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Pot 1 :

Meath
Cavan
Fermanagh
Limerick

Pot 2 :

Down
Offaly
Antrim
Wicklow

Pot 3:

Longford
Tipperary
Laois
Wexford

Pot 4:

Leitrim
Carlow
Waterford
London

Looking at the way the Tailteann Cup is shaping up I think the winner will come from either Cavan, Down , Fermanagh or Meath . I'd probably give Limerick and Offaly a slim outside chance of winning it after that

Quote from: Laoiseabu on May 01, 2023, 02:15:37 PM
Pot 1 :

Meath
Cavan
Fermanagh
Limerick

Pot 2 :

Down
Offaly
Antrim
Wicklow

Pot 3:

Longford
Tipperary
Laois
Wexford

Pot 4:

Leitrim
Carlow
Waterford
London

Do NY not compete in the Tailteann Cup?

They go into a knockout game - a preliminary quarter final or something like that.

Quote from: imtommygunn on May 01, 2023, 02:21:20 PM
They go into a knockout game - a preliminary quarter final or something like that.

Ok, thanks.

Quote from: Laoiseabu on May 01, 2023, 02:18:52 PM
Looking at the way the Tailteann Cup is shaping up I think the winner will come from either Cavan, Down , Fermanagh or Meath . I'd probably give Limerick and Offaly a slim outside chance of winning it after that

Hard to argue with that, I can't see the winner coming from outside those 6 sides. If the semi finals are in Croke Park again this year it gives all of these teams something to target.

Quote from: imtommygunn on May 01, 2023, 02:21:20 PM
They go into a knockout game - a preliminary quarter final or something like that.

Yes New York will enter the competition at the preliminary quarter final stage and play against one of the second placed teams from the group stage. The worst placed 3rd placed team in the four groups misses out for New York.

First placed team will have home venue for the Quarter final

2nd placed team will have a home venue for preliminary quarter finals.

It's a bit crap that a team misses out to allow new york play 1 game.

Tailteann Cup Draw 2023

The Tailteann Cup draw took place on Tuesday afternoon.
There should be no shortage of drama with a number of interesting groups with action set to commence on May 13/14.

Last year's runners-up Cavan are drawn in Group 1 with Offaly, Laois, and London.

In Group 2 Meath, Down, Tipperary, and Waterford will be eager to make an impact.

It promises to be competitive in Group 3 with Limerick, Wicklow, Longford, and Carlow involved.

Fermanagh, Antrim, Wexford, and Leitrim will all believe that they can progress from Group 4.

New York will join the competition at the preliminary quarter-final stage.

Group 1: Cavan, Offaly, Laois, London

Group 2: Meath, Down, Tipperary, Waterford

Group 3: Limerick, Wicklow, Longford, Carlow

Group 4: Fermanagh, Antrim, Wexford, Leitrim

Can we not just start the club championship instead? Sorry, I just have no appetite for this

Quote from: High Fielder on May 02, 2023, 02:22:35 PM
Can we not just start the club championship instead? Sorry, I just have no appetite for this

Sadly I dont think we will be in it for long.

Quote from: High Fielder on May 02, 2023, 02:22:35 PM
Can we not just start the club championship instead? Sorry, I just have no appetite for this

I would get used to this . It's the future .

Why would there be no appetite? We've no chance winning Sam (same as most counties) so why not be in a competition where they have a chance? The Offaly game should have a big interest if the marketed properly.

Don't mean to offend anyone and probably shouldn't have posted that. Good luck to the lads as always, but I have zero interest. Not even getting into what chance we may or may not have. Laois GAA is painful at the minute

could they have had one group with 5 teams instead of giving new york a bye  or the worst 3rd place team has  a playoff with new york suppose if u are the worse third place team you got yourself to blame.

The final should be probably the Saturday before all Ireland.

Cavan (away)  May 13/14
Offaly (home)  May 20/21
London (neutral) June 3/4

Last championship game I was at was 2019 v Offaly when Laois handled them easy in o Moore park be interesting to see how this game goes

We might give them a rattle but can't see us troubling them that much. They are well advanced compared to us .

Cavan away will be tough, we could put it up to Offaly and London should be beatable. Wonder where the London game will be??

Toughest draw we could have got .
Best top seeds and best 2nd seeds .

We will need to keep the scores down and hope a healty win v London might scrape us through

Quote from: Junior Ex Laoistalk on May 02, 2023, 11:58:11 PM
Cavan away will be tough, we could put it up to Offaly and London should be beatable. Wonder where the London game will be??

Parnell Park or Navan apparently.

Quote from: Unlaoised on May 03, 2023, 08:59:42 AM
Toughest draw we could have got .
Best top seeds and best 2nd seeds .

We will need to keep the scores down and hope a healty win v London might scrape us through

Offaly are nothing special but they are still ahead of us . I hear Jordan Hayes has rejoined their panel for the Tailteann cup which is a huge boost to their midfield .

Could Donie Kingston be asked back in for Tailteann Cup and given one last hurrah in a Laois jersey. Granted he's not going to be peak Donie but with three round robin games and a few weeks hard training he surely get himself into reasonable condition to do some sort of job in full forward. We probably could afford to lose two of our round robin games and still beat London by enough of a margin to squeek into the preliminary quarter final. It would also allow Evan to be moved further out the field where his size and physicality are sorely needed.   

Quote from: Junior Ex Laoistalk on May 02, 2023, 11:58:11 PM
Cavan away will be tough, we could put it up to Offaly and London should be beatable. Wonder where the London game will be??

The Isle of man would be best suited geographically.

Last year, Sheehan took advantage of the TC to introduce some under 20s to his team. Although Laois lost to Westmeath in the opening round, those young guys didn't do at all badly. I hope he does so again this year.

Quote from: Chrimtain on May 09, 2023, 09:59:32 AM
Last year, Sheehan took advantage of the TC to introduce some under 20s to his team. Although Laois lost to Westmeath in the opening round, those young guys didn't do at all badly. I hope he does so again this year.

Some 20s brought into panel after exiting championship. Will be interesting alright wherher theyre blooded. I believe the seniors played Wexford in a challenge match last week when minors were playing. Didn't hear the result. Hopefully give a good account of themselves in the TC.

Same 15 as normal . No u20s on the panel . Thought 1 or 2 may have made the panel Saturday. Heard a few are heading Stateside for the summer .

I have a bad feeling about this hope I'm wrong.

Quote from: Gmac on May 11, 2023, 10:51:19 PM
I have a bad feeling about this hope I'm wrong.

A bad feeling about which ? This Cavan game ? Or the Tailteann cup itself ?

Hopefully we actually have something resembling a defensive plan for Saturday, although I wouldn't hold my breath. We need to stick as tight as possible for the first half, not go foolhardy like last time and get blown out of the water after 4 minutes.

Why Billy persists with the same modus operandi every time is a bit strange to see the least. Personally, I would like to see a few positional switches, namely Rob Piggott and Paddy O'Sullivan in particular back in the half back line, where they play at club level. Sean O'Flynn's best qualities are the stickiness of his defending. I get he offers some pace and occasional surging runs from deep, but he doesn't offer much of a shooting threat. I don't see why he couldn't be tried in at full back given we leak goals like a veteran ship taking water.

Not sure Damon Larkin's best position is midfield either. Ciaran Burke was one of the best midfielders in the county last year and can't get a look in! Just a bit of experimentation Billy, that's all I ask. Not like we've anything to lose at this point anyways.

Quote from: Laoiseabu on May 11, 2023, 11:20:26 PM

Quote from: Gmac on May 11, 2023, 10:51:19 PM
I have a bad feeling about this hope I'm wrong.

A bad feeling about which ? This Cavan game ? Or the Tailteann cup itself ?

this game and the competition

Quote from: Countyminor on May 11, 2023, 11:42:34 PM
Hopefully we actually have something resembling a defensive plan for Saturday, although I wouldn't hold my breath. We need to stick as tight as possible for the first half, not go foolhardy like last time and get blown out of the water after 4 minutes.

Why Billy persists with the same modus operandi every time is a bit strange to see the least. Personally, I would like to see a few positional switches, namely Rob Piggott and Paddy O'Sullivan in particular back in the half back line, where they play at club level. Sean O'Flynn's best qualities are the stickiness of his defending. I get he offers some pace and occasional surging runs from deep, but he doesn't offer much of a shooting threat. I don't see why he couldn't be tried in at full back given we leak goals like a veteran ship taking water.

Not sure Damon Larkin's best position is midfield either. Ciaran Burke was one of the best midfielders in the county last year and can't get a look in! Just a bit of experimentation Billy, that's all I ask. Not like we've anything to lose at this point anyways.

Surprised Finn is not starting after recovering from injury he was decent early in the league when we won a few games and adds size against a big Cavan team around the middle.

the team looks to have undergone serious surgery if the rumours are to be believed, does anybody know how the challenge matches went for the supposed radical changes?

Quote from: on the hop on May 12, 2023, 10:11:01 PM
the team looks to have undergone serious surgery if the rumours are to be believed, does anybody know how the challenge matches went for the supposed radical changes?

Heard the opposite while at the Stradbally and Port match earlier .

Quote from: on the hop on May 12, 2023, 10:11:01 PM
the team looks to have undergone serious surgery if the rumours are to be believed, does anybody know how the challenge matches went for the supposed radical changes?

Are you saying there could be a good few changes to the starting team tomorrow?

Quote from: on the hop on May 12, 2023, 10:11:01 PM
the team looks to have undergone serious surgery if the rumours are to be believed, does anybody know how the challenge matches went for the supposed radical changes?

Highly doubtful the 20s whom came in all played club fixtures last night.

This competition was made to develop players it'll be a shame if game Time isn't given to a few of the usual starting 15

So the rumours were true, numerous changes and every line changed, new keeper, Lacey corner back , Finn midfield , Doyle full forward

Tough playing against 16 men here

I must have watched this back at least 10 times now. Can anyone explain what the penalty is for here?

https://twitter.com/officialgaa/status/1657408006567481346?s=46&t=Ancne6dv6V-4IoF20RwI7w

Quote from: Countyminor on May 13, 2023, 04:51:13 PM
I must have watched this back at least 10 times now. Can anyone explain what the penalty is for here?

https://twitter.com/officialgaa/status/1657408006567481346?s=46&t=Ancne6dv6V-4IoF20RwI7w

Footblock

Does Sheehan intend every game to embarrass us and p1ss off all around him? Giving us laois folk a bad rap with his antics.

Quote from: 5times5times on May 13, 2023, 11:30:07 PM
Does Sheehan intend every game to embarrass us and p1ss off all around him? Giving us laois folk a bad rap with his antics.

This is par for the course unfortunately.

