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Plenty of time to regroup and focus on the Tailteann Cup. Priority for the year was league promotion and progressing and challenging in the latter stages of the Tailteann Cup. Saturday was poor but ultimately the Leinster championship was not a priority this year. Losing to Offaly doesn't hurt as bad as it would have 20 years ago knowing that they will probably suffer a right hiding against Dublin next day out. In fact, we probably did ourselves a favour losing on Saturday. 

While Dublin are on a 13 in a row streak and it will probably continue for another couple of years surely the work that Kildare and Meath have done at underage football will ultimately bare fruit.

Kildare have three u20/21 Leinster winning sides (2018, 2022, 2023) while Meath have three Leinster minor winning sides (2018, 2020, 2021) in the last 6 years. With some of the talent already in these counties and with younger players with a taste for success filtering through you would be optimistic that the landscape in Leinster GAA football can change in the not too distant future.

In Kildare's case it might need a new management team and hitting the reset button in 2025 after seeing them in the league this year. O'Rourke deserves time-they easily maintained division 2 status and are coming off the back of winning the Tailteann Cup last year. 3-19 in windy conditions is serious shooting the last day against Longford. You would expect them to up their intensity considerable the next day against Dublin and for the defence to tighten up and be more tigerish in the tackle.   

Any potentially good senior players in the making from either u-20s or minor panels?

From looking at the u20s

John Brennan looks like a senior prospect. I thought Darragh Slevin was decent against Carlow and has a bit of pace. Jake Darcy also decent.  Cathal Lee from clonaslee is another one worth looking at in the next few years at senior. I like the two midfielders , they are raw but have great potential.  Its hard to judge the forwards over the past two games due to weather conditions. To be honest none of them really showed that they are of senior inter county standard but maybe on a dry day we might see one or two of them emerge.

I think that is a very good summary of what is there. There is no one or two players that are really standing out head and shoulders over everyone else that you would describe as a nailed on intercounty senior player. It has been a long time since we produced players with the x-factor. If Laois are to return to being a top 12 side in Ireland in the next 5-10 years then these are the players we will need to start producing again. Otherwise, even with the best manager, organisation and commitment there is a ceiling on what can be realistically achieved.

Last year the team had a number of injuries or players just coming back from injury when we played Offaly in the opening round of the Joe McDonagh. We were also coming off the back of a poor league campaign. This year the team look to be in a far healthier place for the start of this year's championship and I really hope they will be carrying a feel good factor into the game with a victory over Carlow. It really looks like a three horse race between ourselves, Westmeath and Offaly for the Joe McDonagh. The last two performances in the league have been very encouraging- this Laois team might be peaking at the right time this year. Offaly have stepped up from last year as well. Should be a right competitive encounter when the two sides meet.   

Bar the Leitrim game it has been a solid league campaign. With promotion pretty much in the bag I wonder were the squad put through a hard training week prior the Leitrim game. It might explain the performance, especially the last 15-20minutes where Leitrim were the far more energetic and lively team by the end. The test of this team will be the Offaly game and ensuring that they reach the latter stages of the Tailteann Cup where we show competitiveness against whoever we may face. 

I think the league is worth protecting and winning a national competition in Croke Park on a finals day is something worth striving for by any team. We should be building up the significance of and celebrating the achievements of counties winning a national league title.

What Derry has achieved so far this year is hugely impressive and watching them in a league final v Dublin in Croker in front of 40,000 plus would interest me far more greatly than having to watch the 24 championship group games dragged out over 4 weeks that are played to lose only four counties from the All-Ireland race by the end of it. We should be protecting the big footballing days on our calendar, not trying to get rid of them.     

With the way the remaining fixtures play out, Tipperary are still not out of the running for promotion as they have Wexford and Leitrim in their final two games. Win both of those and then it comes down to Longford beating Carlow and home and then Wexford beating Longford at home in the final round of games and they will finish level on points with a number of other teams in second. Score difference will become the deciding factor then. By conceding home advantage it appears that they are waving the white flag to trying to gain promotion from the league this year.

 

I would imagine the final will be in a neutral venue unless the two sides agree to a coin toss to decide who gets home advantage. Last year, Offaly and Kildare's final was played in Portlaoise. Would Nolan Park be the most realistic neutral venue for a final? I wouldn't mind if final was in Dr. Cullen. A final deserves to be played in front of a decent crowd-adds to the spectacle and occasion. If final was in Nowlan Park would do well to get 1500 at the game.   

Looking back now, that Tipperary minor winning team deserves even more credit that they possibly get. The Dublin team that they defeated that day was considered one of Dublin's finest ever minor teams and many of them went on to backbone the all conquering 6 in a row All-Ireland side. Kilkenny, Mannion, McCaffrey, McDaid, Costello, Lowndes and Small were all starters on the team and Niall Scully was only a sub. It was an incredible feat looking back now. Thanks to Covid lockdowns they were able to get some of the stars of that team back for the year they won Munster. A nice reward for those mentors and coaches who invested so much time, energy and commitment into underage football in Tipperary during the mid to late 00s and early 2010s.

