Walsh Cup 2016

[Helix]

The match on Saturday vs Antrim moved to Heywood because of Storm frank. Frankly a wise choice!

[Ogie]

Happy New Year to everyone! Here's hoping for a great hurling year ahead. It will be tough to top last years big result but we need to improve again and keep closing the gap, Best wishes to Cheddar & the panel.

We played Westmeatg in a practice match last Wednesday night & won it easily, with some unusual and interesting positional moves

[merman]

Looking forward to tomorrow; glad to see the change of venue. Heywood setup is top class and should be conducive to a decent match.

I won't spoil any of the surprises Ogie has alluded to; not exactly changes I would make but now is the time of the year to try these things!

[G@@]

Interesting times indeed, but as others have said, now's da time ta experiment.

[G@@]

Laois 3-17 v 1-19 Antrim

Good start to the year. Hope to God Ben Conroy is ok after what looked like a nasty fall injuring his knee.

Alot of wides by Laois and two disallowed goals coupled with alot of new faces makes this win all the more important. Antrim were quite clinical in their shooting but the fast AstroTurf probably didn't suit them.

Impressed by Laois overall who looked unbelievabley fit for post Christmas! Ben Reddin my man of the match. Impressed with Tadgh Dowling too.

Will add more to this later.

[Helix]

Will someone put up the starting team and subs up later. Couldn't get out to game. Good win so it seemed on twitter!

[redsetanta]

Good the see Reddin played well he impressed me whenever he's gotten his chance. Still remember his goal against Clare and the roof nearly lifting off the stand.

[Tobias]

Didn't get to the game, can anyone give a report and how lads played. Some interesting positional switches! Good start to the year anyway.

[redsetanta]

Any word on the injury to Conroy?

Good start to the year and will be interesting to see how we get on against UCD and the Dubs which will be much sterner tests. Brilliant for all of the new lads to come in and get the win. Maybe some of the younger lads will stand up now that they have their chance to cement a place with so many retired.

Considering the retirements and lads not available due to college etc it's still a decent win.

[finbar o tool]

must be a very different dressing room without a few of the lads from last year!
the lads did fairly well, they definitely seemed to have a spring in their step compared to Antrim. its hard to be critical at this time of year, plus the weather wasnt great and playing on the all weather surface probably takes getting used to but all in all it was a fairly good performance but i wouldn't read into it too much. Antrim were quite poor.
they moved well and passed short well but they wasted ball when delivering it long/quick, that probably needs work but again, its partly down to a new team getting used to each other etc. 
lost shape a bit in the 2nd half but held out well for the win without over exerting themselves.
Foyle did ok at centre back but nothing outstanding, dont think he'll stay there for the year.
Reddin did have a good game, worked really hard from midfield and was up and down the pitch, Matt Whelan was the same. Scully was in good form as was Dowling at full forward.
Ryan Mullaney at half back was ok but a tad slow, few other lads a bit on the slow side too and i would be worried about our defense going forward. we have at least 3 or 4 good forwards/midfielders to come back to the panel yet but i dont think there is much in the way of good defenders yet to come back in is there?
its going to be a tough year with player retirements from last year and a new team finding their feet, but i guess we knew that.

Conroy didnt look good, he was in a lot of pain when he went down and i overheard one of the physios saying "bruising already" and he hadn't even made it to the dressing room at that stage. didnt hear anything since though.

[Tobias]

Is Ross King still in UCD, I see he wasn't on the team sheet for them tonight. They were 5 points up at half time against a reasonably strong Dublin, lost by six in the end. They will be a good test for Laois on Sunday. Hopefully a few of the younger players show up well. The result isn't overly important, these games are all about seeing who is putting their hand up and who is ready for senior county hurling.
We have Kerry at home in the first round of the league, it's s must win game but they will be no pushovers. Offaly away in the second game, it's a winable game but they are rejuvenated this year and it won't be easy. It's a good start to the league though and to get two wins would be massive, we could really have a go at Clare and Limerick with the pressure off.

[redsetanta]

As any manager will tell you competitive games are far better than challenges so the Walsh cup serves it's purpose. Two good games coming up against UCD and Dublin. If we can squeeze another game out of it then all the better as we'll need to hit the ground running for the league.

I would also think that any Laois player would be very happy with a Walsh cup medal if that were ever to happen. 1991 since we last won it.

[Ogie]

Especially when the final is now hurled in Croke Park, we don't get the opportunity to hurl their too often anymore

[burdizzo]

They hardly will this year, either - can't see them beating Dublin. For a long time they looked like they'd lose today to UCD, but, in fairness, good fitness in the last ten minutes paid off. Brendan Reddin and Ryan Mullaney caught the eye, and it was good to see Ciaran Collier back, too. Some nice points from Scully and Purcell, and Maher and Whelan were solid. Foyle didn't really dominate at centre back, but he got on a lot of ball. There were times when he could have gone for the score, but just played it in low to the two-man full-forward line. I suppose he's been told to do that. Still and all, nice to get a win for them. Didn't think much of the grill around the pitch - didn't make it too easy to get a good view. Are they training there all the time, I wonder?

[merman]

Heywood is their permanent base; good gym setup and the astro and pitches are excellent.

Very impressed with Ryan Mullaney and John Walsh today. PJ Scully hit over some nice scores also, Ben Reddin had been great so far and I was pleasantly surprised with Eoghan Fennelly. Fitness levels look really impressive and it was nice to eke out a win seeing the shallowness of our panel at present.

I've heard a rumour that Joe Fitzpatrick might come back on board before the league starts. If there is any chance of this happening then Cheddar should move heaven and earth to make it so.