A lot of positives to be taken out of yesterday.

The first half and in particular the first 20 minutes was some of the best football Laois have played in the last couple of years. Sublime scores from Mark Barry, Kieran Lillis, Padraig Kirwan, Paul Kingston and Evan O'Carroll who caused the Cavan defence a rake of problems and took a brilliant goal early on.

Speaking of defence, that was the most pleasing during the first half. Clearly a lot of work has been done in this regard since Dublin 3 weeks ago and it showed. Well organised, good tacking, a couple of great blocks against a Cavan team who are favourites for the Tailteann and a lot of them have Ulster titles to their name. Roche was excellent in the first half with good kickouts. Also, there was no way that was a penalty for Cavan, was never a footblock.

In fairness, Cavan dominated the 3rd quater of the game. They pushed up on our kickouts and we couldn't get hold of the ball. But we made them earn their scores, most of them were excellent shots from way out the park. Bare in mind that Cavan ran Armagh to 5 points a few weeks ago in the Ulster championship.

We showed great character and resolve to fight back from 9 points down to bring it back to 5 at 1-18 to 1-13 and we had momentum then. An effort fell into the keeper's hands then which would have brought it back to 4 but Cavan then went up and scored a great score to make the margin 6 points. Lads ran themselves into the ground and there was no shortage of desire. A late Cavan goal in injury time wrapped it up.

The lads have restored pride in the jersey and there should be a buzz in training as we get ready for Offaly next Saturday.

ur the sort o fella who sees evry rainbow

Quote from: County Man on May 14, 2023, 12:15:07 PM
A lot of positives to be taken out of yesterday.

The first half and in particular the first 20 minutes was some of the best football Laois have played in the last couple of years. Sublime scores from Mark Barry, Kieran Lillis, Padraig Kirwan, Paul Kingston and Evan O'Carroll who caused the Cavan defence a rake of problems and took a brilliant goal early on.

Speaking of defence, that was the most pleasing during the first half. Clearly a lot of work has been done in this regard since Dublin 3 weeks ago and it showed. Well organised, good tacking, a couple of great blocks against a Cavan team who are favourites for the Tailteann and a lot of them have Ulster titles to their name. Roche was excellent in the first half with good kickouts. Also, there was no way that was a penalty for Cavan, was never a footblock.

In fairness, Cavan dominated the 3rd quater of the game. They pushed up on our kickouts and we couldn't get hold of the ball. But we made them earn their scores, most of them were excellent shots from way out the park. Bare in mind that Cavan ran Armagh to 5 points a few weeks ago in the Ulster championship.

We showed great character and resolve to fight back from 9 points down to bring it back to 5 at 1-18 to 1-13 and we had momentum then. An effort fell into the keeper's hands then which would have brought it back to 4 but Cavan then went up and scored a great score to make the margin 6 points. Lads ran themselves into the ground and there was no shortage of desire. A late Cavan goal in injury time wrapped it up.

The lads have restored pride in the jersey and there should be a buzz in training as we get ready for Offaly next Saturday.

Completely clutching at straws

"They've a game in seven days. Nobody is dead. Granted the abuse will come but that will comes with the job anyway – we'll take the abuse and move on."

Taken from Laois Today. What's he on about?

Who said that? Sheehan or the LT reporter?

reckon we best offaly, no great shake n look to be startin to gas.

In many ways it turned out as expected, well beaten by a better team but none of the trauma of the Dublin game. With our heavily defensive approach we weren't going to give up as many goal chances as the last day, we did give three with one converted (recurring theme all year) , the penalty was the refs gift to them. The rumoured changes came to pass and the keeper did ok and joins the  ever increasing keepers to have played in the last few years. Lacey unfortunately was hooked early but is he really a corner back?, paddy o Sullivan was back in his normal position but doesn't seem to be going well at the moment. Finn in allowed Larkin to wing forward where he worked hard. The Doyle situation is hard to figure out , was he full forward? , was he a distraction tactic on kickouts ? Was he there to contest long ball ? It's hard to know because bar one cross ball nothing went near him and at the end we were ballooning balls in that might have actually suited him if he had come on than started. Once I saw him running back into the defensive screen there was no reason to believe that he had the mobility to get back to full forward for any ball in to help Evan , go what was his selection for then ?

With such a defensive screen we unfortunately ran into a Cavan team that could kick points outside the zone. 20/26 is good shooting but at times there was no pressure. The gift of the penalty and not using the wind enough in the first half was going to make the second half a slog. The period from the 3rd minute of injury time when Evan scored to the 58th minute when Lillis popped a point we were hammered. The legs seemed gone and a very heavy defeat looked on the cards but in fairness they battled back and got it into single digits. The concession rate is still a huge issue, even taking out the Dublin record score , we still have conceded 4-33 in the Wexford/Cavan games.  Lose to Offaly at home then we don't really deserve to go any further.

Pretty typical of our year so far overall . The of use of Doyle was very confusing. Timmons pumped numerous balls into the full forward line in which O'Carroll generally won . Doyle wasn't used apart from maybe one occasion.

I thought that Roche in goals was an improvement. His kick out accuracy was definitely an improvement and made a couple of good saves in the second half .
Forwards blow too hot and cold as has been the way for a good while now .

It's clear to see our fitness and stamina is at a division 4 level . We were out on our feet after 40 mins again. Got a second wind with 5 mins left when the match was over .

Dismal crowd from Laois in attendance . Saying that probably only about 800 present after the exodus of Kildare and Sligo fans .

After all the doom and gloom, I think Laois deserve credit for a good performance tonight.

Quote from: Chrimtain on May 20, 2023, 09:22:27 PM
After all the doom and gloom, I think Laois deserve credit for a good performance tonight.

Are we that stuck we celebrate losing a 6 point lead at home 😳

Who said anything about celebrating? No one, particularly Laois people, gave us any chance tonight. Fitness cost us in the end, but I still think it was a creditable performance.

It certainly wasn't error free, but the Laois team and management deserve some credit.

Although we threw away a big lead, I saw a Laois team play with great spirit tonight.

I hope they can build on it.

Quote from: Chrimtain on May 20, 2023, 09:54:12 PM
Who said anything about celebrating? No one, particularly Laois people, gave us any chance tonight. Fitness cost us in the end, but I still think it was a creditable performance.

It certainly wasn't error free, but the Laois team and management deserve some credit.

Although we threw away a big lead, I saw a Laois team play with great spirit tonight.

I hope they can build on it.

Well said

Quote from: georgedoylesrightleg on May 14, 2023, 09:24:25 PM
reckon we best offaly, no great shake n look to be startin to gas.

Listen

Quote from: Chrimtain on May 20, 2023, 09:54:12 PM
Who said anything about celebrating? No one, particularly Laois people, gave us any chance tonight. Fitness cost us in the end, but I still think it was a creditable performance.

It certainly wasn't error free, but the Laois team and management deserve some credit.

Although we threw away a big lead, I saw a Laois team play with great spirit tonight.

I hope they can build on it.

The spirit levels of the team have never been in question. Whether it was against Waterford in the league to last evening in Portlaoise the team have always shown great spirit .

That was an offaly team there for the taking . They are poor enough . They've been through a lot this year in fairness .
The fact we are still struggling with our fitness is baffling though .

Last night was completely replicant of the past 2/3 years and it's clear to see we are making zero progress .

That felt like a defeat, you would be fooling yourself if you thought any other way. The players walked off very dissappointed and even Sheehan said "we are on the floor" afterwards in his interview. Offaly stood on the pitch surrounded by their supporters celebrating a victory of sorts. It was an awful game at times, real poor quality stuff where neither side seemed to know what they were at and only got entertaining near the end both on the field and the terrace where a few hold me back merchants half squared up to each other. 6 points up with 2 minutes on the clock but once the 5 minutes extra was signalled we seemed to take the few steps back defensively and retreated from the 40 back towards the 30 and at times even closer. It made it much easier for them to shoot from there. The shape went out the window and we were praying for a draw. We committed so many self inflicted wounds, the wild shooting in the first half and at the end from players who should no better, the two turnovers in injury time and the 1-1 we conceded from nothing balls into the square where we outnumbered them and still managed to mess it up. Two weeks to London and it's hard to know where it goes after that.

At least we now won't suffer the embarrassment of finishing in the bottom 5 sides in the country (once we don't mess up to London) and not reach the knock out stages of the Tailteann Cup. Scoring difference could come into play if Cavan beat Offaly. We may still finish second in the group giving us another home game against most likely Wexford/Leitrim, Carlow or New York. If we do finish third we will be away to possibly Antrim/Fermanagh, Longford or Meath/Down. I wouldn't fancy our chances in two of those ties so lets home results go favorably for us in round three of the group stages. If we do not make a quarter final then the county board will have to consider if the Billy Sheehan project is worth committing to for a third year.   

Quote from: Laois Rising on May 22, 2023, 11:26:00 AM
At least we now won't suffer the embarrassment of finishing in the bottom 5 sides in the country (once we don't mess up to London) and not reach the knock out stages of the Tailteann Cup. Scoring difference could come into play if Cavan beat Offaly. We may still finish second in the group giving us another home game against most likely Wexford/Leitrim, Carlow or New York. If we do finish third we will be away to possibly Antrim/Fermanagh, Longford or Meath/Down. I wouldn't fancy our chances in two of those ties so lets home results go favorably for us in round three of the group stages. If we do not make a quarter final then the county board will have to consider if the Billy Sheehan project is worth committing to for a third year.   

Sheehan won't be involved next year regardless of upcoming results .

Quote from: Chrimtain on May 20, 2023, 09:54:12 PM
Who said anything about celebrating? No one, particularly Laois people, gave us any chance tonight. Fitness cost us in the end, but I still think it was a creditable performance.

It certainly wasn't error free, but the Laois team and management deserve some credit.

Although we threw away a big lead, I saw a Laois team play with great spirit tonight.

I hope they can build on it.

I don't think we should patronise the players, they are the ones putting in the commitment to represent their county so anyone who does that deserves credit without a doubt. But they know that result was not good enough given the position they were in. Fair enough it was an improvement on what we have seen this year but we could not get it over the line and the fact that you and others have mentioned fitness as being one of the main differences between the teams in the last 10 minutes or so tells its own story in terms how well prepared the team is.

Going into Saturday evenings game, few would have given Laois a chance of getting a result, myself included. Offaly had a decent division 3 campaign and followed up in Leinster by beating Longford away, division 2 Meath at home and took 3rd place in division 2 Louth to extra time.

Having said that, we should have won. We owned the first half and should have been more than 6 up at the break. Fine scores kicked by a number of our lads but unfortunately a number of wides as well. Defence was excellent, well organised and 4 or 5 important turnovers in that first half.

