Laois footballers the Championship 2018 What went on and the review!

Started by Unlaoised, April 10, 2018, 10:25:13 AM

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Tony

Extremely proud Laois man tonight and very happy with the year. Looking forward to 2019 season already, it usually takes me over a week to get over the usual heavy defeat to exit the championship. This year was different in many ways. Drinks up town soon, see ye there  :P. A more comprehensive review of the year coming later this week.

High Fielder

Great year. Sugrue and his team have done everything we could have asked of them. Having Portlaoise lads properly involved has also been a huge plus. That is essential to the future wellbeing of the county team, because they are after all our most powerful club. Irrespective of recent underage results, we still have good young footballers all over the county. They need to make themselves available now because opportunities will arise when more senior players retire. Lads have lost time being a part of poorly coached and badly prepared set ups, but Sugrue knows how to prepare lads properly, so I would urge lads to try and get involved.

I suppose one of the elephants in the room as far as our season is concerned is why Gary Walsh isn't getting game time. I've heard a lot of talk about it. For me, his overall work rate let's him down, and he suffers because Donie does the same things only better. That is why in my opinion you wouldn't play the two of them together. Gary is still, easily, one of the best forwards in Laois, but unless something changes, opportunities could be limited. That's just how I see it and I accept I could be well wide of the mark

on the hop

A bigger issue is what to do with Donie, we don't seem to get the best out of him. I know he is tightly marked but we managed to get a point from play from him in each of the last two games. It a bit disheartening at times to see brody further up the field than him. He is not mobile enough for centre forward as he can't track back. We tried a few balls to him at full forward but he was too easily bottled up. The game has changed to a mobile Pacey full forward like Flynn of Kildare but we have to work something to our advantage. Finding a few more pacey forwards will be a priority for sugure, once again we only managed 12 scores in a game

Nameless

Quote from: on the hop on July 09, 2018, 09:31:48 AM
A bigger issue is what to do with Donie, we don't seem to get the best out of him. I know he is tightly marked but we managed to get a point from play from him in each of the last two games. It a bit disheartening at times to see brody further up the field than him. He is not mobile enough for centre forward as he can't track back. We tried a few balls to him at full forward but he was too easily bottled up. The game has changed to a mobile Pacey full forward like Flynn of Kildare but we have to work something to our advantage. Finding a few more pacey forwards will be a priority for sugure, once again we only managed 12 scores in a game

A lot of the passes into him yesterday were quite poor. Either putting him out near the sideline or worse, sending ball to the opposite side of his run which favoured the back. Some of the best passes actually came from Donie himself when he was at centre forward. I think that's the problem right there. We don't have quality kick passers or maybe we don't have the players capable of winning ball, getting free of their markers and sending quick ball in.
I thought players like Benny Carroll, Lowry and Donagher did well with some of their runs when they came on yesterday but their distribution was poor. Glynn and Farrell didn't set up much, Paul Kingston got bottled up in the half forward line, in fact our 2 most creative half forwards were O'Carroll and Donie, we want them in the full forward line though.
It's all about power and pace these days, unfortunately we lack in both those areas. These type of players don't just come out of thin air. It has to be developed from underage. Hopefully work will be done on this but for next year, we need everyone on board as has been said. No drops offs from this year, a few of the injured or players that went to America back in and call up a few u20's.
This year has been a huge step forward and promotion from division 3 should be the next target.

redsetanta

Our shooting was a big problem again. Haven't seen the stats so don't have the wide count but we also hit plenty of ball into goalies hands. Farrell did it on a couple of occasions. For me that has been the biggest issue.

I thought we weren't that bad defensively against a rampant Monaghan team who pressed very high and the movement and interplay of the forwards was far better than us. They have been together fro a few years now so they have done these drills over and over.

We had some great turnover ball in the second half and we matched them physically in what was a fairly hard hitting encounter at times. Donie leaving to tacklers on the ground after one attack in the second half.

I would agree that some of the ball into the forwards wasn't great and something they need to work on. At one point late in second half Donie was calling for the ball and it was kicked towards him but just as the pass ws made Donie changed the direction of his run and the defender picked up the ball and cleared easily.

Plenty to work on but the future looks so much brighter than it did 12 months ago.
The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That's real glory. VinceLombardi

BallyroanAbu

Quote from: BallyroanAbu on July 01, 2017, 08:08:47 PM
Quote from: Andy06 on July 01, 2017, 07:56:07 PM
Less of the gloating town1980.

To be fair he has shipped a quare lot of abuse of late, a lot of bullshitters on here had their arses handed to them today.  On what planet did we ever stand a chance against Clare?

Little wrong with Laois Football that a man with abit of organisation, passion and discipline could not get us into Div 2 and performing better quite quickly.

