Allianz Football League 2017 - Division 3

[Junior Ex Laoistalk]

Don't forget a McNameeless Offaly just gave Sligo a good beating, something we couldn't do...

[Don Draper]

Don't forget a McNameeless Offaly just gave Sligo a good beating, something we couldn't do...

And we've only ourselves to blame for that. Lose to Offaly and be relegated to Division 4. That's the reality.

I wouldn't say much more before they walk out the door of the dressing room.

[County Man]

A fine win last night.

Great hunger shown by all players. Donie is a genius. Some lovely scores from play from Donie K, Evan O'Carroll, Alan Farrell and Buggie. Great finish for the goal by Davy Conway.

Great organisation and players playing to a plan. Decent defending.

Lets bring another another good performance to Tullamore.

[No. 5]

Very true Tony, I think the lads will know more than Creedon the significance of this game. What great preparation for Leinster championship, this is do or die, proper do or die, as has been said here before relegation to division 4 is disastrous for a predominantly football county where we fancy ourselves as a second tier team, not a fourth tier team.

We have to be manic, but controlled manic, getting a player red carded almost every game is ridiculous and will relegate us if it happens again.

Like this weekends result I fancy us to beat Offaly in Tullamore. I truly believe we are currently at best a division 2 team, at worst a division 3 team, not a division 4 team.

What worries me is the lack of talent coming through. It's only like yesterday we had a glut of young players challenging the old guard: great servants and talents like Barney, Mick Lalor, Hughie, Goggie, Tom Bowe, PJ Dempsey, Turley being pushed out by Garvan, Higgins, Tom Kelly, Beano, Fitzgerald, woolly etc. The future doesn't excite me and that's worrying.

[No. 5]

I meant Don!!!

[Laoisonic]

Not a great performance last night. But one with some heart and character that was enough to get a job done against a plucky Longford team.
Longford probably played better football for majority of the game. Whereas we had Donie, EOC and Conway up front to win ball, draw frees and take scores, they didn't have enough players of that quality.
I still think we're not cohesive enough as a team. The way we play is a little raw and off the cuff.
And yet AGAIN, we finish the game with 14.
I thought McMahon, Alan Farrell in the second half and Booth all were impressive aswell.
Roll on next Sunday, have been looking forward to this since the fixtures were announced!

[blueandwhite1]

Decent win last night alright. Pace is a real problem. Noticed last night that much of our poor tackling is because we are so easily outpaced and a lot of the fouling is coming from lads chasing shadows and flailing their arms in desperation. Hard to tackle a lad you can't catch. Saying that, can't fault the hard work. Our shape in the second half was good and some of the kick passing was first class. Only for Donie though, we would already be relegated. His miraculous recovery was well timed.

Thought Alan Farrell had a fine game last night. He has a huge engine and carried a huge amount of ball. Booth is also doing very well. Hopefully Begley is ok for next week and we can get one or two more back shortly.

[Clubber Lang]

I'll take the win but still plenty to work on. Very disappointed with how certain players continue to give away cheap frees. Meaney for example, with a minute to go, conceded a needless free about 30 metres straight in front of goal by throwing out a flailing arm with his opponent going away from goal. Longford ultimately missed the free but had it been knocked over like it should have been there was every chance Longford could have won the next ball from the Laois kickout and sneaked an equaliser. Carroll's sending off was also silly and had Longford completed their comeback we would have been in the position of losing three games on the bounce thanks largely to having a man sent off. Some of our tackling can be lazy and lacking 100% in effort and it is going to kill us in close games. There is very little in difference between most division 2 and 3 teams in personnel. What divides them is how they apply themselves on the field, discipline and working collectively as a team. Counties like Monaghan, Galway and Louth seem to have mastered that at the moment. We still have a bit of work to get to that level. There won't be too much between Laois and Offaly but I would fancy us to preserve our Division 3 status if Kingston, O'Loughlin, Carroll and Conway are firing. I think Laois have a slightly better scoring threat to Offaly that will ultimately prove the difference.   

[Giovanni]

Is the general consensus here that Evan O Carroll deserved to be sent off? It could be that I'm missing something.

Generally though that referee on Saturday night was the worst I've seen since the heady days of Derek Fahy and Marty Duffy.

[Don Draper]

Is the general consensus here that Evan O Carroll deserved to be sent off? It could be that I'm missing something.

Generally though that referee on Saturday night was the worst I've seen since the heady days of Derek Fahy and Marty Duffy.

Yes. He was on a yellow card. 3 times he blocked the mans run off the ball, and then pulled him down unnecessarily.

His first yellow card, while harsh, was justified if you count it for what it was.

The referee was shocking, but you couldn't argue with what he gave out in these instants, if going by the rule book.

[Don Draper]

I'll take the win but still plenty to work on. Very disappointed with how certain players continue to give away cheap frees. Meaney for example, with a minute to go, conceded a needless free about 30 metres straight in front of goal by throwing out a flailing arm with his opponent going away from goal. Longford ultimately missed the free but had it been knocked over like it should have been there was every chance Longford could have won the next ball from the Laois kickout and sneaked an equaliser. Carroll's sending off was also silly and had Longford completed their comeback we would have been in the position of losing three games on the bounce thanks largely to having a man sent off. Some of our tackling can be lazy and lacking 100% in effort and it is going to kill us in close games. There is very little in difference between most division 2 and 3 teams in personnel. What divides them is how they apply themselves on the field, discipline and working collectively as a team. Counties like Monaghan, Galway and Louth seem to have mastered that at the moment. We still have a bit of work to get to that level. There won't be too much between Laois and Offaly but I would fancy us to preserve our Division 3 status if Kingston, O'Loughlin, Carroll and Conway are firing. I think Laois have a slightly better scoring threat to Offaly that will ultimately prove the difference.

While I don't doubt the endeavour, dedication and committment of our footballers, the footballing intelligence of some leaves a lot to be desired at time. They're their own worst enemies in this regard.

[Giovanni]

You might be right but I very much doubt that the rulebook would be applied this way in a match between Kerry and Dublin.

[Don Draper]

You might be right but I very much doubt that the rulebook would be applied this way in a match between Kerry and Dublin.

Well it should be surely? Don't the rules apply to all? Anyway, once is one thing, but blocking the run 3 times, then the tackle left him wide open to punishment.

[smcder]

You might be right but I very much doubt that the rulebook would be applied this way in a match between Kerry and Dublin.

Well it should be surely? Don't the rules apply to all? Anyway, once is one thing, but blocking the run 3 times, then the tackle left him wide open to punishment.

rules never apply to everyone.  Always different set of rules for the smaller counties.

[Giovanni]

If the large counties were having lads sent off for the likes of that, there'd be uproar (and no-one would be going to the matches).

Anyway, I certainly hope that they don't try to limit too much the edge that's in Evan's game. I remain of the opinion that his sending off was very harsh indeed. Indeed, I would say that at least 50% of the yellow cards issued during the match were very harsh indeed (and some made no sense whatsoever). How they pass muster with officials, I do not know.

Speaking of officials, I happened to be sitting quite close to several of the members of the Country Board. At half time, 2 points down, they all disappeared for sandwiches and didn't seem to be in the least bit concerned about what was happening on the pitch. I don't know the work of the county board very well (I'm living in Galway) but I was surprised how unconcerned they seemed to be at the real prospect that we would be in Division 4 in half an hour.