We stemmed the tide then after Offaly kicked 2 early scores in the second half. At 1-9 to 0-7 up, we had a super opportunity to wrap things up with a second goal as we had a 3 v 2 overlap, but that chance was spurned.

Roche, who again was excellent in goals, made a great save to stop Offaly and his kickouts were excellent. We had a winning look when Corbet put over our last point to make it 1-11 to 0-8.

The sheer effort and committment caught up with us at the end. We ran out of gas and Offaly picked off late scores to level. Mark Barry was unlucky right at the end to snatch it for us, just narrowly wide.

Paddy O'Sullivan was excellent with 2 great points, Padraig Kirwan was excellent, Damon Larkin was brilliant in the middle and 2 fine scores. Defence overall was tigerish as a unit. Great to see Colm Murphy back in from the start. A good spread of scores in the forwards. Finn worked his socks off. There were more options to come in from the bench.

Plenty to build on. The players deserve more support. About 2000 at the game, Offaly outnumbered us about 3 to 1. We have London next in a neutral venue on June 3 and see where it takes us. A win gets us out of the group. Depending on score difference, we may do enough to nick 2nd place which would give us a home preliminary quater final.

Quote from: County Man on May 22, 2023, 04:24:43 PM
Going into Saturday evenings game, few would have given Laois a chance of getting a result, myself included. Offaly had a decent division 3 campaign and followed up in Leinster by beating Longford away, division 2 Meath at home and took 3rd place in division 2 Louth to extra time.

Having said that, we should have won. We owned the first half and should have been more than 6 up at the break. Fine scores kicked by a number of our lads but unfortunately a number of wides as well. Defence was excellent, well organised and 4 or 5 important turnovers in that first half.

We stemmed the tide then after Offaly kicked 2 early scores in the second half. At 1-9 to 0-7 up, we had a super opportunity to wrap things up with a second goal as we had a 3 v 2 overlap, but that chance was spurned.

Roche, who again was excellent in goals, made a great save to stop Offaly and his kickouts were excellent. We had a winning look when Corbet put over our last point to make it 1-11 to 0-8.

The sheer effort and committment caught up with us at the end. We ran out of gas and Offaly picked off late scores to level. Mark Barry was unlucky right at the end to snatch it for us, just narrowly wide.

Paddy O'Sullivan was excellent with 2 great points, Padraig Kirwan was excellent, Damon Larkin was brilliant in the middle and 2 fine scores. Defence overall was tigerish as a unit. Great to see Colm Murphy back in from the start. A good spread of scores in the forwards. Finn worked his socks off. There were more options to come in from the bench.

Plenty to build on. The players deserve more support. About 2000 at the game, Offaly outnumbered us about 3 to 1. We have London next in a neutral venue on June 3 and see where it takes us. A win gets us out of the group. Depending on score difference, we may do enough to nick 2nd place which would give us a home preliminary quater final.

You do realize, County Man, your excellent analysis of the match will be way too positive (and patronizing of the players) for some on here.

There are times when I think that some lads on here would almost prefer Laois to lose. If someone had offered me a draw on Saturday morning then I'd have taken their hand off but now that they have achieved a very creditable result there are people who still haven't a positive thing to say. Maybe they lost the lead due to the incredible amount of hard work they put in for the first 65 mins cos they definitely outran and outworked Offaly during that period. Every team gets a run at some stage and offaly got theirs very late. Now no one is suggesting that all is brilliant but at least give the whole setup some credit for a decent result.

Laois v London Saturday week in Parnell Park at 3pm .

said laois wud win. Laois shuda won. offsly no great shakes.

Quote from: Spiritof86 on May 22, 2023, 09:24:42 PM
Laois v London Saturday week in Parnell Park at 3pm .

Hate Parnell Park. Would've preferred a bigger pitch. Points difference could be a factor.

Agree, its an awful tight pitch. You can see why Dublin hurlers wanted to move their games out of there this year. An 18 point swing will be hard to achieve where space is at a premium. I do not expect Cavan to put up a huge winning margin on Offaly as any sort of win will do them so we will probably need to beat London by a minimum of 15 points. A very tall ask. 

I would never want any Laois team to lose any match no matter how much I feel the ship is being run poorly. Im gutted as a supporter and for all involved. I am just pointing out issues I see and am giving my opinion on here. I get we have to focus on the games and take the positives from it but I feel in Laois we have a bit of an inferiority complex at times and accept mediocrity easily.

Its only a couple of years ago I was watching Laois teams under Eddie Brennan and John Sugrue gaining promotions and getting the best out of the resources they had and the drop off since has been dramatic. We seem to just amble along and accept our lot, one of the reasons counties who win things actually win things is they never accept this and challenge it.

I hope the performance against Offaly can spark some resurgence and the season can finish positively.

I hope his changes don't be as bad as the last day it totally changed the game

Can anyone see us making second in the group? I reckon it would be our only chance to progress further. A trip to Down or Meath will definately be too much for us I think.

Realistically we have to say that to get second is a very tall order. Offaly at plus 9, Laois stand at -9.

If we take this year's league games into account, Laois went over to London and won by 10 points and Cavan went to Offaly and won by 7. Even with a repeat scenario, we would fall short.

Bottom line is that we need to give London the respect they deserve and try get the win that would get us out of the group. Then we can look at where we end up.

The preliminary quater final draw takes place on Saturday evening.

Laois team v London

                        Killian Roche

  Sean Greene, Trevor Collins, Robbie Pigott
Padraig Kirwan, Mark Timmons , P O'Sullivan

                Kieran Lillis, Damon Larkin

   Cathal Doyle, Paul Kingston, James Finn
     Eoin Lowry, Evan O'Carroll, Mark Barry

Subs:
Scott Osborne, Alex Mohan, Seamus Lacey, Sean O'Flynn, Kevin Swayne, Ciaran Burke, Damien O'Connor, Dylan Kavanagh, Niall Corbet, Brian Daly, Colm Murphy

Meath 1-11 Down 1-9 result. 17 wides I think they said for Down.

Drew with London, be people on here saying we don't have the players to compete with London etc etc.

Very lucky to scrape a draw, I think that makes us officially the worse senior football team in Ireland

Quote from: Junior Ex Laoistalk on June 03, 2023, 04:43:20 PM
Very lucky to scrape a draw, I think that makes us officially the worse senior football team in Ireland

Should be absolutely embarrassed with themselves. Blame management all you like players have to step up. They're the ones playing. Not good enough.

Strangely worse than a loss as we get at least 1 more game under this manager.

Officially the lowest point

Serious questions to asked of the county board why this has been let go on for 2 chronic year's.

When I said this was a dreadful appointment at the County Board Meeting two years ago I was told Billy was a proud Laois Man and to shut up.  I also told Peter O Neill he was ruining my enjoyment of football.  Nobody batted an eyelid at this appointment, it's a disgrace.  Easy say the players but at U20 they are performing reasonably well without being world beaters.  Today's performance was bottom of the barrell so I think management is solely to blame. 

Quote from: Helix. on June 03, 2023, 05:07:22 PM

Quote from: Junior Ex Laoistalk on June 03, 2023, 04:43:20 PM
Very lucky to scrape a draw, I think that makes us officially the worse senior football team in Ireland

Should be absolutely embarrassed with themselves. Blame management all you like players have to step up. They're the ones playing. Not good enough.

Look at any sport where a decent manager comes in and gets the best out a group of players, I get its the players who cross he line and compete but good management teams get the best out of the players at their disposal. No offence to the current management set up but they are clearly not good enough. Im sorry if people take offence to that but the results clearly bare it out.

Quote from: Junior Ex Laoistalk on June 03, 2023, 04:43:20 PM
Very lucky to scrape a draw, I think that makes us officially the worse senior football team in Ireland

I'd say we're still better than Waterford but give him a little more time.....

It's a shambles on and off the field and don't let anyone tell you any different. A good mirror needed.

I know Sheehan is useless but the bigger picture here is that even when he leaves we are STILL going absolutely nowhere anytime soon . The problems in Laois football run MUCH deeper than just Billy Sheehan. That SHITESHOW up in Parnell park today is only the tip of the iceberg and let me tell you we will get even worse again . Lillis , Finn and Timmons might possibly hang it up after this year , apparently Greene and Pigott won't be committing next year and from what I've seen OCarroll is after getting very heavy and sluggish. I try to be less harsh but not beating London is the absolute bottom of the barrel . I just can't see ANY positives that make me think that there is light at the end of the tunnel in the near future .

I would say it here Laois would get to a tailteann cup semi under a half decent manager.  There are problems in Laois Football but this is a joke.  A bad one

It's quite remarkable that we've had four games in this competition and we've yet to win a single one.

Best to just cut the bandage off now and give Billy the boot. He's grossly out of his depth and completely and utterly clueless. I was actually optimistic for his appointment last year and after watching our good O'Byrne Cup run in early 2022 but giving him a second year on the back of a dismal relegation and a shitshow of a championship was an incredibly lazy decision to say the least. Watching this continue into this year is just painful and sad to watch. The apathy this football has generated among supporters is a rotten contagion.

If the CB had any sense they'd be looking for someone to step in immediately and prepare the lads for the next game.  The hopeless optimist in me would want to see Sugrue return or even someone like Eddie Kinsella from Courtwood who'd have worked with a lot of the lads at U20 to come in, although I highly doubt they'd be interested and I imagine regardless what happens Sheehan will lead us into the next game.

Maybe it's for the better. I highly doubt we'd win next time out anyways.

Everything in Laois GAA is run by people who only line up everything for their own clubs to prosper. Small minded, passive, reactive rubbish. The county board do their business behind closed doors. The media are not allowed in and the county doesn't even publish an agreed report. Unprofessional and no transparency. WHAT ARE THEY AFRAID OF? The media are mere cheerleaders. They refuse to call out the bullshit or are afraid to.

CLEAN OUT THE WHOLE LOT

It should have happened when Eddie Brennan shone a light on the county board.

Have we any pride?

Yes, we're at a very low ebb at the moment but let's hold fire until this campaign is over just out of respect for the players. Lads like Mark Timmons and Kiernan Lillis deserve at least that.
After this Tailteann Cup we do need a new manager to come in and try to lift us off the floor. If we get the next appointment right (and the best possible resources provided) we just might see some light at the end of this tunnel.

Just saw this on the hurling forum and it makes a lot of sense. This is really worrying for the future of GAA in Laois.

Quote

Quote from: Batman!!! on June 03, 2023, 07:32:41 PM
Now let's imagine your a business person and Laois GAA approach you for the 20k. Think about it and look at the people who would be asking you.

Chairperson - PJ Kelly, I can't think of one positive thing he has done in his role as Chairperson. No leadership or personality. Look across the border and see the influence Michael Duignan has had.

