Laois Senior Footballers 2024

[The Boy Wonder]

A commentator said that England played with the handbrake on against Spain tonight - much like Laois yesterday.
Laois had good reason to be wary after last year and in fairness our lads defended fairly well.

Croke Park is a big field to get up and down as it showed in the two All-Ireland semi-finals also.
Coincidently all three games ended in 2 point winning margins.

It would've been great to steal it at the death but we all know we're not ready for Sam Maguire competition yet.
This year has restored some pride and well done to players and management.

[georgedoylesrightleg]

very dispointing is bit harsh for me. last year was very dispointing. much better place than start year. plenty to build on. plenty to be happy about. kids are alrite, now we need blood more of them.and we need pace.

thanks justin ross n players.

[Joeythelips]

A management teams job is to pick a squad of players and get the best out of them. I get that at times Laois were not as attacking as you may like them to be in the final, but the reality is they were playing a side who hammered them by 22 points last season. So many players have come on an awful lot under the new regime, add a few more to that and further progress and Laois have room for even more improvement next season.

[Butch Cassidy]

Saturday was a step top far in what has been a positive year. It would have been great to win and they had their chance but the step up might to 'Sam' might be a year too early for this current crop.


For Laois to improve they need to ensure there is not a big turnover in the squad and we keep adding youth to the panel. We also need to improve the pace and power but that can only happen if lads apply themselves over the winter months and from minor up.

[County Man]

Just a few reflections on the 2024 season for the Laois senior footballers.

All in all, a successful season with great improvements shown, a game plan and pride restored. 8 league games, 7 wins, a division 4 title and promotion gained to division 3. Plenty of new players blooded during the league and experience gained. A good mixture of youth and experience. Notable wins against Wexford away in round 2 by 10 points and the victory in the final v Leitrim by 14 points.

Championship: 8 championship games, 4 wins, 1 draw and 3 defeats. The only off day really was against Offaly but losing James Kelly so early in the game and Damon Larkin going off injured early in the game were 2 massive blows. Highlight of the championship has to be our 5 point win against Kildare in O'Connor Park, a first championship win since 2005 v Kildare and possibly our best championship win since 2012 when beating both Monaghan and Meath. Beating a decent Antrim team by 5 points was impressive too and getting out of Aughrim with a win. There was a fine display against Fermanagh also despite losing by a point and to run Down to 2 points compared to 22 last year showed the progress that has been made.

While Down deserved the win, the lads executed the game plan and were no pushovers.

For year 2 of Justin Mcnulty's reign, we must not get relegated from division 3. Obviously, the team will aim for promotion but it will be a very competitive division. Hopefully we can get 4 games at home. The club championships should be interesting to see if we can find some new players and hopefully some lads might return from travels etc and strenghten our cause.

For the Leinster championship, maybe we can have a go at a run in it if we're on the opposite side the draw to Dublin and if we do find ourselves again in the Tailteann, hopefully we can follow up on this year.

Plenty to look forward to anyway.

[les Antiques]

FOOTBALLERS LEAGUE FIXTURES

R1: Leitrim (A) 25th Jan 2.30 Pm
R2: Offaly (H) 2nd Feb 4.00 Pm
R3: Sligo (H) 15th Feb 2.00 Pm
R4: Kildare (A) 22nd Feb 7.00 Pm
R5: Antrim (H) 1st Mar 5.00 Pm
R6: Clare (H) 15th Mar 6.00 Pm
R7: Fermanagh (A) 23rd Mar