I said this after the Clare game 12 months ago.  Now here is my 2018 slant, Laois have improved this year, not by as much as some are saying but that does not matter.  The fans are back on the teams side and there is positivity in Laois football,  at all costs this must be maintained.  I would be very worried about John Sugrue staying for a second year and while I think everyone thinks he is 100% to stay.  I would not be so sure,  have I an inside line  the answer is NO.  Just a bad feeling regardless we must start improving the structures around our county teams so as to maintain improvement.  This is an aging team and we have not produced any real quality since Evan O Carroll.  It's imperative we get down with the nuts and bolts of Laois underage football as this team has a couple of years max left that they possibly can maintain improvement.  I would also point out we are reverting to the mean. Laois were never that bad that they should have been in Div 4 or Div 3, but some of the worst managerial appointments I have ever witnessed put paid to this.

Laois Rising

I felt yesterday was the litmus test of this Laois side. They battled to the end which was commendable but the reality is Monaghan had the game won by half time and only for Brody Laois would have suffered a serious drubbling. The loss of Attrite really showed yesterday as he is probably our one marquee defender. Truth be told I was disappointed with this Laois performance. How many times had we players back marking space but not tracking runners. Monaghan will do well to produce a kicking performance again like they did in the first half but too many times they were given the space and time to take shots at the posts.

Glynn and Farrell still need plenty of work if they are to make the mark as inter-county standard half forwards. Monaghan half back line blew them out of it at times. Hopefully everyone will continue to give the commitment required and we can step up a level next year. Promotion from division 3 is a requisite and hopefully a favourable draw in the Leinster championship can provide us with another crack at making a Leinster final. 

The PRO

Can't wait for next year tbh. A lot of progress this year and hopeful of further progress next year.
I suppose the big worry is the age profile of some of our better lads.
Begley,  Donoher, Timmons were all 2003 or 2004 minors. Ross is surely very near the end of the line.
Hopefully we can get something from the under 20s who gave eventual Leinster winners Kildare their best test this year.

on the hop

I thought the defending was awful in the first half, they had 18 shots at goal, 14 scored, most of which were unopposed. We saw how Fermanagh blocked up the channels and physically dominated them, but we never got close. The placement of Glynn was a disaster. Asking him to sit deep was a bad call, he ran around aimlessly but it also allowed o Connell to push up and kick two points unopposed. With Begley getting the runaround and out of the centre we could have easily planted Lillis in the centre and left him there and switch Glynn back out to midfield. At least it would have stopped the free runners through the middle.  With Donie being covered by two in full forward we are least would have had no spare men in our half. For some reason we played a kind of zonal system in the middle third. This allowed them so many kickouts  especially on the terrace side unopposed. When we did push up everybody was clustered on the stand side of the pitch. A simple basketball type move with a runner from the group and Rory beggan  dinked a brillant kickout into our half which got them a score but the whole half back line was on the other side of the pitch and we had no one bar jol to chase him. I thought this was real naive stuff

Junior Ex Laoistalk

A very poor first half again put paid to any chance we might have had of winning this one. We escaped against Wexford with a performance like that but it was never going to happen against a quality side like Monaghan. Having said that we really came into it in the second and I have to admire the courage and never say die attitude of this team. Brody was very good at shot stopping but a few bad kickouts and messing around in the square put us in trouble a few times. He could learn a bit from Beggan's kickouts but he is a fantastic talented keeper and we're lucky to have him.

I see lads making more excuses for Donie but the fact is he is not producing what he is undoubtably capable of.
One point from play at the end of the game and missing a great goal chance by kicking it straight at the keeper and making it easy for him. I might be overly critical of him but I know he can do so much better, a goal at that crucial time would have put us in a great position and really shake Monaghan who we had on the rack at that time of the game.

Ross was really feeling the pace and he should have been replaced by Gary Walsh far sooner than he was. I just hope Gary stays on as he has been treated badly for a guy who was so instrumental in getting us out of Div.4 this year. John O'Loughlin's injury was a big blow and even though he stayed on for a while his impact faded after the injury and we suffered for it.

Overall we have achieved an awful lot this year and John Sugrue, his selectors and the squad deserve the highest of praise for bringing respectability back to Laois football. Hopefully John will stay on for a few more years and, as he say's himself, "we'll see where it takes us"..
Winners are not those who never fail, but those who never quit!

Don Draper

Quote from: Junior Ex Laoistalk on July 09, 2018, 01:08:04 PM

I see lads making more excuses for Donie but the fact is he is not producing what he is undoubtably capable of.
One point from play at the end of the game and missing a great goal chance by kicking it straight at the keeper and making it easy for him. I might be overly critical of him but I know he can do so much better, a goal at that crucial time would have put us in a great position and really shake Monaghan who we had on the rack at that time of the game.