Hurling GDA - Declan Buggy, I don't know anything about him so I can't comment. I've heard some positive things from his previous job.

Football GDA - Donie Brennan, less said the better (represents alot of what's wrong with Laois GAA)

Head of S&C - Tom Hargroves, ran out of Tipp for running a very poor, laughable program with their senior hurlers. Their conditioning this year is chalk and cheese with last years. Just look at our senior footballers and how far they look off the pace from the middle of the road teams this year.

If 3 out of 4 of these people approached me I'd run a mile. No inspiration or initiative between them. Until we remove the deadwood and get passionate, progressive people involved we are wasting our time. We need to make Laois GAA a fashionable product and look at it as a business people want to investinandbe part of. If as it is in its current state is the best we can do, I certainly wouldn't be investing.

I'm just fed up of the whole thing and being bottom of the barrel. We will realistically never win an all ireland but we can be competitive and give people something to support and that kids want to be part of but right now, no chance. We are facilitating GAA not promoting it. Disillusioned with the whole thing.

Any Games Manager appointed yet or anyone know the candidates?

This is about as bad as it gets, and yes, they will get rid of Billy. I'm of the opinion that we could put a cardboard box on the line and we should still be beating London; but we didn't, so draw your own conclusions on that one.

I have sympathy for Billy. This County means a lot to him. He was eager and he genuinely wanted the job. There are plenty in Laois and elsewhere who swerved it because they know how bad things are, and were eager to keep their own, overly inflated reputations intact. Truth be told, Sugrue aside, there is nobody in the County remotely good enough to be even asked in my opinion. Some will disagree and good luck to them, but without going into specifics about individuals, I felt one who is lauded on here got badly found out in the last few years when he arguably had one of our better teams at his disposal.

Heading into injury time yesterday two points down the thought crossed my mind that it would be better if this ended today. a treasonous thought in a way but they dug out a draw which keeps things alive for another week, the draw for the next round will decide a lot and the attitude of the squad going forward, you have to fear any draw up north, that game in 2009 in Newry and the horrible vibe afterwards is still a memory. its hard to believe that from the start of the year where we were expecting promotion and a good run in this competition to now where we were suffering an eight point turn around and fighting for our lives against one of the poorest teams in the county. Maybe we got ahead of ourselves or over estimated how good the team was but that delusion should be gone now as we are clearly in the bottom three/ four counties in the country.

The big fear now is a bad defeat to end the year, which leads to a number of the older players retiring and a weak enough squad getting further hollowed out. As has happened in other counties and even at club level if your main adult team does not become an attractive proposition for younger players then they won't commit and you eventually stagnant at a level.

I'm surprised by your post OTH. 2 things. Did you not see this coming? And, with all due respect to any player, I don't think it matters who isn't there next year. What we need to fix won't be done so this year or next. In fact based on our current standing it's meaningless. We don't have the players (now) to fix this. Hopefully we will in the future, but things need to change

Quote from: High Fielder on June 04, 2023, 10:43:21 AM
I'm surprised by your post OTH. 2 things. Did you not see this coming? And, with all due respect to any player, I don't think it matters who isn't there next year. What we need to fix won't be done so this year or next. In fact based on our current standing it's meaningless. We don't have the players (now) to fix this. Hopefully we will in the future, but things need to change

i was trying to be positive after a few of the comments here after the offaly match !!!!! in fairness we were playing a team that had finished bottom of division four having conceded 117 points against scoring 82 points and i see on Laois Today they had lost 14 out of their last 15 games. so i wasn't expecting them especially as they play a heavily defensive game to notch up 2-14. i listened to the podcast on Laois Today and in fairness it was commented that this could be a banana skin, so maybe i was naïve in thinking with four of the better scoring forwards in the county playing that we could knock up a reasonable score. we had a goal to play for and a target which again i hoped would be the more than a motivation to see things through.

As for the other point, i am worried about next year and going forward into the future because its not just the football but it seems there are issues in a number of codes. Your senior adult teams are your flag ship teams that usually when going well generate interest, investment and opportunism in a county. when its over i hope there is a proper debate on whats happened.

No harm in being positive. But as someone whose opinion interests me, I'm sure you've seen the drop off in standards, particularly at club level. We're at a seriously low ebb here, and I accept your point about your Seniors being your flagship. That is why what's happening now isn't healthy for us. We're doing a lot of harm. It's counter productive to send out teams for this sort of humiliation. Supporters won't buy into that. Neither will the players or in fact future players. We need to get our house in order before we have the humiliation of not being able to field a team at short notice.

Stupid question, probably, but do members of the CB read this forum? Are they aware of the low esteem they are held in? Do they care? Are they worried about the state of the games in the county? Do they have a plan / a vision? What is their motivation for being on the CB?

These are just a few of the questions I'd like someone (e.g. a local journalist) to pose to the CB on our behalf

I dont pay to listen to Laois Today podcasts, but I would happily pay to listen to a podcast where the chairman of the CB was challenged on issues such as the above.

Quote from: Chrimtain on June 04, 2023, 01:12:31 PM
Stupid question, probably, but do members of the CB read this forum? Are they aware of the low esteem they are held in? Do they care? Are they worried about the state of the games in the county? Do they have a plan / a vision? What is their motivation for being on the CB?

These are just a few of the questions I'd like someone (e.g. a local journalist) to pose to the CB on our behalf

I dont pay to listen to Laois Today podcasts, but I would happily pay to listen to a podcast where the chairman of the CB was challenged on issues such as the above.

I genuinely believe Laois Today provide a great service, which incidentally we're lucky to have comparative to other small counties, but they rest their whole structure on a friendly relationship with players and officials in this county to the detriment of anything beyond a fairly superficial analysis of events. Every player involved on the club scene is a great lad, every club official is a great official... you'd get very little sense that things are actually cracking behind the scenes listening to Laois Today.

They probably don't see it in their interest to be more critical of the state of affairs in this county because they don't want to upset anyone. And they're probably right to a certain extent. Everyone involved is just an ordinary, decent person. I genuinely believe the people involved within the squad right up to the county board level care do about Laois, I just think they're just falling short on practically every front in terms of delivering a cohesive project.

We'll never get answers. In fact we're not even supposed to ask the questions. That's how we operate in Laois, and that in itself is pitiful. The lads in LT offer a great service, but they're hamstrung by everyone's inertia and their close friendships. I won't pay for the LT service because as good as it is, they might as well be talking or writing about 10 great things to do in Spink. No disrespect to Spink. First place that I could think of. It's just not worth paying for. There's not enough going on and the serious questions never get asked, particularly of those in the CB. We just need to flip the whole thing on its head. Be more transparent and run Laois games for the people of Laois and not just the chosen few. Just my opinion

We have a good few here calling for a complete change of county board. I'll play devil's advocate and ask who do these people suggest take over. A full executive top to bottom. Not too many legends sticking their heads above the parapet to take on any jobs in there. The chairman's position for instance requires them to be in OMP 6 days a week and that's with trying to hold down a job too. That's just one position. Have a scout around and see how many people you can get to do the various jobs. And before anyone says it I am not nor never have been on the Co board I've helped out with a few thins and see what a struggle it is to get people in

Quote from: Jd on June 04, 2023, 10:41:52 PM
We have a good few here calling for a complete change of county board. I'll play devil's advocate and ask who do these people suggest take over. A full executive top to bottom. Not too many legends sticking their heads above the parapet to take on any jobs in there. The chairman's position for instance requires them to be in OMP 6 days a week and that's with trying to hold down a job too. That's just one position. Have a scout around and see how many people you can get to do the various jobs. And before anyone says it I am not nor never have been on the Co board I've helped out with a few thins and see what a struggle it is to get people in

The county board personnel has changed quite a bit in the last couple of years apart from the Secretary which is a full time position so blaming the Co Board is a bit like blaming the government who take the hit irrespective of who is in power.  Before someone takes a pot shot at the Secretary, he has raised the thorny issue of restructuring our senior football championship for a few years but the clubs aren't interested. Therein lies the core problem in that our clubs put their own narrow interests ahead of the greater good.  Furthermore, small counties tend to get a good group of players once in a generation and the reality is we just don't have the players.   

Don't want to delve much into Laois football structures here except to say that the full system needs to be looked at openly, honestly and urgently if we're to try to steer the ship in the right direction again and become properly competitive again like we have traditionally been overall down through the years. A full long term plan needs to be drawn up obviously with a particular focus on developing underage talent. I get that we will never be world beaters but we as a county can certainly do better.

We only have to look at our neighbours Offaly who are very much back on the right track with the under 20 football All Ireland in 2021 and today competing in the under 20 hurling final. A dual county like ourselves with a small population. What a talent Adam Screeney is! We could do with a boy wonder ourselves like we have had in the past with the likes of Michael Lawlor, Beano McDonald, Tom Kelly and Donie Kingston.

On the London game, it truly was a shock to the nerves. It reminded me of the first round qualifier against Antrim in 2015 where we were cruising at half time, Antrim got a goal back, built momentum, and ended up getting a second goal late in the game to beat us by 2 points. Thankfully this time and to start with a positive, we got the 2 points at the end in injury time to force a draw and keep ourselves alive in the Tailteann cup.

Of course, we should never have found ourselves in this position having started so well, 0-7 to 0-0 ahead after 19 minutes and fully deserving of a 6 point lead at half time. In fairness to London they were very accurate in the second half, build momentum and took their goals well.

After the Dublin game, we responded well with decent performances against Cavan and Offaly. We now have a chance to respond against Fermanagh next weekend in Enniskillen. A tough task no doubt but we have a chance. Wexford went there and got a draw in their Tailteann cup game and Offaly beat Fermanagh in the league. Wexford drew with London in the league. In many ways, there is not much between a lot of the teams in division 3 and division 4. Carlow have went from a mediocre national league to now finishing 2nd in their group beating Wicklow and Longford.

Quote from: Jd on June 04, 2023, 10:41:52 PM
We have a good few here calling for a complete change of county board. I'll play devil's advocate and ask who do these people suggest take over. A full executive top to bottom. Not too many legends sticking their heads above the parapet to take on any jobs in there. The chairman's position for instance requires them to be in OMP 6 days a week and that's with trying to hold down a job too. That's just one position. Have a scout around and see how many people you can get to do the various jobs. And before anyone says it I am not nor never have been on the Co board I've helped out with a few thins and see what a struggle it is to get people in

People tend to be inspired by leaders. You're right; we don't appear to have a Duignan type figure amongst us. But Offaly are not struggling any more, and they were, just like us. There's a reason for that, a very clear and obvious reason.

