Laois Senior Footballers 2024

[steven seagal]

I would say it was actually a pretty stupid thing for him to do. Is this what everyone involved has to do now, put their jobs at risk and put Laois over everything else in their lives? If a player finds himself in a difficult personal situation this year, is he expected to chose Laois over his work or family commitments? Will players be expected to put their jobs at risk to play or train? That is what the manager is basically telling them they should do.

Did he not trust the players to understand he couldn't make it on Saturday due to exceptional circumstances, but he would be available every weekend thereafter? Does he think that's a sign of weakness or something? I can't make sense of it. He's an elected representative in a nation with a world-record parliamentary impasse, and when it finally gets sorted out and they return to work he leaves early on the first day back? He shouldn't have been anywhere near Wexford imo.

[The Boy Wonder]

With all due respect I would totally disagree with steven seagal's post above. As a keen follower of NI politics it's my opinion that the SDLP leader in the NI Assembly, Matthew O'Toole, should have stood up for Justin in this instance. The issue initially arose when Justin was appointed and resurfaced last week with the news of the NI Assembly recall. Ok, I accept the argument that his role with Laois impinges on his responsibilities as an MLA. This was not a big issue while the Assembly was not sitting. However the Assembly recall was at very short notice and it would not normally sit on a Saturday. Justin's early departure from Stormont did not make one whit of a difference and Matthew O'Toole would have been wiser to back him on this occasion. It's Justin's call as to where he goes from here and the best of luck to him whatever he chooses.

[High Fielder]

He will go as an Independent and that will free him up for Laois. His party are in a precarious position, so he holds all the aces, and they may yet be forced to cave in and let him do what he wants. He clearly wants to be a part of Laois, and I'm sure most Laois GAA followers will want that too.

The above is what is likely to happen in the short term. The most unlikely scenario is that he will vacate his MLA seat. Long term, who knows what political future he will have after this. Some will admire him and some will never forgive him. It won't matter to him anyway because he'll be writing his own cheques when we win Sam   

[Joeythelips]

I think it was a very foolish move on his part, and not surprised he was suspended by his party. Stormont has not been active for 2 years and in its first day back he could not be bothered to stay for the full session, instead headed off to the other end of Ireland for a Div 4 football match. If I was someone who voted for him I would not be impressed, he was happy to have his £46k salary and £120k expenses for the last year, so feels disrespectful.
Surely between himself, his backroom team and county board they could have come to an understanding to allow Ross or someone lead the line for one game. All they have done now is making a mountain out of a molehill and I don't see it ending well.

How would we feel if Laois got to the Leinster final and there was some menial party meeting he deceided to attend instead, it would feel like he was not fully committed (not a great analogy as we would be over the moon to be in a Leinster final    but you get my point)

His expenses are there for all to see so Im sure voters will not be happy.
http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/your-mlas/members-salaries-and-expenses/members-expenditure-2022---2023-april-2022---march-2023/members-salary-information-2022-2023/

[From the Terrace]

I would say it was actually a pretty stupid thing for him to do. Is this what everyone involved has to do now, put their jobs at risk and put Laois over everything else in their lives? If a player finds himself in a difficult personal situation this year, is he expected to chose Laois over his work or family commitments? Will players be expected to put their jobs at risk to play or train? That is what the manager is basically telling them they should do.

Did he not trust the players to understand he couldn't make it on Saturday due to exceptional circumstances, but he would be available every weekend thereafter? Does he think that's a sign of weakness or something? I can't make sense of it. He's an elected representative in a nation with a world-record parliamentary impasse, and when it finally gets sorted out and they return to work he leaves early on the first day back? He shouldn't have been anywhere near Wexford imo.

A lot of valid points in this. He was a marked man regarding his politics. Silly thing to do.
On the bright side he has us looking like a football team again.

[The Boy Wonder]

The SDLP will see the folly of suspending Justin. Instead of allowing this furore to arise they should have stood by their man and simply said that the issue would be addressed this week. As a result Justin McNulty is taking unjustified flak from all quarters. Of course the leadership of the SDLP, Colum Eastwood and Matthew O'Toole, would not lace the boots of their predecessors John Hume RIP and Seamus Mallon RIP.

It was reported that Justin was seeking legal advice. Was Justin even granter a hearing before his suspension ? I think his critics should hold their fire until we know the full facts.

I do hope that High Fielder is proved correct, that Justin remains as an independent MLA and continues to manage Laois footballers. He did a very good job (yes, he got things wrong at times) in his last stint and had made a good start this time around. He would be a huge loss to Laois were he to go.

