The future of laois hurling

[Laoisred]

I know of hurling coach, living in Co Laois. Has won club championships in his native county at Senior, u20, minor level. Has intercounty experience coaching at senior and u20 level. Wrote to county board a couple of years back saying he was willing to help out with a team but never got a reply.

[clonadmad]

I know of hurling coach, living in Co Laois. Has won club championships in his native county at Senior, u20, minor level. Has intercounty experience coaching at senior and u20 level. Wrote to county board a couple of years back saying he was willing to help out with a team but never got a reply.

Look at the numbers of Laois men every year coaching outside the county particularly in Kilkenny and ask why they aren't being retained or enticed to stay in Laois and work with development squads.

Kiely,Donohue,Cahill,Sheedy,Lyng all were involved at underage with their respective counties before they stepped into the big job, but this managerial pathway route seems to be ignored here.

[High Fielder]

It's incredibly hard to make a name for yourself in Laois. If you have any ambition, it's a real gamble getting involved at any level, simply because all our teams seem to be in decline. Nobody will remember that you worked hard or tried your best. People want winners, and there aren't too many of those in these parts. We find ourselves, at all levels, taking gambles on the unproven, because that's the market we're in.

Who do we blame for the above? Niall Handy says the lack of volunteers. You could turn that on its head and say Laois GAA does not create the right conditions for participation. It's not worth getting involved in. Coaches can't progress. Players can't win anything. Volunteers don't have the time and feel it's pointless. Etc. Etc. The answer probably lies somewhere between the two. It's everybody's fault, including the GAA itself which has made it impossible for Laois and counties like us to compete. We're not the only county in this position. Many of our neighbours are struggling too. Offaly are throwing money at the situation and seem to be getting some results. We don't have the same luxury. We're also, like everyone, fighting the battle against other sports, and with the size of our population, that's a battle we could do without.

You could write a book on this subject. Niall Handy writes his report and we debate on here daily. We've all made up our own minds and all of us think we have a handle on the issue. We probably don't. It's a complex subject.

[Laois man]

Many new faces in with the senior hurlers I wonder? Wexford on the 8th of January in the walsh Cup I see.

[Zooming around]

There's no room to employ more coaches, badly needed, or full time employees in the main offices. Also very badly needed. Marketing, admin, website etc.

As we seem to have a few quid in the bank, I wonder would it be worthwhile for Laois GAA to employ a full time PR and marketing person. Someone good at a job like that could pay for themselves. A part time PRO is almost unrealistic in this day and age.
We seem to struggle to hold on to our coaches. There seems to be a problem retaining the good ones. New coaching officer incoming so hopefully he may bring some new ideas to the job.

Who's the new Coaching Officer?

Alan Langton of Barrowhouse

What happened? Why did Langton not take up the role?

[Laois man]

Would it not be a good idea to have a laois schools hurling team manganed by our laois U20 mangerment team. Like we have Mtrath. Rdowney. Heywood. Plaois Mmellick and port with school hurling teams. I see offaly are doing it and building for the U20 Cship.

[clonadmad]

Would it not be a good idea to have a laois schools hurling team manganed by our laois U20 mangerment team. Like we have Mtrath. Rdowney. Heywood. Plaois Mmellick and port with school hurling teams. I see offaly are doing it and building for the U20 Cship.

It would be a no brainer to enter a laois schools team in the Leinster A senior schools championship,but there's neither the will or appetite or probably manpower to do it

Schools hurling is rapidly becoming a wasteland in the town of Portlaoise which is a worry not just for the club but also the county.

We will look back fondly on this years Minor Team and their journey to a Leinster final,because given the shambolic setup of the development squads at the younger age grades

It will be a while before we see it again.

Offaly have gotten their act together on so many areas in both codes

[Laois man]

Agree. Offaly doing a lot of work underage I was at a schools game a few weeks ago and the full offaly U20 mangerment team were there watching the offaly school team. Our county board would need to up the ain't in the underage sector.

[Zooming around]

Would it not be a good idea to have a laois schools hurling team manganed by our laois U20 mangerment team. Like we have Mtrath. Rdowney. Heywood. Plaois Mmellick and port with school hurling teams. I see offaly are doing it and building for the U20 Cship.

It would be a no brainer to enter a laois schools team in the Leinster A senior schools championship,but there's neither the will or appetite or probably manpower to do it

Schools hurling is rapidly becoming a wasteland in the town of Portlaoise which is a worry not just for the club but also the county.