People will donate their time and money when they believe in the cause. Not many have faith in what we're doing at the moment. It's gone stale. In fact it's hard to imagine how much worse it could be. If that's not a reason to change, I don't know what is. We're not talking about change for changes sake or because we don't like the people. This isn't personal. We're talking about change because we are in brutal condition and we badly need leadership. It probably should have happened years ago because let's face it, our current mess is a long time in the making.

There are very good GAA people in Laois, we should be able to get the best people around a table to drive through change. If Im not mistaken Niall Rigney had changes he thought should be implemented when he was in charge and nothing happened, Eddie Brennen was suggesting some changes also in his talk to Wolly, Cheddar also. How many former players are a success at business level, the likes of Seamus Dooley who run their own companies etc. Could we get the best brains involved even at some consultancy level to at least draw up a plan.

Also Nicky Brennan did a 3 year plan in 2018, what happened with that? Was it properly implemented?

Like posters on here are saying we have not suddenly found ourselves in this position, its been a steady slide downwards.

Delegates need to stand up at county board meetings and demand change, push proposals etc

The clubs have the power to make change but as somebody said it's up to individuals to put themselves forward to inspire the change.

Quote from: redsetanta on June 06, 2023, 11:06:00 AM
Delegates need to stand up at county board meetings and demand change, push proposals etc

The clubs have the power to make change but as somebody said it's up to individuals to put themselves forward to inspire the change.

These are the reasons preventing change from happening. If a delegate goes against the grain, they get outvoted. In time they get black balled and eventually walk away. The process is as outdated as it is ridiculous. It'd be easier to overthrow Putin

Quote from: Joeythelips on June 06, 2023, 10:35:38 AM
There are very good GAA people in Laois, we should be able to get the best people around a table to drive through change. If Im not mistaken Niall Rigney had changes he thought should be implemented when he was in charge and nothing happened, Eddie Brennen was suggesting some changes also in his talk to Wolly, Cheddar also. How many former players are a success at business level, the likes of Seamus Dooley who run their own companies etc. Could we get the best brains involved even at some consultancy level to at least draw up a plan.

Also Nicky Brennan did a 3 year plan in 2018, what happened with that? Was it properly implemented?

Like posters on here are saying we have not suddenly found ourselves in this position, its been a steady slide downwards.

The last thing we need is another plan to be drawn up

There's at least 4 plans gathering dust in the County Board offices

Get them down and dust them off

They are even more relevant now because we are in an even bigger hole than what we were when they were drawn up 

Here's another small example in terms of organisation of where Offaly are miles ahead of us

https://offaly.gaa.ie/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2023/02/2023-Underage-Fixtures-Pack-2.pdf

Quote from: High Fielder on June 04, 2023, 02:41:37 PM
We'll never get answers. In fact we're not even supposed to ask the questions. That's how we operate in Laois, and that in itself is pitiful. The lads in LT offer a great service, but they're hamstrung by everyone's inertia and their close friendships. I won't pay for the LT service because as good as it is, they might as well be talking or writing about 10 great things to do in Spink. No disrespect to Spink. First place that I could think of. It's just not worth paying for. There's not enough going on and the serious questions never get asked, particularly of those in the CB. We just need to flip the whole thing on its head. Be more transparent and run Laois games for the people of Laois and not just the chosen few. Just my opinion

Laois Today provide a great service to GAA across the county from u13 match reports right up to their podcasts

They have been barred from the monthly County Board meetings for the past 3 years not because they did anything wrong,

it's just down to a lack of transparency with the county board that they don't want the media covering any of their meetings

You'd swear they had something to hide

Just one thing to mention is that the size and population of Laois is used as a reason of why we should expect to fail but looking at latest populations we can see other counties punching above their weight and I get that we are a duel county.
https://populationdata.org.uk/ireland-counties/ (https://populationdata.org.uk/ireland-counties/)

Quote from: clonadmad on June 06, 2023, 12:00:12 PM

Quote from: Joeythelips on June 06, 2023, 10:35:38 AM
There are very good GAA people in Laois, we should be able to get the best people around a table to drive through change. If Im not mistaken Niall Rigney had changes he thought should be implemented when he was in charge and nothing happened, Eddie Brennen was suggesting some changes also in his talk to Wolly, Cheddar also. How many former players are a success at business level, the likes of Seamus Dooley who run their own companies etc. Could we get the best brains involved even at some consultancy level to at least draw up a plan.

Also Nicky Brennan did a 3 year plan in 2018, what happened with that? Was it properly implemented?

Like posters on here are saying we have not suddenly found ourselves in this position, its been a steady slide downwards.

The last thing we need is another plan to be drawn up

There's at least 4 plans gathering dust in the County Board offices

Get them down and dust them off

They are even more relevant now because we are in an even bigger hole than what we were when they were drawn up 

Here's another small example in terms of organisation of where Offaly are miles ahead of us

https://offaly.gaa.ie/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2023/02/2023-Underage-Fixtures-Pack-2.pdf

If this is the case then serious questions need to be asked of the people in charge, why have report findings not been implemented? Crazy stuff. No wonder we are in the current mess.

we will bate firmanagh

Quote from: georgedoylesrightleg on June 09, 2023, 08:25:59 AM
we will bate firmanagh
[/quote





Love your optimism. Will head up and support the lads but it feels different the past two years . Away games with Laois used to be always filled with hope .
In my opinion Sean O'Flynn should be in centre field with Damo Larkin .

Go on you boys in Blue 8)

Great win for Laois and delighted for the lads. Laois have a good record playing away in Ulster for some unknown reason. 1-2 for Timmons and 1-1 the last day, what a great player he is and has been for Laois over the years

Quote from: georgedoylesrightleg on June 09, 2023, 08:25:59 AM
we will bate firmanagh

Yes wer told

A question ?, has anyone seen or heard on Social Media the players being abused as far as I am aware the only people that are getting stick is the management.  I firmly believe this group under Sugrue would at least get to a tailteann cup semi.  I doubt Billy will be around much longer, but stranger things have happened.  The above question is every time Billy talks it's about players getting stick which I don't think they are.

They got stick after London. I was critical myself after that and I don't mind admitting it. We all appreciate the commitment of these lads, but that was a rubbish performance and they knew it themselves. They're no world beaters but you can't wrap them in cotton wool either. They don't get a pass because everything else is in rag order. As for Billy, he's diverting attention in all probability. He must have wolfed down on the Mourinho and Ferguson handbook. Billy is the least of our worries still in my opinion.

dishustig interview. shame on him takin shine off de players win like dis

Only thing worse than a bad loser is a bad winner.
His skin must be fairly thin.

Let the player's enjoy the win instead of using it as a pulpit for his own agenda.

He's trying to create a siege mentality for the players. Hopefully they get a nice draw and build on the win yesterday.

Fantastic result in Brewster Park yesterday evening. In what was a tense and cagey affair, our lads deserve tremendous credit for delivering a full performace for the 70/75 minutes to record a deserved victory against hot favourites Fermanagh.

We were well organised early doors and had a structured plan that kept things tight. We grew into the game and found ourselves 0-5 to 0-2 up due to fine scores finished by the man in the best position to score. The pick of the bunch was Mark Timmon's point, just quick thinking to chip the breaking ball over off the ground from about 25 yards out. Evan O'Carroll who was tightly marked all game got a fantastic score then just before half time. I didn't spot the incident that led to the Fermanagh sending off but the referee had no hesitation in issuing a red card.

Fermanagh had a purple patch early in the second halfp to go 8-6 up and you just felt that Laois needed to get the next score to break that momentum. Our goal was a brilliantly worked team goal finished sublimely by Timmo and then a sweet point from O'Carroll. The chips were down when Fermanagh goaled a minute later to go 1-8 to 1-7 up but great character was shown from there. I felt that our midfielders (Kieran Lillis and Damon Larkin) were excellent all game.

Edge of the seat stuff then but Mark Barry took the last score wonderfully in injury time to put us 1-11 to 1-9 up so they needed a goal. Heart in mouth stuff right at the end with that goalmouth scramble! Thankfully we survived!

Very encouraging result and joyous scenes at the end. Fermanagh will play division 2 football next year. Great win for us against the odds.

Quater final draw tomorrow morning around 830 and it will be an away game against either Limerick, Antrim or Meath.

Laois Abu

How did we end up with such a dislikeable manager. The supporters of Laois GAA are not giving out about the players. The genuine supporters know they are giving their best.

All the criticism is of him. He has not got the personality to be a manager, he resources to bully boy tactics whe ever he is under pressure.

Quote from: Butch Cassidy on June 11, 2023, 11:46:30 AM
He's trying to create a siege mentality for the players. Hopefully they get a nice draw and build on the win yesterday.

his attackin laois peeple

Quote from: Butch Cassidy on June 11, 2023, 11:46:30 AM
He's trying to create a siege mentality for the players. Hopefully they get a nice draw and build on the win yesterday.

i think Limerick possibly would be the best draw, Antrim and Meath would be slightly tougher away from home. Timmons would be a big loss as he is nearly our top scorer at the moment !!!!.

The lads played with a lot of fight and determination yesterday like they've doing all year . Last weekend against London been the exception. Thought our tackling was better yesterday and in fairness to Lillis  he was on it from the start . Fermanagh folk genuinely expected to win yesterday . Maybe it translated into there players .

Timmons will be a huge loss if he's not available next week . He's the real leader of that team .
Whatever happens Billy won't be around next year  . As someone said the problems lay elsewhere.
Limerick wouldn't be the worst draw.

His comments were another sign he is not good enough to be an inter county coach. Siege mentality guff is the stuff of 90s GAA club management.
He is responsible for preparing the squad for each match and having presided over abject failure the past 2 seasons he has a pop at critics when they have a decent result. Like all on here I hope Laois win the thing out but I don't think they will as although they are limited they are also hamstrung by having, in my opinion, a poor inter county management team.

feel for plauers, we're laffing stock again. terrible

So Limerick it is , probably the best of the draws. They have won two of their three games so much the same level.

Quote from: on the hop on June 12, 2023, 08:47:28 AM
So Limerick it is , probably the best of the draws. They have won two of their three games so much the same level.

Yep, best draw we could have got. As you say 2 sides at essentially the same level and if Laois can beat Fermanagh they can beat Limerick. I think the GAA need to take a look at this tournament and run it similar to the Joe McDonagh Cup in hurling so the winners not only go up to AI series next year but they and finalists get a title at the AI that year. Otherwise it will end up like Tommy Murphy cup where squads get him by players heading to US etc. It was indicated on Sunday Game that Offaly had lost a few before Wexfords for this very reason.

Best possible draw hopefully the players can push on after the year they have had with the current manager they deserve a few good Days out.