He had 4 f**king lads around him!!!!

Tony

I know we don't get to pick the draw but it would have been great to test ourselves against division 2 teams this year to see where we stand, someone like meath or armagh. It's very hard to bridge the gap in pace and standard of division 1 teams, coming from division 4.

Regarding sugrue, judging by his following comments, he wants to stay on at least another term. I don't think anyone in the whole county would oppose that:

For now, however, Sugrue has only a couple of immediate plans. "I'm looking forward to maybe progressing some of those individuals thoughts a bit further if we get another term. There's lots of things hinges on that, that's for a different day. My terms is up as it is right now, and that's another day's work."

Nameless

I was slightly critical of Donie in the Dublin match but I thought he did well yesterday. To even get that goal attempt away was impressive. He kicked his frees, set up scores and as always he had a couple of players watching him. I just hope he forgets the basketball this winter and gives it a full go.
I was also surprised that Walsh didn't get more time. We need more scoring forwards. Hopefully Murphy from Port and Cahilane and Merideth are fit and join up next year. Maybe other young lads like Moore, Kelly, Whelan and the likes can be added to squad to gain experience and see if they can impress.

Don Draper

Quote from: Nameless on July 09, 2018, 03:29:35 PM
I was slightly critical of Donie in the Dublin match but I thought he did well yesterday. To even get that goal attempt away was impressive. He kicked his frees, set up scores and as always he had a couple of players watching him. I just hope he forgets the basketball this winter and gives it a full go.
I was also surprised that Walsh didn't get more time. We need more scoring forwards. Hopefully Murphy from Port and Cahilane and Merideth are fit and join up next year. Maybe other young lads like Moore, Kelly, Whelan and the likes can be added to squad to gain experience and see if they can impress.
I'm absolutely in shock at the criticism he gets from Laois supporters. They want him to win the ball, kick it in, and be inside to catch it, surrounded by 3 players many times, and then take his score. Jesus you'd wonder why intercounty players bother their holes. Donie is what he is, he's not going to be lightening fast, even when at his fittest, he wasn't. I'd hope a good winter training program tailored to him by an All Ireland winning fitness coach and his backroom team, will do untold for him.

In the meantime, the naysayers can f**k off.

Anyway, to sum up the year, progress made, slide arrested at senior level and good buzz around the camp. A rookie management team came in, got us out of a shit division with little or no scares, (and without playing a final game may I add), dealt with a national scandal of a tweet (absolutely f**king witch hunt may I add), a player getting beaten close to death (great to see him up and about and back training), losing their captain to a horror injury (again, great to see him with the team ever since, a great f**king bit of a boy), and thats just the things the general public know about.

The problems in Laois GAA aren't belonging to this squad or this management team, deal with them elsewhere. Everyones learning, and we'll see where next year takes us. Until then, enjoy the Monday club lads, and the Tuesday one, and slope back to the clubs at your own pace. You made me proud this year. f**k the begruders as Sugrue would say.

Tony

Hasn't been mentioned much but I did note a good improvement on fitness this year. With the loss to Monaghan, it wasn't down to fitness or endurance, moreso to do with the mental speed of the division 1 game and how clinical they were in the first half. I think Cannon deserves respect for what he's done, most of the lads are flying fit. I hope they keep that up now for clubs and end of season. You can have the best tactics and players in the country but if they're not fit you're going nowhere. Big respect for that to all involved in S&C in Laois, let's hope that an appropriate S&C programme is set for U-14 level upwards.

The gains the kildare underage lads have made has been massive but we can set programmes, too. Doesn't take a genius, it just probably needs full time position for someone to oversee. It's good for the underage lads, too, to have a good solid foundation in s&c for their own lives as they grow up. Would love to see at least 4-6 new faces challenging for places next year. You don't have to have an all-ireland winning u-20 setup for good lads with potential to funnel into senior.

Regarding Donie, he's had a good year overall and I'm glad he came back to the setup. I hope he's glad he came back too - it's hard to play with 2-3 lads hanging off ya each match. In that respect, we need more lads to put their hands up as forwards to watch for us so that the opposition's defence does not focus on him all the time. In the context of every team hounding him each game, he's had a good year. He's still well in his prime, hopefully next year will be a big year for him if our attack gets more dangerous and clinical. E'OC also had a great year and he's only going to get better. I can see Lowry making a difference next year, he made a solid impact when he was introduced. A couple more new, fast, clinical forwards would make a massive difference. Sugrue and management team has my vote to stay on and bring us forward for 2019.