LAOIS SENIOR FOOTBALL 2016

[les Antiques]

Getting over Wicklow by a few points playing with a blanket defence might be the best preparation for Dublin . Playing one system against Wicklow and different one against will do this team no favours . Make no mistake there won't be much in this Saturday evening . Laois haven't become super fit in the space of a few weeks .
Realistically hoping to get over Wicklow and an encouraging display against Dublin is much as we can hope for in my opinion .

[Giovanni]

No team should be disrespected by us, particularly given the way that we have been playing this year.

The fact is that Wicklow came 5th in Division 4 this year with an almost identical record to Carlow (Carlow came ahead of them with a slightly better scoring difference). We came bottom of Division 2 with a terrible mix of half-decent and awful performances. 

Saturday's match will tell us a lot about this team I think. Their mental preparations for playing Wicklow should be the same as for playing Dublin in Croke Park but I have a feeling they won't be. Having a strong defensive system (it'll be interesting to see if they have) doesn't necessarily imply that we can't win by a decent margin. It's not either/or.

If the mentality going into this match is right, we should win comfortably (bookies are 1/8). If not, it could be another Antrim.

[les Antiques]

Johnny Magee night not be the master tactician but he will have a Wicklow fired up Saturday evening . Hopefully the players won't take anything for granted . We really don't want another Antrim scenario .

[Tony]

See, people seem to think it's either blanket defence or 15 vs 15. Would it blow your mind if you realised Dublin, Kerry, Mayo etc do NOT play 15 vs 15 but also DO NOT play blanket defence. They have a smart, organised, co-ordinated system where people are adaptable, players are tracked and counter - attacks with speed are key. It's what McNulty was trying to do but it was in it's infancy / the players were not good enough / familiar enough with it at the time. It'll be interesting to see what Cunningham can do.

[Junior Ex Laoistalk]

Went to tickets.ie to get tickets for Saturday and I see the tickets are allocated to seat numbers.?? I didn't know we had numbered seats in O'Moore Park or is this a mistake?

[redsetanta]

They're numbered alright.

[Giovanni]

Fully agree with Tony's comments. It can't be beyond our wit to develop a system of play that allows us to be tight and aggressive when we don't have the ball and creative when we have it.

[les Antiques]

The above comments are totally justified but implementing a system like that takes time and needs to worked on during the league for example . I'm sure it's not beyond us to adapt a system like stated above but maybe working on our fitness first should be prioritised before we go down that road .

[les Antiques]

I believe Cunningham will bring a degree of professionalism to the set up which was sadly lacking during the league . For example the warm up in Enniskillen in the league was pathetic .
Saying that there looked to be of a structure in place last week in  Monastrevin .

[blueandwhite1]

I don't think anyone is advocating 15-men-back blanket defence. I for one am just glad they are even thinking about a system. Way way too late though to be adding structure in May. We would be sitting pretty in division 2 next year and be much better prepared for the championship had we being honing a system starting at the Galway game. As McNulty showed, it takes years to get a system to work, certainly not weeks.

[Clubber Lang]

I wonder what McNulty makes of all this. He was developing a system that would allow Laois compete with the top teams in country (promotion to Division 1,beating Monaghan and challenging Donegal and Dublin) and we ditch him. Couple of years later and having taken two or three significant steps backwards (losing to Antrim and relegation to Division 3) we, with couple weeks to go to start of championship try to re-introduce a game plan that takes months if not years to properly implement (the same one McNulty was developing). I really feel the last number of years have been badly wasted with what is a decent panel of players.     

[Tony]

McNulty had to go because of all the pressure that was put on him to go. Apparently "people weren't showing up to games because of the style" (but that proves to be nonsense because there are the same or less people showing up to games nowadays with a more traditional style). Significant figures in the media (ahhhemmmm cough splutter Jack Nolan and Co) wanted him out and idiots with no foresight and a football brain suited to the 1970's also wanted him out.

In hindsight, his system did need to be adjusted : we simply were not scoring enough. Too many people behind the ball and ridiculous player usage at times. Still, our conditioning, strenght and fitness was on a par with Division 1. We got to 1/4 final and also ran Donegal close in the 4th round of qualifiers. McNulty was always going to go, but i feel that should our way of competing : getting to a top level of fitness and having a good managerial set up. We seem way behind in terms of conditioning in 2016 and regarding competing with the top level, well, people seem to have said "to hell with it, who cares."

Unfortunately, it seems we've just become like an Offaly, Westmeath, Longford type setup this year. Just going through the motions. There's really no reason why we can't be like a Roscommon or Cavan. Here's hoping a group of folks with the necessary authority care enough about Laois football to make a concerted effort for positive change, starting now, for 2017. Cunningham certainly is a positive move.

[les Antiques]

Cunningham is certainly a positive move . It's just disappointing it's taken so long for the county board to realise a coach of his calibre was needed . He's not a miracle worker and I do hope he can commit to Laois set -up regardless who is in charge next year .