Hopefully Billy doesn't make this about him again and allows the players to enjoy the build up

As Evan O'Carroll says, this Laois panel are a genuine bunch of lads. It would be great if they could overcome Limerick.

Momentum of win at weekend should stand to Laois going into the Limerick game. Limerick threw their game last week and therefore should be well rested leading into next weekend's game. You'd imagine there will not be too much between the sides. Timmons will be a massive lost. O'Flynn could come in and hopefully give a performance. He is someone who looked to have all the attributes a few years back and it hasn't quiet taken off for him yet at intercounty level. Colm Murphy returning from injury has certainly improved our forward line. We are playing with four scoring threats and Finn and Lowry are working hard for the team to round out the six forwards. For all the criticism of Billy I liked the set up of the team at the weekend-granted Fermanagh going down to 14 men was a huge help in the second half as they visibly tired themselves in the last quarter. Also had they taken that guilt edged goal chance that rattled the crossbar you'd have feared for Laois. Get our tactics/set up right next weekend and we could be looking at a Tailteann Cup semi-final. Getting the mother and father of all shocks against London may have been the wake up call that this management and players needed. 
   

Mayo playing Cork in Limerick on Sunday. Wonder will it be double header?

3pm Saturday . Stand alone fixture . Live on GAAGO

Nice to know Stephen and Alan from Laois Today are on here contributing

This weeks podcast well worth a listen to

They went in depth on Sheehans rant which they had audio of

Billy needs to let off steam. Always did. It's no big deal for me. He's the kinda fella that would fight with his own shadow.

Quote from: High Fielder on June 13, 2023, 07:51:35 PM
Billy needs to let off steam. Always did. It's no big deal for me. He's the kinda fella that would fight with his own shadow.

Supporters that aren't turning up
Media
The clubs
County board delegates
Hurling club delegates
Underage club hurling coaches
And the Laois section on GAA board

All got it

As rants go it was impressive and it  gave the 2 lads a good 10 mins on their podcast

We're lucky to have him. How else would we know how much of wasteland we have become. A visionary amongst the blind. I like him. Won't lie. Still probably getting the boot

Quote from: High Fielder on June 13, 2023, 11:32:53 PM
We're lucky to have him. How else would we know how much of wasteland we have become. A visionary amongst the blind. I like him. Won't lie. Still probably getting the boot

I don't like or dislike him personally, he certainly owes Laois nothing given his inter county career. I always thought he got a lot of unfair stick as a player. As a coach he will judged on results and although Laois may not be in a great place in terms of talent on the player front, its clear he is not up to the level required to prepare an inter county team. He seems like a passionate fella and is probably a decent motivator but you need a lot more at inter county level in this day an age. Id like to think he will prove the critics wrong and Laois might even get to the final and give it a right tilt and Billy will learn as he goes but Im not even confident they will beat Limerick if Im honest.

I haven't seen or heard what he said, but I'm assuming he believes there's a lot more wrong than him. If that is what he's saying, I agree with him. In actual fact, talk about Sheehan is deflecting from the real issues that need to be discussed. By any measure it's been a miserable time for this county in recent years. And our Chairman is anonymous. Not a word to be said. His counterpart in Offaly is out there and making things happen. If you want the job, you have to show what you're about.

Had he anything to say why he abused line men and Refs and gets send to the stands in most game?

The spirit in that team is amazing.

Fair play, just watched on GAAGo and Laois pulled it out of the fire when it really mattered. They might lack in certain areas but lack of effort was not going to be their downfall. Very clever goal by Murphy near the end when Limerick were wasting time and playing keep ball and he intercepted a pass to the keeper. It summed Laois up in the second half as they didn't panic and waited for the right time to strike.

Being on of his biggest critics I have to say Billy got tactics spot on too in fairness and used the bench to great effect in the final quarter where the game was won. I think we scored 1-5 without reply at the end of the game which sums it up really and the margin of victory could have been even greater but for a great save by the Limerick keeper from Sean O'Flynn who made a great charge through the middle of the defence. A brilliant win for players and management, fair play to all involved.

I know people will say it was only Limerick and the likes of Meath, Cavan or Down is a big step up but it was clear the Fermanagh win gave the team a huge boost of confidence and this will bring them on even further still. Laois will be underdogs again in the semi final which will suit them, dark horses for the cup now.

Great to win
Fair play to players
But Limerick butchered 5/6 goal chances

Quote from: thegreeenandgold on June 17, 2023, 06:13:35 PM
Great to win
Fair play to players
But Limerick butchered 5/6 goal chances

Limerick looked decent and well organized. However, Laois were good for long periods and were dominant when it mattered. This team could have thrown the towel in after London but have stayed in the fight.

So it's down or Meath in the next round

Quote from: on the hop on June 17, 2023, 07:37:46 PM
So it's down or Meath in the next round

What about Antrim or Carlow?

Quote from: on the hop on June 17, 2023, 07:37:46 PM
So it's down or Meath in the next round

What about the winners of Antrim v Carlow?

It has to be either Meath or down as they have played against each other before and cannot be drawn against each other again.
Winner of Antrim or Carlow Will play either of the 2 as well

Quote from: Tier2 on June 17, 2023, 08:05:24 PM
It has to be either Meath or down as they have played against each other before and cannot be drawn against each other again.
Winner of Antrim or Carlow Will play either of the 2 as well

Are you sure it's not an open draw ? I'd be really really hoping to avoid Meath and Down . The other team will more than likely be Antrim who would be our best draw by far

Quote from: Laoiseabu on June 17, 2023, 08:17:59 PM

Quote from: Tier2 on June 17, 2023, 08:05:24 PM
It has to be either Meath or down as they have played against each other before and cannot be drawn against each other again.
Winner of Antrim or Carlow Will play either of the 2 as well

Are you sure it's not an open draw ? I'd be really really hoping to avoid Meath and Down . The other team will more than likely be Antrim who would be our best draw by far

I'm very sure as we were not able to draw Cavan also.
Just seen in mentioned on the LT report also
Unfortunate as either down or Meath would be the least wanted draw

I think it's an open draw. Theoretically three teams from one group could be in the semi final so I think because of that there isn't the same rule in the semi finals...

I think

Tailteann Cup - Semi-Final Draw
The four Quarter-Final winners from this weekend's games
will be drawn to two Semi-Finals - subject to avoidance of
repeat pairings from the overall championship where
possible. The Semi-Finals are due to take place on Sunday,
June 25th at Páirc an Chrócaigh.
Fixture details for both the Sam Maguire Preliminary
Quarter-Finals and the Tailteann Cup Semi-Finals will be
confirmed by the C.C.C.C on Monday afternoon next.
Note 1 - There is a possibility that a Draw for the Tailteann
Cup Semi-finals will not be required, depending on the
outcome of this weekend's fixtures
Note 2 - The CCCC will confirm final details for both draws
(i.e. what teams are in Bowl 1 and Bowl 2 in the Sam
Maguire, what pairings cannot happen in both draws etc) on
Sunday evening.

So going by those rules Meath and Down can't play each other which means we will have to play one of them .

One pot will be Meath and Down and the other pot will be Laois and Antrim/Carlow

Why would they have that rule for the semi-final draw? It doesn't make any sense. Some teams having to play 4 weeks in a row doesn't seem fair either. Come Semi-Final there should be two week break and an open draw in my opinion. As it stands there is a three week break to the final. They could cut that back to two instead.

At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter who we play in the semi-final as we will have to beat a Meath/Down if we want to lift the Tailteann Cup. That should be our aim as well. This group of players have shown real heart over the last few weeks.

The forward line of Murphy, Barry, O'Carroll and Kingston will cause any team in the TC problems. We need to maybe be a bit cuter with how we play at times but we have the firepower there to be competitive with a Meath/Down.

Hopefully a decent crowd turn up for two weeks time as the lads deserve it.

It's Sunday the 25th on the fixtures

Quote from: Laoiseabu on June 17, 2023, 11:38:16 PM

Quote from: Silkyskillssunshinee on June 17, 2023, 11:00:28 PM
At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter who we play in the semi-final as we will have to beat a Meath/Down if we want to lift the Tailteann Cup. That should be our aim as well. This group of players have shown real heart over the last few weeks.

The forward line of Murphy, Barry, O'Carroll and Kingston will cause any team in the TC problems. We need to maybe be a bit cuter with how we play at times but we have
the firepower there to be competitive with a Meath/Down.

Hopefully a decent crowd turn up for two weeks time as the lads deserve it.








I'd be less worried about our firepower and be more worried about the sheer amount of goal chances that our defence concedes . I counted 4 point blank goals that Limerick missed in the first half today and they missed another one in the second half after a loose kick pass by a Laois defender. On another day Limerick could of taken a couple of those goal chances and the game would of been wraps at half time . Limerick also gifted us the game at the end when one of their defenders played in Colm Murphy for the goal with a lose back pass . I suppose sometimes you need a bit of luck and we certainly got that today . I thought Paddy OSullivan was very good today and I thought Evan OCarroll has looked more like his old self the past two games which is a huge positive

Onto Croke Park next and it looks like if we want to win a Tailteann cup we will more than likely need to beat both Meath and Down . One thing I notice about both Meath and Down is that they both have fierce pace in their sides and they both have some decent scoring forwards . I think In the wide open spaces of croke park we will need to try and tighten up defensively or else we could be sliced through at ease by two teams who are a lot more clinical than Limerick .

Billy deserves a ton of credit. Got all the big calls right today. I'll hold my hands up and say I was far too reactionary personally after the London game and certainly shared some opinions I'd have been far better off keeping to myself. Fair play to everyone involved, you've done far more for this county than keyboard warriors like myself at times ever could.

Quote from: Countyminor on June 17, 2023, 11:47:00 PM
Billy deserves a ton of credit. Got all the big calls right today. I'll hold my hands up and say I was far too reactionary personally after the London game and certainly shared some opinions I'd have been far better off keeping to myself. Fair play to everyone involved, you've done far more for this county than keyboard warriors like myself at times ever could.

Thanks Chris, Jesus beating Fermanagh and Limerick is now regarded as lifting us from the doldrums. 

Beating Fermanagh and Limerick away is damn good going given that both of those sides were among the favourites for this tournament and given that both have been playing at a much higher level than ourselves this year. I would say that those two performances are better than anything we've produced since our league performance prior to the Covid restrictions in 2020.

I'm curious Green and Gold why you or anyone else would be dismissive of that?

It's extremely moderate results
Against two GAA football populations that are quite abit smaller than us
5 years ago beating these would be standard fare
So by regression these results have now become hard to win games.

The absolute pits was drawing with London. The last 2 results are an improvement on that. I'll take it

Full credit to both players and management for a hard fought win against Limerick. The scenes at full time were a sight to behold. Great to have a decent Laois support there as well.