[georgedoylesrightleg]

Justy stood bye Laois and Laois need to stand by Justy. Fall in line boys

[redsetanta]

Another good win for the footballers.
Seems to be a world of difference between the set up this year and what went before it.
It would be great to be in the running in the latter stages of the league and get promotion. Carlow a big test but based on the last two games we are well placed to get the win.
I was a bit apprehensive with Justin's appointment but all it's going well.

[Glorylaois]

Justy stood bye Laois and Laois need to stand by Justy. Fall in line boys

Here here and the results compared to last year are already showing he is a worthy manager for us at this present time

[Joeythelips]

Justy stood bye Laois and Laois need to stand by Justy. Fall in line boys

Oh I am all in favour of JM, he has clearly got the squad motivated and we have instant improvement over the chaos of last 2 years. I just think this could have easily avoided that is all and might end up in a situation where he has has to give up the Laois role. If he attended Stormont for the entire session and Ross took the reigns for the Wexford match there would have been nothing about it.

[les Antiques]

We are spending too much time questioning McNultys decision to make the trip to wexford. 

People who addressed his decision and described it as foolish and stupid etc clearly don't know the man .
This whole episode will be forgotten in a couple of weeks .

The improvement in organisation from the debacle of past couple of years is clearly evident. From what I hear and see the lads involved this year are loving the environment. Himself and Munnelly have brought a freshness to the set up.

Let him do what he has to do and his dedication to Laois is there to be seen.  Time to get behind him and forget about the outside distractions.
I am pretty sure he has .

[les Antiques]

Laois Senior Football Panel 2024
Aaron Cooney (St Joseph's)
Brian Daly (St Joseph's)
Mikie Dempsey (St Joseph's)
James Kelly (St Joseph's)
Jack Lacey (St Joseph's)
Cormac Murphy (St Joseph's)
Kevin Swayne (Portlaoise)
Damon Larkin (Portlaoise)
Kieran Lillis (Portlaoise)
Ben Dempsey (Portlaoise)
Conor Brown (Portlaoise)
Conor Heffernan (Killeshin)
Eoin Lowry (Killeshin)
Killian Roche (Killeshin)
Brian Byrne (Graiguecullen)
Danny O'Reilly (Graiguecullen)
Mark Timmons (Graiguecullen)
Eoin Buggie (Stradbally)
Liam Knowles (Stradbally)
Mark Barry (O'Dempsey's)
Fionn Holland (O'Dempsey's)
Niall Dunne (Courtwood)
Sean O'Flynn (Courtwood)
Ciaran Burke (Crettyard)
Evan O'Carroll (Crettyard)
Shaun Fitzpatrick (Ballyroan-Abbey)
Aaron McEvoy (Ballyroan-Abbey)
Ryan Brady (Ballylinan)
Seamus Lacey (Ballylinan)
Simon Fingleton (Park-Ratheniska)
Niall Corbet (Clonaslee-St Manman's)
Dylan Kavanagh (The Heath)
Paul Kingston (Arles-Killeen)
Padraig Kirwan (Emo)
Rioghan Murphy (Portarlington)

[SCFC]

We really must get out of Division 4.
It's a very poor standard of football and we need to be playing better teams. Carlow offered very little last night and yet it took us 25 minutes to score against them.
They handled Evan well but other lads like Dunne, Swayne and Larkin all stepped up well.

[les Antiques]

Probably our least impressive performance of the league so far .
Improved in the second half but Carlow are a poor outfit  . We dominated their kickouts in the second half with Roche competing for the majority of them .
Swayne and Larkin the standout players and good to see Kingston and Lowry back in the mix .

Decent crowd in fairness .

[County Man]

Another fine win last night v Carlow in front of a sizeable crowd in O'Moore Park. Anytime you win by double digits is a good day out.

Conditions were poor with the rain and the  town end side of the pitch in particular was in a bad state with a lot of players slipping and sloppy underfoot conditions. We were playing into the town end in the first half and it would have contributed to our slow start with a couple of poor shots and frees going astray.

We had a purple patch though in the last 10 minutes of the first half with some lovely scores to get 5 points in a row to pull level with Niall Dunne grabbing two of them which will do his confidence no harm at all. Carlow did deserve their lead at half time, 0-6 to 0-5 having started well and they kicked some good scores.

The second half was very impressive from us. A good range of scorers, Shaun Fitzpatrick stepping up again with 2 points, Kevin Swayne getting a good goal after a great ball by Eoin Lowry, a fine team move for Damon Larkin's goal, Mark Barry chipping in and of course Paul Kingston and Killian Roche. Brian Daly got a nice score near the end.

Good competition for places with the subs doing well. Fine defensive work again and good organisation with Carlow only adding 3 points in the 2nd half.

We are motoring well so far and go to Tipperary next Sunday.