We will look back fondly on this years Minor Team and their journey to a Leinster final,because given the shambolic setup of the development squads at the younger age grades

It will be a while before we see it again.

Offaly have gotten their act together on so many areas in both codes

Do we not have a combined schools team. We definitely had one a few years ago. Why was it stopped?

[Ogie]

Our Coaching & Games department currently not good or active enough with initiatives,
Offaly again today recruiting brilliantly appointing Damien Coleman as Operations manager, the man behind all of Galway's underage success.

Yes they are pumping money in, but it's being done wisely and theirs a buzz around them, we have plenty of money too,

Talk of the renewed Setanta programme is only piece meal, academy squads have no buzz or direction about them, the overall organisation of the squads is so poor compared even just to Offaly never mind the bigger counties
Simple ideas like the combined schools, more club workshops, academy squad gear, more games, more promotion on social media
Offaly's initiatives around development squads, faithful fields, coaching initiatives are much more active than ours, and getting much more buy on from coaches, players, parents & clubs

Similar on the likes of Wexford, cork, Meath, Kilkenny

What is the actual role of the county board coaching officer when we have a games manager ?

[clonadmad]

Our Coaching & Games department currently not good or active enough with initiatives,
Offaly again today recruiting brilliantly appointing Damien Coleman as Operations manager, the man behind all of Galway's underage success.

Yes they are pumping money in, but it's being done wisely and theirs a buzz around them, we have plenty of money too,

Talk of the renewed Setanta programme is only piece meal, academy squads have no buzz or direction about them, the overall organisation of the squads is so poor compared even just to Offaly never mind the bigger counties
Simple ideas like the combined schools, more club workshops, academy squad gear, more games, more promotion on social media
Offaly's initiatives around development squads, faithful fields, coaching initiatives are much more active than ours, and getting much more buy on from coaches, players, parents & clubs

Similar on the likes of Wexford, cork, Meath, Kilkenny

What is the actual role of the county board coaching officer when we have a games manager ?

Offaly are running rings around us in all departments at the minute.

I see that they have 6/7 women at the County Board top table in area such as coaching officer, asst treasurer and Central Council reps

We can even get men to come in and fill 3 critical positions here

If we can't compete with Offaly with a smaller population than us and a similar split between the 2 codes what hope do we have with the Galways Corks and Limericks?

[blueandwhite1]

Offaly have a few things we don't:

1. A visionary with real power: Michael Duignan.
2. Serious financial backing, including from Shane Lowry
3. Strong group of volunteers that are willing to work. We complain about lack of a strong board but nobody wants to do it.

[georgedoylesrightleg]

lads just wanta give out and not work. fair pay to dignan, he went and did it and brought lads with hin

[clonadmad]

Offaly have a few things we don't:

1. A visionary with real power: Michael Duignan.
2. Serious financial backing, including from Shane Lowry
3. Strong group of volunteers that are willing to work. We complain about lack of a strong board but nobody wants to do it.

4.Tradition and culture ,granted it's a while since they won a senior All Ireland but they have a core group of lads involved with development  squads who know what it takes,be it with Offaly but also with the likes of Birr and to a lesser extent Coolderry and Kilcormac.

[Blow-in]

Our Coaching & Games department currently not good or active enough with initiatives,
Offaly again today recruiting brilliantly appointing Damien Coleman as Operations manager, the man behind all of Galway's underage success.

Yes they are pumping money in, but it's being done wisely and theirs a buzz around them, we have plenty of money too,

Talk of the renewed Setanta programme is only piece meal, academy squads have no buzz or direction about them, the overall organisation of the squads is so poor compared even just to Offaly never mind the bigger counties
Simple ideas like the combined schools, more club workshops, academy squad gear, more games, more promotion on social media
Offaly's initiatives around development squads, faithful fields, coaching initiatives are much more active than ours, and getting much more buy on from coaches, players, parents & clubs

Similar on the likes of Wexford, cork, Meath, Kilkenny

What is the actual role of the county board coaching officer when we have a games manager ?

On your last point about the County Coaching officer, what is the actual role of the County games manager? Setanta programme was drove by a volunteer during the summer. The Squads are a shambles, is that the Coaching office or games manager?
Coaching workshops, is that Games manager or GDA's?
From what i can see we have very little leadership coming from our games manager who is meant to be leading our GDA's. Maybe others have more interaction with our Coaching and Games department but from what I can see it's non existent.