LAOIS SENIOR FOOTBALL 2016

[SpeculativeEffort]

Within a year or two we should be able to put out a team that contains Kingston x 2, O'Carroll, Eoin Lowry, Sean Moore in the forward line. Surely that bodes well for the future?

[OTF]

Within a year or two we should be able to put out a team that contains Kingston x 2, O'Carroll, Eoin Lowry, Sean Moore in the forward line. Surely that bodes well for the future?

Yes that looks good on paper, all we'll need then is 6 defenders.
Seriously what is it with Laois we don't seem to do defending.

[Unlaoised]

I think Galway had more games played than us and certainly last weeks game against Roscommon would have stood to them.

It was obivious from the start they were sharper.

As I said in the previous post I think the management team got the team wrong and it was a harsh place to learn that with so much at stake in this first league game.

They must take credit for the Changes but most in the Stand called the changes so I'm not quite sure why they didn't start with a team similar to the one that finished.

Maybe the two Farrell's and Murphy were going well in training and to be fair Jamie did show well in the the few O'Byrne cup games but in the backs not the forwards.

We looked very small from the throw in player for player apart from Donie,Timmons and the two midfielders we were down inches all over the pitch.

With the likes of Begley and Quigley not there and then say even the likes of Finn and Boyle not involved it means we are a smaller team this year.


Armagh is a must win game now probably for both sides watching the highlights of their game against Meath last night it was obivious they can be opened up down the middle similar to us in the first half Sunday.

They have decent players  in Forker's,Stefan Cambell is a big man who can cause damage in the half forward line .
McKenna and McParland will trouble any backs in this division.

Hopefully they won't have too many more to call on and they are missing their main man Jamie Clarke.

McGeeney will have their backs as physical as your going to come up against and he knows Laois so he will be targeting players like Kingston and Cahilanne so I hope we have a strong referee.

It will be a tough battle as they play a very deep game like he did with Kildare we will need to kick points from distance I hope Kingston,Meaney and Strong have their shooting boots on!

[Shapes Ex Laoistalk]

Meredith won't be back this year and Lowry has been asked but declined to come in. That first half on Sunday was very poor, We were favourites for relegation before Sunday and that display only shortened our odds.

The goals were handed to Galway and weren't hard worked for.  The third one so early in the second half killed off the game. Brody should have got his hand to it.

Anyhow we are where we are and in fairness we were favourites for relegation this time last year and survived by kicking Roscommon our of O'Moore Park and rescuing a draw against Meath. We also should have got something out of the Armagh game so all is not lost yet.

Hopefully Lillis makes a better selection next weekend because he made some poor choices with his starting 15 yesterday. It's not going to get any easier so there's very little room for error from here on in.

That comment re Lowry is untrue. Mick Lillis confirmed in his post match interview that Lowry hadn't been asked in:

https://soundcloud.com/midlandssport/mick-lillis-post-galway

[OTF]

I think Galway had more games played than us and certainly last weeks game against Roscommon would have stood to them.

It was obivious from the start they were sharper.

As I said in the previous post I think the management team got the team wrong and it was a harsh place to learn that with so much at stake in this first league game.

They must take credit for the Changes but most in the Stand called the changes so I'm not quite sure why they didn't start with a team similar to the one that finished.

Maybe the two Farrell's and Murphy were going well in training and to be fair Jamie did show well in the the few O'Byrne cup games but in the backs not the forwards.

We looked very small from the throw in player for player apart from Donie,Timmons and the two midfielders we were down inches all over the pitch.

With the likes of Begley and Quigley not there and then say even the likes of Finn and Boyle not involved it means we are a smaller team this year.


Armagh is a must win game now probably for both sides watching the highlights of their game against Meath last night it was obivious they can be opened up down the middle similar to us in the first half Sunday.

They have decent players  in Forker's,Stefan Cambell is a big man who can cause damage in the half forward line .
McKenna and McParland will trouble any backs in this division.

Hopefully they won't have too many more to call on and they are missing their main man Jamie Clarke.

McGeeney will have their backs as physical as your going to come up against and he knows Laois so he will be targeting players like Kingston and Cahilanne so I hope we have a strong referee.

It will be a tough battle as they play a very deep game like he did with Kildare we will need to kick points from distance I hope Kingston,Meaney and Strong have their shooting boots on!

Lillis  seem to be  surprised by how big Galway were towards our lads, that worries me to be honest... like what did he expect.
Its a while now since the "too small" term has being used in relation to Laois.
Poorly conditioned teams will always look smaller/weaker/slower than their better conditioned opponents.