In the period between the 5th and 12th minute, we kicked 5 wonderful points after going 3-0 down. The interplay was tremendous in this period with a real confidence in the side and good teamwork. I don't remember seeing something like that in a Laois team for 10 years.

The Tailteann cup has been terrific for us. Very few would have seen us beat both Fermanagh and Limerick away. Limerick ran Cork very close in last years qualifier for a place in the All Ireland quarter finals.

It was admirable that we stuck to the task, chipped away and got over the line with Colm Murphy's late goal.

Draw this morning for the semi finals. My hunch is Meath v Laois and Down v Antrim.

Laois v Down & Meath v Antrim. Tough but at the end of the day its still a team who played at Div 3 level is same level as Fermanagh and Limerick. That last 15 mins against Limerick will really stand to Laois and give them great belief for this game. After the London game you would have taken someones hand off for a semi final against Down, lets be honest.

Fair play to the Laois team it certainly lifted the mood among a few of us in Athens.

Great finish to the game and lets be honest, after the group stages, we are in real bonus territory now and credit must go to all involved. It would have been easy to throw in the towel and write of the year.

Traditionally we've never done well in Limerick and I didn't think that would change so fair play to all.

Looking forward to going to Croke Park next weekend now.

Left Limerick on Saturday with a nice feeling of satisfaction. Two wins and momentum has been built . The return of a fit Colm Murphy has been a big bonus and made forward selection a little more competitive. The changing of the goalkeeper position has also helped .
Sunday will be a completely different challenge in Dublin . The space will suit our forwards and if they click at all you would think we can put up a nice score .
However you would have to be worried about our defence and the power and pace of the Down midfield and forwards running at us .

Playing Paddy O'Sullivan in his proper position has been the one biggest factor in turning it around to some extent.

Quote from: SCFC on June 20, 2023, 09:40:49 AM
Playing Paddy O'Sullivan in his proper position has been the one biggest factor in turning it around to some extent.

Absolutely.
Hope the team gets the support it deserves Sunday .

We have rode our luck so to speak against Limerick. However, players must be credited for staying in the game and finishing so strongly. Hopefully we can put a full 70 minutes together against Down. If we reproduce the period just before half time and the first 15 minutes of the second half against Limerick we could see ourselves on the end of a 10 point beating. Down were hugely impressive and efficient against Cavan the last day. If they replicate that performance they will probably prove too strong for us even if we play to our best. I can't see a Down team who are full of confidence passing up those opportunities that Limerick did in front of goal.

Any update on Kingston's fitness? He will be a big loss if he's not fit to start the next day.

I'd be quietly hopeful against Down. Longford actually cut them to shreds early in the group gameand should have been out of sight by half time. They gave up a few ridiculous scores and Down clawed out a win. Defensively they aren't wonderful so I'd be hopeful we could outscore them. Our fadeout after halftime seem to be an issue but we always seem to finish strongly. So hopeful but not confident

Have to confess I'm neither hopeful or confident. Would love to be proved wrong of course

Has Sheehan redeemed himself with the last two wins or does he need to win Sunday or the competition to stay another term?

I think he has a strong argument for staying in the job. The players seem united, no one has dropped off the panel. Performances have improved. The problem with an inexperienced coach was that they have to learn on the job. Mistakes are part of the course. He's certainly made them. There are definitely issues I have regarding his management style but if the team continue on an upward trend with their performance against Down I think he will be given a third year in the job.

Like some Im hopeful but not optimistic. For Billy to get another year you would have to imagine a final appearance would be needed but Laois have had so little to cheer its surprising that the Senior mens football team that are giving us the most to shout about, I would not have seen that 3 weeks ago never mind 3 months. Any manager will be judged on results and can they get the best out of the players at their disposal, he is a novice coach so learning as he goes but League was not good, and London game a disaster but if he got the Tailteann Cup final he may have enough in the bank to get another season.

As a previous poster mentioned, Limerick did create plenty of goal chances and if we give those to Down we are in big trouble but my big take away from the Limerick match was the last quarter where Laois showed real composure and quality when it really mattered, and the players knew it. That will fill them with real confidence that only winning matches brings.

Quote from: Joeythelips on June 21, 2023, 02:15:00 PM
Like some Im hopeful but not optimistic. For Billy to get another year you would have to imagine a final appearance would be needed but Laois have had so little to cheer its surprising that the Senior mens football team that are giving us the most to shout about, I would not have seen that 3 weeks ago never mind 3 months. Any manager will be judged on results and can they get the best out of the players at their disposal, he is a novice coach so learning as he goes but League was not good, and London game a disaster but if he got the Tailteann Cup final he may have enough in the bank to get another season.

As a previous poster mentioned, Limerick did create plenty of goal chances and if we give those to Down we are in big trouble but my big take away from the Limerick match was the last quarter where Laois showed real composure and quality when it really mattered, and the players knew it. That will fill them with real confidence that only winning matches brings.

Down are 1/5 shots to win the game.  Surely if Laois lost this game by tight margins he would have done enough to get another year as there would be clear signs of progress during this campaign all be it the league was poor. 

Laois were 7/2 to beat Fermanagh and 2/1 to beat Limerick.. Hopefully can defy the bookies odds for a third time. Laois will have to be more cynical if they are to stop Down. They are masters at the counter attack so our half forward line e.g. will need to be prepared to take yellow cards and engage in some cynical fouling at certain times. We cannot allow Mason, Magill, and Guinness to carry and move the ball at pace against our defence. Limerick showed that we can be opened up easily and exposed. We cannot be as nice as we have in previous games, especially against London where we let them run at us, gain some momentum and play football in the second half.

Quote from: GAAFan2003 on June 21, 2023, 10:16:37 AM
Has Sheehan redeemed himself with the last two wins or does he need to win Sunday or the competition to stay another term?

For me, it's not about redemption. If the players don't walk away and are happy to play for him, I'd leave him in place; assuming he wants to be there of course. We have no internal alternatives. Unlikely we have any external options either

Quote from: High Fielder on June 21, 2023, 02:55:51 PM

Quote from: GAAFan2003 on June 21, 2023, 10:16:37 AM
Has Sheehan redeemed himself with the last two wins or does he need to win Sunday or the competition to stay another term?

For me, it's not about redemption. If the players don't walk away and are happy to play for him, I'd leave him in place; assuming he wants to be there of course. We have no internal alternatives. Unlikely we have any external options either

Would you keep him if they lost to Down?

Season review:

Highlights - Beating Fermanagh (Div 2 side next year) & Limerick (Div 2 side this year) away from home in TC

Lows - Failing to get to Div 4 final, drawing with London in TC.

If they perform well against Down he might have edged another season but he could hardly complain too much if they looked elsewhere. For me beat Down and he has earned another go as he is learning on the job essentially and getting out of Div 4 is certainly achievable next season.

Next time year. Would it be an idea to play this comp earlier and have both finalists renetry into Sam prelim quarter finals and the winner the team holidays etc

Is success in the Tailteann cup greater than the league? Personally think Laois have had a better season than Wicklow who got promoted to division 3. If the league was starting this month I would expect us to get promoted, Billy playing lads in their natural positions and Murphy getting back fit another plus. As the season has gone on I believe the team and Billy are all learning.

I'd worry about our mobility in the middle on Sunday. We don't have the natural athletes playing half forward or in midfield and this can get exposed in the big field of Croker. Hopefully there's a plan for this as Limerick broke through the middle a good few times last week.

Quote from: rrhf on June 22, 2023, 01:37:25 PM
Next time year. Would it be an idea to play this comp earlier and have both finalists renetry into Sam prelim quarter finals and the winner the team holidays etc

I agree, lets be honest if they did proper tier 2 structure they should scrap the provincial championships imo. So have League early season and then have TC run off, like the Joe McD in hurling the winner gets promoted to AI series for next year but also go in to provisional quarter final for current year. Thats a huge carrot. It would work even better in football as the gap between top and bottom tier is not as wide as hurling.

Quote from: Butch Cassidy on June 22, 2023, 01:40:12 PM
Is success in the Tailteann cup greater than the league? Personally think Laois have had a better season than Wicklow who got promoted to division 3. If the league was starting this month I would expect us to get promoted, Billy playing lads in their natural positions and Murphy getting back fit another plus. As the season has gone on I believe the team and Billy are all learning.

I'd worry about our mobility in the middle on Sunday. We don't have the natural athletes playing half forward or in midfield and this can get exposed in the big field of Croker. Hopefully there's a plan for this as Limerick broke through the middle a good few times last week.

I would suggest the TC is greater success as it is still championship vs league.  In 5 years time for example, if you asked who won division 4 this year alot of people would probably struggle to answer but they would be able to tell you who won the TC.  If Laois won the TC the league would be forgotten I would imagine. 

i feer a skutchin on sunday

Quote from: Joeythelips on June 22, 2023, 01:51:29 PM

Quote from: rrhf on June 22, 2023, 01:37:25 PM
Next time year. Would it be an idea to play this comp earlier and have both finalists renetry into Sam prelim quarter finals and the winner the team holidays etc

I agree, lets be honest if they did proper tier 2 structure they should scrap the provincial championships imo. So have League early season and then have TC run off, like the Joe McD in hurling the winner gets promoted to AI series for next year but also go in to provisional quarter final for current year. Thats a huge carrot. It would work even better in football as the gap between top and bottom tier is not as wide as hurling.

One other point on this is that this could go the way of the Tommy Murphy where the interest just is not there, for example Offaly lost panel members before their game with Wexford. If getting to the final got them back into AI series this would not happen.

Quote from: Joeythelips on June 22, 2023, 04:28:50 PM

Quote from: Joeythelips on June 22, 2023, 01:51:29 PM

Quote from: rrhf on June 22, 2023, 01:37:25 PM
Next time year. Would it be an idea to play this comp earlier and have both finalists renetry into Sam prelim quarter finals and the winner the team holidays etc

I agree, lets be honest if they did proper tier 2 structure they should scrap the provincial championships imo. So have League early season and then have TC run off, like the Joe McD in hurling the winner gets promoted to AI series for next year but also go in to provisional quarter final for current year. Thats a huge carrot. It would work even better in football as the gap between top and bottom tier is not as wide as hurling.

One other point on this is that this could go the way of the Tommy Murphy where the interest just is not there, for example Offaly lost panel members before their game with Wexford. If getting to the final got them back into AI series this would not happen.

I'd say the opposite is more likely. In hurling, going forward it now looks very likely that the McDonagh Cup finalists will not be in the Liam McCarthy any more. They can't be seen to do the opposite in football.