       

Looks like some talent coming through the schools system which is nice to See, Knockbeg, Portlaoise CBS and Mountmellick did well this year.

I would say its a positive improvement but the reality is that Portlaoise CBS with the attachment area and numbers available to them should be able to do what Naas are now achieving. Obviously it would take a lot of time, dedication and effort and plenty of support from Laois GAA to get Portlaoise CBS to that standard as they have fallen back massively in the last decade. . 

Knockbeg are a strong Leinster A standard side without ever getting making a final. They are always just that rung below the team that eventually wins it (Naas CBS for the last 5-6 years). I think it was 2007 and the team of Donie Kingston that they last appeared in a final.

In the last ten years, three different Westmeath schools, two Offaly schools and two Wexford schools have all managed to make finals. Laois GAA should really start putting more work into supporting our GAA schools-it is having a very positive impact in both Westmeath and Offaly at underage level and now at senior level as well (U20 All-Ireland success for Offaly and a very good Leinster championship run in 2023 and Westmeath making very good progress over the last couple of years with Tailteann Cup success, excellent league campaigns and were hugely competitive in last year's All-Ireland series). Players are filtering through the system with a confidence and a winning mentality and doing well at schools level all plays an important part in this. 

Wexford is a different case in that many of those players who lead the schools team are hurling first and football second players. However, there is talent in Wexford if they can get the buy in. With a little more luck (Leitrim game) they would be well in the running to join Laois in promotion from division 4 this year.
 

This management team are going to live or die by the sword based on the team's Joe McDonagh performances. Both Offaly and Westmeath are really giving the Division 1 league a right craic at the moment. Very opposing approaches being taken by Laois to their main challengers for the Joe McDonagh. Hopefully the management's approach pays dividends for Laois and we see a fit, fresh Laois team peaking at the right time for the game with Offaly.

What we don't want is Laois needing 20/30 minutes of the opening game struggling to get the the pitch of the game against a sharper Offaly team flying out of the blocks. I see the likes of Ravenhill, Screeney etc. have been fast tracked into the starting team and getting plenty of Division 1 hurling experience. This Offaly team will come into the start of the Joe McDonagh with plenty of confidence if they continue to perform as they have in the previous two games. If Laois continue to performance as they have in the opening three rounds, very hard to build momentum, confidence and a positive squad of players. I hope the rumours of disgruntlement are short lived and the squad that is there pull in the right direction for the rest of the year. 

Tipperary got back on track with a good win in Longford - Semple Stadium has not been a happy hunting ground for Laois in recent years. Leitrim tripped up Laois last year and will be hopeful of a repeat. Laois V Carlow is a local derby where form goes out the window. Wexford are still capable of claiming one the the top spots. I would not rule out any of those 5 teams at this stage and indeed Longford could still be in the running if they win all their remaining games.

Could you sit anymore on the fence with your predictions Boy Wonder. Hardly looking for a job as an analyst on GAA with RTE?

Seriously though, it was great to see the passion in Doctor Cullen Park with the last minute goal to seal victory over Leitrim. It is a real pity these games are not giving more time/consideration in the Sunday night show. Considering that the games that do get most air-time were already shown on RTE or TG4 live already it would be nice to see more focus to the stand out game in the lower divisions.
 

It was one of the most dubious penalty decisions you will ever likely see that cost Wexford in the end. I'm not sure what the referee thought he saw. With the head to head rule it pretty much now ends Wexford's promotion push for this year which is unfortunate for them.

At the end of last season, it looked like the wheels were starting to come off for Leitrim and with a few of their better players not available this season I thought they would struggle to be in the shape up for promotion. Glad to see I was wrong with three wins from three to start the league.

Laois only had five starters to team that lost to Down in Tailteann Cup. Chalk and cheese to compare this year's side to last year in terms of structure, game play and buy in from players to what McNulty is trying to achieve. 

The fact you are ranking the referee's meaning and inferring that you see those lower down on your list as inferior in standard to others is casting them in a negative light. The pool of referees is small in the county and anyone who does takes on this largely thankless role has my upmost respect.

This thread is dangerous if one or more posters decides to air their grievances with a referee's performance after a club championship game. 

Two big wins for Laois at the beginning of the league. Should have too much for Carlow, Waterford, Leitrim and London and with Tipperary in re-build mode I'd expect them to finish the campaign with seven wins and 14 points. The real test of this Laois side to see what kind of improvements have they made will be in the Tailteann Cup when they face some of the higher ranked sides.