2015 Laois Senior Hurling

[merman]

Good point re Rowland.
There was one ball in the second half that was really 'heart-in-the-mouth' stuff but he nailed a brilliant catch and relieved pressure.
I'd have concerns with the way the goalkeeping situation has been handled; I think we need to stick with either Reilly or Rowland and back him for the rest of the year.

I must also commend Conor Dunne who came in and acquitted himself well yesterday. He's a great example of a squad player who has been marginalised at different times over the last few years but has stuck with it and must feel like he has a legitimate shot at a starting-berth for the round-robin.

Does anyone know if Tom Delaney is injured or has he just fallen out of favour?
I had heard he was starting yesterday and then for Dwayne Palmer, Joe Campion and, somewhat, inexplicably Ben Conroy all coming into defensive-minded roles, it seems he is down the pecking-order. I'd have brought him in at about 50 minutes yesterday as his strength and aggression would have given us a fresh impetus when things were slipping away.

It is promising to see genuine competition for places and hopefully more people will put their hands up over the next 3/4 weeks.
For me, the definite starters are Delaney (J.A), Healy, Fitzpatrick, Walsh, Purcell, Hyland, Cha, Keenan, King and Foyle. Add a keeper and Matthew Whelan/Picky Maher if they regain form/fitness and we have some fierce competition for the remaining places.
I think there are a round of club fixtures down for next weekend; it would be great to see our county players going back and dominating/setting the standards. If we have club players who step up to the mark then maybe Cheddar might look at freshening up the panel with a few new faces.

[Teo Lurley]

We finished well but I'd share the concerns of others. Antrim weren't very good so we should have won with ease. A lot of our touches and passing wont be good enough in the championship. I'd agree with whoever said that we haven't progressed from last year. Hopefully we see improvements in the coming weeks. We're safe in this division for another year though and some players are showing form. It's not all doom and gloom.

[County Man]

Well done Laois for retaining Division 1B status.

The aim now has to be to win the Leinster qualifying group in May and have a good bash at Offaly on June 7th.

We should be flying by then.

[Thewildcat]

Antrim will be very hard beaten before they can think about offaly.

[merman]

Failure to beat Antrim would constitute definite regression for this group of players!

Antrim will improve before the Round Robin because quite honestly, they couldn't be as bad as they looked Saturday. Their come-back in the second-half was completely out own doing and if we can iron out these tendencies to retreat into a defensive shell then we should be well-equipped to top the group.

To be honest, I think we are at the stage in our development where we need to actually go on and top the group and beat Offaly to judge this year a success.

I believe we are eminently capable of doing both...

[redsetanta]

I would agree totally with that Merman.

[Tobias]

Id agree with merman, thats about the size of it.
The few things we need to improve on are 1) cut out the simple mistakes, 2) get tighter in defence, its obvious we are leaking too many goals. In the round robin I think we have to go man for man and try to win our battles...against better opposition we may be better off reverting to a sweeper. 3) Our midfield and half forward line are doing quite well which lays a platform for us but our inside line needs to be more ruthless, the three places are up for grabs and I dont think any of them are nailed on to start. 4)Stop getting lads sent off, once we go to 14 we're in big trouble(waterford game), aggressive in the tackle...yes, but it must be controlled.
Cha has been outstanding so far and if we can get one more forward to really step up in a similar fashion it would really make us a threat. Willie and Zane will do their bit with both potentially game changers or game winners. Id like to see picky getting back to full fitness as he is a guy with real potential, he hasnt really pushed on in the last year or two but he is a young lad that can be a big player for us. PJ Scully is showing well and Roddy King showed the last day he's capable of more, Neil Foyle, Tommy Fitz and Joe Campion are also in the mix. Its great to see that we have such competition for places with plenty of options. John Purcell, Dwane Palmer, Tom Delaney, Patrick Whelan have all came in and done a job for us. A win in Ballycastle would set us up for the year.
#risingtide

[Junior Ex Laoistalk]

Summary of changes to Playing Rules (Congress 2015)   01/04/2015    
http://laoisgaa.ie/news/356483/Summary_of_changes_to_Playing_Rules_Congress_2015

[Junior Ex Laoistalk]

This is some picture........Thank God for faceguards.


Shane O'Donnell beats Kilkenny goalkeeper Eoin Murphy to score the opening goal for Clare while taking the full force of the Kilkenny keepers bás.

[merman]

Cork team and panel named for Monday:

1. Patrick Collins (Ballinhassig)
2. Conor O'Sullivan (Sarsfields)
3. Damien Cahalane (St. Finbarr's)
4. Stephen McDonnell (Glen Rovers)
5. Brian O'Sullivan (Fermoy)
6. Aiden Ryan (Midleton)
7. Killian Burke (Midleton)
8. Brian Lawton (Castlemartyr)
9. Andy Walsh (Killeagh)
10. John Cronin (Lisgoold)
11. Bill Cooper (Youghal)
12. Jamie Coughlan (Newtownshandrum)
13. Darren McCarthy (Ballymartle)
14. Paudie O'Sullivan (Cloyne)
15. Stephen Moylan (Douglas)
Subs:
16. Anthony Nash (Kanturk)
17. William Kearney (Sarsfields)
18. Cormac Murphy (Mallow)
19. Darren Browne (Kanturk)
20. Darren Casey (Charleville)
21. Luke Meade (Newcestown)
22. Dayne Lee (Na Piarsaigh)
23. Rob O'Shea (Carrigaline)
24. Luke O'Farrell (Midleton)

An incredible spread of clubs represented; it shows the challenge a county like ours has to compete at this level.

[TheGreatGame]

Absolutely merman.  The truth is we punch well above our weight in both codes and this is forgotten a lot of the time.  It's far from a full strength Cork side but they will still have 15 good hurlers out so it should be a good work out.

[Buffalobull]

So Kerry will be joining us in 1B next year after their win over Antrim yesterday. What is going on up in Antrim at all?
They're probably due a big performance now and I hope its not against us in the championship!

[redsetanta]

Delighted for the Kerry boys but there seems to be a bit of discontent up in the Glens. Their best player Liam Watson won't play with them. The team did put out a statement supporting their manager. They have serious issues between clubs up there at the moment.

[redsetanta]

Great to see Joe Fitz getting the captaincy this year. A real leader who's been soldiering with Laois for a long time through all the bad years and still stayed at it. Himself, Jimmy Walsh and Tommy Fitz are the 'elder statesmen' so to speak but still very important to Laois hurling.

[Unlaoised]

Many travelling to Ballycastle sunday I think Jack Nolan and someone else are trying to get a bus going!