basics right . Once he's gone thats our main focal point and scoring threat gone . Everything comes through him . In my eyes he was our closest thing to Donie Kingston in a way .
Basically I feel that it will probably get worse again before it gets better as I think that what's coming through is actually worse again than what's currently on our senior team . Our recent minor teams in the past few years have been a lot worse than the minor teams that most of our current senior players were on . The longer this rut continues the harder it will probably be to convince lads to commit to playing Senior with Laois too . There was as many as 7/8 lads from my club asked to play senior with Laois this year and only 1 lad committed for example. I try to see light at the end of the tunnel for us but it just feels that the walls are still closing in on us with no end in sight for foreseeable future

[redsetanta]

Amidst all the doom and gloom lets not forget that the mighty Kilkenny almost beat our AI winning minor team back in the day.

[Spiritof86]

Amidst all the doom and gloom lets not forget that the mighty Kilkenny almost beat our AI winning minor team back in the day.

"If my Aunt had balls she'd be my Uncle, but she doesn't, so she's not"

[Andy06]

Genuine question, is there anyone employed by the county board with respect to strength and conditioning at underage teams? Or is it at the whim of whatever manager we bring in each year?
There should be something put in place from a very early stage, perhaps 14/15 years to get these lads started on the required level because at the moment we seem to be miles behind most teams in this area.
Managers and their coaches (and any related fitness coaches) come and go on a bi-yearly basis to be replaced it seems by yet another journeyman and his backroom staff. Something like fitness, strength and conditioning shouldn't change with a manager and is something that should be handled by the county board.

[Joeythelips]

Amidst all the doom and gloom lets not forget that the mighty Kilkenny almost beat our AI winning minor team back in the day.

Something almost happened 26 years ago so cheer up lads.

[Jd]

Genuine question, is there anyone employed by the county board with respect to strength and conditioning at underage teams? Or is it at the whim of whatever manager we bring in each year?
There should be something put in place from a very early stage, perhaps 14/15 years to get these lads started on the required level because at the moment we seem to be miles behind most teams in this area.
Managers and their coaches (and any related fitness coaches) come and go on a bi-yearly basis to be replaced it seems by yet another journeyman and his backroom staff. Something like fitness, strength and conditioning shouldn't change with a manager and is something that should be handled by the county board.

The development panels are out on an s+C course whwn they go in at 13 years of age. I think it wasJasonCoffey who ran it across the panels or if he wasn't over a team then he supervised it. He was headhunted by UL as head of their setup. I don't know who's taking over from him now

[Butch Cassidy]

Didn't Laois appoint a person full time to oversee S&C?

Do all clubs have gyms now? What's the uptake on it from u16s up?

[Jd]

Didn't Laois appoint a person full time to oversee S&C?

Do all clubs have gyms now? What's the uptake on it from u16s up?

I think there's a fella appointed to oversee all the Co S+C but I cannot think of his name. I'd imagine that most clubs have a gym now but I suppose they cannot let u18s in unattended due to child safety/insurance concerns this means a group session and clubs might not have the personnel or equipment to have 22 or more lads at it together

[Blow-in]

There was a fella appointed alright but I wouldn't think much of him. The sooner he and our football GDA are got rid of the better.
Our S&C coach called in the Hurling squads mentors and told them they must cut their panels to 30 even though they have two teams entered into every blitz. Jason Coffey was doing an excellent job and was removed from the squads by the new appointment but has done very little with the squads. The guy we appointed was ran and laughed out of Tipperary GAA only last year but yet we appointed him. It's laughable the way out County Board works. I'm completely fed up of Laois GAA at the minute.

[Johnod1]

Minor manager and backroom team should be put in at under 16 level and work with the team for the two years. This does not happen. IMO the manager and back room team were too inexperienced and this should have been picked up last year but it wasn't. The question needs to be asked why ? As one man said to me those minor footballers started the year full of confidence but by year end they are all shook with a very low confidence level in the team. Minor, under 20s, Senior are all the same and urgent change is needed at the top

[Sir Alex7]

To be fair to de management would de likes of dineen, Emerson, daragh farrell be huge losses? R there others tat weren't available 2?

[Jd]

To be fair to de management would de likes of dineen, Emerson, daragh farrell be huge losses? R there others tat weren't available 2?
Dineen was in but injured all year one of the others was in but was let go for whatever  reason. The other lad was strongly approached I heard but was involved in rugby in a big way. Three big players I reckon but would they have made that much difference  I don't know. There was a big trials process at the start of the year  but maybe you and I would see something in a fella that the management missed so there's always a few possibles not on a panel I suppose