[redsetanta]

Shapes you are correct. I hadn't heard that piece of audio.

My info was wrong so. He should invite him in as he's on fire at the moment.

[Unlaoised]

O'Loughlin out now for two games witha broken finger.
To be fair he didn't look himself on Sunday I know he was back late with the panel and had missed a bit of training but this is another blow ...Especially against the physical Armagh and Tyrone!

[Giovanni]

He's hoping to have Ross and Colm Begley back "before the end of the league". Are their injuries that serious?

[Unlaoised]

He's hoping to have Ross and Colm Begley back "before the end of the league". Are their injuries that serious?

Not sure I was told Begley is carrying a knock but is in no rush to get back but that's only a story....Ross had a niggle that needs further treatment.

Donoher is doing all he can to get back.

[oneflewoverthecuckoonest]

I will hold my hands up and say I was against the appointment of lillis and also his predecessor Flaherty, and I really liked mcnulty(might have been in a minority).

if laois happens to end the division 2 campaign pointless and relegated, should lillis be given the heave ho before the championship? or should he then be allowed to continue to lead the lambs to the slaughter in the championship?

I ask the two above questions because the narrative out there is that laois had no money to appoint a decent manager, and lillis was considered a cheap option.

trouble is, there remain serious fixed costs with all senior inter county sides irrespective of management, and the extra premium of a "name" coach is not that huge in the bigger picture.
In appointing a cheap option, the executive may end up sucking the lifeblood out of  the present squad, supporters losing interest and a developing apathy, all detrimental to the long term welfare of the intercounty game in Laois.

lillis and his selectors have been in position for nearly 5 months, we all saw them sitting together in the stand for the latter stages of the club championships in laois. what they served up laois sunday in terms of selection and team tactics, I would easily say any 3 random punters could have done no worse. The game was dead after 40 minutes, the slight improvement at the finish was meaningless as galway were simply running down the clock happy in their position.

Armagh are probably(w/o the Cross members) the next weakest outfit in div 2. If we lose by 5 points or heavier, I suspect we may see the start of a snowball effect to remove the management.......I will be happy to be proved wrong.

[Tony]

It certainly was a poor tactical performance on Sunday. Squad for squad, I think we were better than Galway on Sunday, but it's worrying that the tactics and selections destroyed us. Still though, it's only the first proper game of 2016. Surely Lillis and Co are better than that. Willing to give the benefit of the doubt, as what's the point in calling for a man's name before he at least settles into a few games. As I said before, it will be very worrying if this trend continues, but, quite simply, Lillis is in there now and he must be worth something.

[Junior Ex Laoistalk]

I agree, lets give this panel and management some time to blend. We are very quick to knock in Laois but we must always remember we have very little history to go on.
Apart from those great minor teams we have had little or no success since although our senior teams have always put up some great battles in the championship.

There are a few good young players on the panel this year and its going to take time to get the best out of them. The u-21 squad is as good as we have had for a long time and given time they will come on stream too. Patience and support is called for now, we will have enough knockers outside of the county so lets get behind them for this year and see how things work out..

[les Antiques]

Regarding both Munnelly and Begley who are were and are both 2 fantastic servants to Laois football , I don't believe the loss of these two players are that crucial to the first 15 . Having them around the panel without doubt can only be positive given there experience but I'd more worried about John O'Loughlins loss for the next two or three games !

[High Fielder]

I have no real opinion on Mick Lillis. It appears he got the job because nobody else wanted it, we have no money to get bigger and/or our county board have no ambition. He has a big task ahead of him and he has my best wishes. We could fill a panel of lads who don't want to play, so he's on the back foot before he starts. If we had everyone available to us, we would probably stay in Division 2, but we don't, so the job becomes harder. I always thought staying in Division 2 would act as some sort of motivation to lads to stick around, but our attrition rate in recent years says otherwise. I expect the worst and hope for the best. Nobody else seems to have the amount of drop outs that we do, and it's hard for young lads coming into such a weakened panel

[blueandwhite1]

I think it is fair to give the team and manager time before fuller judgement, however I would have thought that a better prepared team for the start of the league should be expected. After our embarrassing collapse against Kildare in the reply and exit at the hands of Antrim in the qualifiers, confidence needs to be built. I still think it is unacceptable that we had no defensive plan and our physical preparation seemed to be well behind for Galway. Not a good indicator of ability to plan and organize. Still, there will be plenty of opportunities for redemption.