Laois Senior Hurlers 2023

[SpeculativeEffort]

We should have made Paudie Butler Director of Laois hurling when he was here. Put him in charge of upskilling coaches, Setanta/developments squads etc.

[Laois man]

Massive game sat in Tullamore a win would be a great start to the Joe Mcdonagh offaly are no world eaters but neither are we. Hard to know what team will start or who's fit here's hoping for a win. 🙏

[Laois man]

Wonder is game today all ticket? They were taking cash at U20 game in plaois Thursday night.

[Spiritof86]

Yes all-ticket today . Just the stand open apparently.
Hard to know what to expect today. Offaly have the momentum behind and would imagine they'll be out of the blocks fast .
We really need the win today to kick start the year .

[Laois man]

Need a win big time. Wonder is that the 15 starting? No Mossy keyes or King?

[Spiritof86]

Well don't think King has started all year so that's hardly a surprise.  Mossy Keyes is an interesting one . 5 sets of brothers on the Offaly panel today . 

[Laois man]

King was sharp when he came on again westmeath.

[Giovanni]

Wonder is game today all ticket? They were taking cash at U20 game in plaois Thursday night.

Gave up trying to buy a ticket on line after multiple attempts and insistence by Ticketmaster to change passwords. Centra or SuperValu would be fine if you could plan your time in advance. Just don't understand why they can't sell tickets at the ground. Anyway, I hope they do well.

[G@@]

Goals win games and we couldn't take our chances in front of the net whereas Offaly could.

[burdizzo]

Goals win games and we couldn't take our chances in front of the net whereas Offaly could.

Same as against Westmeath.

[Spiritof86]

Disappointing afternoon . There's something not quite right . We seem rudderless throughout parts of the match and this has been a common trait this year . Some of the decision making in the forwards was baffling .
Also there has to a question mark over our fitness . Clear to see that half way through the first half playing with the wind certain players were gasping .
Thought Fennell was very good at corner back and Mullaney also very decent .
Anyway onto Down next week .

[Laois man]

Disappointed result. Cahill got 2.04 from play and was fouled 3 times we new going over he was the danger man so why wasn't he man marked. Kelly Phelan and Bergin had a poor day but does things happen. Hard coming out of there after being beating. Confidents is low one win in 9 games. But what can we do beat down next week and hopefully push on our forwards had the pace on there backs but not a lot came to them in the second half.

[Unlaoised]

Disappointing afternoon . There's something not quite right . We seem rudderless throughout parts of the match and this has been a common trait this year . Some of the decision making in the forwards was baffling .
Also there has to a question mark over our fitness . Clear to see that half way through the first half playing with the wind certain players were gasping .
Thought Fennell was very good at corner back and Mullaney also very decent .
Anyway onto Down next week .

I didn't think Fennell was great
The full back line was terrible esp Donnacha Hartnet he was beaten to most balls and fouled at least 4/5 times .

Not one of the backs were changed  despite conceding soft goals .

No plan to stop Cahill ?

Fitness terrible


Only Offalys poor mistakes and pickys accuracy kept us in touch.


Offaly were all over the place in the 1st half maybe due to good hunger from us but we should been further ahead .

When offaly upped the game 7/8 mins into the 2nd half we were gasping for air and the breaks in play were welcome for the laois players .


If I was a defender on that bench for a laois I'd be asking what I was named for ?

So dissapoointed to now be back below westmeath offaly and Antrim now .

Hopefully the footballers might lift our spirits again tomorrow.

[G@@]

Agree with much of the above by @Unlaoised

We've been on a downward spiral since Eddie Brennan left. Looking back at that whole episode now and there should have been protests by every Laois Gael the time the CB gave him his marching orders.

I don't think our current manager has the cut for inter-county management. Too slow to make changes during the game and tactically quite poor.

I have an uneasy feeling that this JMD Cup campaign could be another 2018. I seriously hope to be eating my words in six weeks time.

[LaoisAbu20]

Dissapointing afternoon alright. We got off to a good start but then fizzled in and out of the match. Thought the referee definitely gave offaly some easy frees and caved a bit to the home crowd. Was really dissapointed with our management's decision making, in particular the slow response to bringing on subs and instructing the lads to break the momentum when offaly were going for the jugular. The most dissapointing thing was the game was there for us to take and we couldn't grind it out and get over the line. It's sad to see how far we've fallen since we last played offaly in the Joe macdonagh. Overall our fitness, first touch and decision making let us down big time and I think today showed us that the Joe macdonagh is the level we're at.

Thought the full back line was sluggish and way of the mark. Fonsy is just not a full back and was out of his depth there today. Was at fault for all three goals and seemed to struggle to read the game. I thought he should have been taken off after the second goal as he didn't even try to tackle the player coming in on goal.

Hartnett definitely struggled today, looked like he was trying to cover the full back position whilst trailing his own man, you're always going to lose possession if you play from behind. Thought fennell did alright, especially when he ran with the ball.

The half back line was all over the place as well. Would really question the defensive coaching that goes on at training. Both Fonsy and Mullaney kept trying to catch the ball with little success today, instead of batting down the ball, most of these failed catches resulted in scores for offaly, it was frustrating to see it happen over and over again. Like Hartnett, Podge was way off the mark today and made some questionable decisions. Shanahan seemed adrift for most of the match, thought he played great in the previous matches because he had a defined role, looked like he wasn't picking up anyone to mark today and it didn't suit his style of play.

Was really dissapointed by James keyes and his unwillingness to give the ball to the player in the best position to score, we could have been in line to get two goals if he just let the ball off instead of going for his own score. Felt sorry for Phelan, he had a tough day of it and thought he should have been taken off earlier. Ross King put in a good shift again when he came on today and really pushed himself. Duggan did alright but definitely needed more support up front. Picky got some great scores but seemed fatigued in the second half. I thought Corby played a blinder today, put in some great tackles and showed a great work ethic, was puzzled by his substitution.

Again this team doesn't seem to have the fitness required for 70 minutes plus of hurling  and can't seem to get a complete performance together. If lads are struggling why aren't they being taken off? It seems like it takes the sideline ages to make a decision. Also, why aren't they instructing our lads to go down or use the contact lens trick to break the momentum, Offaly had no problem doing this to us. I'm actually beginning to doubt Mahers tactical ability and hope he'll prove me wrong but honestly I'm not sure at this rate