The gap in hurling between tiers is far greater to be fair, Offaly had to face genuine AI contenders in Tipperary after Joe McD final after competing in Div 2 of the hurling league, a big mis match.
But lets say Down/Meath/Laois/Antrim lost the TC final this year and had to face a Kildare/Monaghan/Roscommon/Cork etc in a preliminary round of AI series would it be a whitewash? I don't think so.

In fact If the GAA put serious cash into coaching in hurling for the likes of Laois, Offaly, Carlow, Westmeath they could close the gap as its a great incentive.

Either way just having that carrot for the winners would really boost the Tailteann Cup imo.

 First 15/20 minutes on Sunday are vital. Don't concede early goals and don't get any red or black cards.
If we can get to half time ahead, level or narrowly behind, I think we have a decent bench and maybe should use some of them a bit earlier in the game.

Very optimistic SCFC. If we are within 6 points of Down by the final whistle I would be very surprised. Down are really motoring at the minute. I cannot see our luck extending to a 4th game in a row. Hopefully they players can defy expectation and pull off a shock victory.

As a Down man i wouldn't say we're 'really motoring', the performance against Cavan was the best of the year, a mix of really good defensive play with brilliant attacking play. It was massive for the players to get the win, breffini park is a tough place to go.

Before that though Longford could've had a couple of more goals in the first half against us and we were lucky to be only 3 behind at half time before Down blew them away in second half. The last group game against Meath was a really poor day were Down hit 17 wides.

Down i feel are a better team sitting back and hitting on the break, most Down support would feel the wide open spaces of croke park should suit our players and would be confident of a win but definitely i feel the match will be closer than bookies predict.

Quote from: Laois Rising on June 23, 2023, 02:43:31 PM
Very optimistic SCFC. If we are within 6 points of Down by the final whistle I would be very surprised. Down are really motoring at the minute. I cannot see our luck extending to a 4th game in a row. Hopefully they players can defy expectation and pull off a shock victory.

Ah look, you're right. I do expect us to lose. But hope springs eternal and all that.
You'd be just hoping Down have an off day and that we can be in the running going into the last quarter.

Handicap is 5 points.

We will see how much Billy and the team have learned over the past few weeks.

They know how Down are going to play.

Use of the mark similar to Kildare last weekend would be something they could try.

Best of luck to all the team and management on Sunday. Hopefully a decent support will be present to cheer on the lads. No doubt, many will tune in on TV so hopefully we can put in a good solid performance. We are definitely in bonus territory so see what comes of it.

In these last 2 seasons under Billy Sheehan, we have been capable of pulling off really good results at times by turning over Louth last year, beating Sligo away this year in the league along with our recent wins against Fermanagh and Limerick. Last year, we were defeated by both Fermanagh and Limerick in division 3 so real progress has been made.

Down themselves are moving well and are deservingly favourites having seen off Donegal in the Ulster championship and of course the big win against Cavan last weekend and a good Cavan team at that. They are capable of putting up a big score so obviously we need to be so organised on Sunday in defense.

Against Meath in Parnell Park, Down had an off day shooting many wides so we will hope for similiar on Sunday. Both Sean Boylan and Pete McGrath were there that day and chances are that we will end up with a repeat of the 1991 All Ireland final with Down and Meath prevailing to go on and contest the Tailteann cup final. But maybe we can have a repeat of the Leinster final of '91 against Meath if we pull off another shock! That would be some story and some season.

Look at the progress Westmeath have had this year after winning the Tailteann cup and we ran them mighty close there last year. Pride has been restored in the jersey and all that can be asked is that the players leave it all on the pitch on Sunday.

Laois Abu!!

Head says Down. Heart says Laois. If we're still in it with 20 minutes to go, I'm backing our bench to come in and pull us over the line. Give em hell lads!

Quote from: County Man on June 23, 2023, 06:06:30 PM
Best of luck to all the team and management on Sunday. Hopefully a decent support will be present to cheer on the lads. No doubt, many will tune in on TV so hopefully we can put in a good solid performance. We are definitely in bonus territory so see what comes of it.

In these last 2 seasons under Billy Sheehan, we have been capable of pulling off really good results at times by turning over Louth last year, beating Sligo away this year in the league along with our recent wins against Fermanagh and Limerick. Last year, we were defeated by both Fermanagh and Limerick in division 3 so real progress has been made.

Down themselves are moving well and are deservingly favourites having seen off Donegal in the Ulster championship and of course the big win against Cavan last weekend and a good Cavan team at that. They are capable of putting up a big score so obviously we need to be so organised on Sunday in defense.

Against Meath in Parnell Park, Down had an off day shooting many wides so we will hope for similiar on Sunday. Both Sean Boylan and Pete McGrath were there that day and chances are that we will end up with a repeat of the 1991 All Ireland final with Down and Meath prevailing to go on and contest the Tailteann cup final. But maybe we can have a repeat of the Leinster final of '91 against Meath if we pull off another shock! That would be some story and some season.

Look at the progress Westmeath have had this year after winning the Tailteann cup and we ran them mighty close there last year. Pride has been restored in the jersey and all that can be asked is that the players leave it all on the pitch on Sunday.

Laois Abu!!

You said "Real progress has been made " from last year ? Surely your joking right ?

I don't think 2 wins against Fermanagh and Limerick can mask the deficiencies of the past two years . Yes we have lost some key personnel but don't understand the above comment of where we have "made real progress " ?
Regardless of TC outcome I can't see Sheehan been involved next year .


Today could go either way . It could be over by half time or we could be knocking on the door with 10 minutes to go . We have added competition to the panel which obviously helps but just don't know if grit and determination will be enough today .
Best of luck to the lads . I hope they get the support they deserve and do themselves justice.

Today is an ideal test for us. We're not fancied to win, and in many ways it's a free hit. Down are an ok team getting better, but still a fair bit off in their own Province. I don't expect us to win, but I would like to see a bit of bite. Our work rate has improved, and we will need to put in an honest shift again. I'd be happy before I set off if we can keep it to under 4 or 5. Anything after that a bonus but that's just my opinion

I truly believe the players are the ones who have turnt this around despite the proven poor Manager.

Best of luck to them, but to think that progression has been made is an unfounded statement.
Regardless how this campaign ends the manager cannot be considered going forward.

I expect nothing but a rant at the end of this this full of deflection and finger pointing.

Best of luck to the lads today, the last quarter against Limerick showed what they are capable of, do that for 70mins and they will be playing in the final. If we give up the same goal chances to Down we are in big trouble. They have restored some pride over the last 2 games after the London game. Now we have a great chance to show exactly where we stand.

Quote from: Joeythelips on June 25, 2023, 09:45:48 AM
Best of luck to the lads today, the last quarter against Limerick showed what they are capable of, do that for 70mins and they will be playing in the final. If we give up the same goal chances to Down we are in big trouble. They have restored some pride over the last 2 games after the London game. Now we have a great chance to show exactly where we stand.

Well after 20 mins we certainly know where we stand. Down have taken the piss out of us but its so bad to see goal like that first one conceded after less than a minute, our no 5 letting his man run through for a handy finish the second goal was similar. At the end of the day Down are Div 3 side and they have torn us to shreds after 20 mins. Any talk of Sheehan getting another year after this is madness. The next appointment is crucial as there is a serious rebuilding job to do.

There isn't a coach in Ireland that would fix that

Are you joking?

Dead serious. This isn't or shouldn't be a surprise. We have been shipping heavy, heavy defeats for years now

Hard to watch that

Taking heavy beatings against the likes of Dublin is one thing. Embarrassing yourself is another. This is a team that clearly has had no clue what it's doing - a reflection of the job the manager's done. I'm surprised at you.

This didn't happen over night the last 2 years have led to this the players deserve better than this management team in particular the manager.

If the county board had anything about them a statement will be made by tomorrow morning that it's over.

But I'm sure Billy will rant blame everyone try and say that player's are being targeted.

Billy it's not the players

I said it before. We haven't 1 player that would get on a Kildare team. It's just where we are. The whole machine is broken. If Billy isn't good enough, and he probably isn't,  then everything else is wrong too.

Quote from: High Fielder on June 25, 2023, 05:07:29 PM
I said it before. We haven't 1 player that would get on a Kildare team. It's just where we are. The whole machine is broken. If Billy isn't good enough, and he probably isn't,  then everything else is wrong too.

Regardless of whether that's true or not, you can't concede 8-16 to a Division 3 outfit in an AI semi. Take away the footballing side of things for a minute. Down were on another level from a fitness point of view. Our lads looked knackered at half time.

I can't take footballing ability out of the equation when we're talking about a football team. Granted Down were fitter and stronger, but they were also more skilful. And hungrier. We're putting lads out there like lambs to the slaughter. They are simply not good enough. I hate saying it, but I know it. A lot of them won't go back in and supporters won't bother supporting.  That's already happening. It's hard to see the positives just now

The easiest and most basic way to set a team up is to park the bus and stop goals. We don't even have a management team capable of doing that. We were ran ragged also and I believe we have a paid professional in a full time s&c role yet our two senior teams look like two badly conditoned club teams

They would have got through anyway. Maybe not to the extent that they did, but certainly enough to give us a hiding. Look back at the lack of contact, space given and inability to tackle. Our fundamental skills are a long way off and our players get exposed against even half decent teams

Our problems are not restricted to this team and Billy Sheehan. It's literally how we do everything, from the moment youngsters go down to their local field. It is very obvious that we are not preparing properly for the challenges that exist today

As hurtful as the situation is, some of the comments I see under Laois Today Facebook posts and Laois GAA's posts on Twitter are completely counter productive. Can't believe some people would actually put their name to what they're saying. Absolute cretins.

Say what you will about todays performance and the lads involved with that team, but they were the ones that stuck their hands up in January and wanted to play for Laois. Some of them, naturally, won't be involved going forward. If this was Mark Timmons' last game for Laois then that's a real shame - absolute warrior who would've made it on any Laois team.

As for the game itself, well Down did what Limerick probably ought to have done last week and scored a ton of goals. It was clear to anyone watching last week that we were far too open and soft in the centre and we ultimately paid a heavy price for that today.

Quote from: georgedoylesrightleg on June 22, 2023, 02:22:02 PM
i feer a skutchin on sunday

as I feered. confidense is brittal wit theee lads n has bene since sugrue. tuff on de boys today.

Quote from: Countyminor on June 25, 2023, 07:00:59 PM
As hurtful as the situation is, some of the comments I see under Laois Today Facebook posts and Laois GAA's posts on Twitter are completely counter productive. Can't believe some people would actually put their name to what they're saying. Absolute cretins.

Say what you will about todays performance and the lads involved with that team, but they were the ones that stuck their hands up in January and wanted to play for Laois. Some of them, naturally, won't be involved going forward. If this was Mark Timmons' last game for Laois then that's a real shame - absolute warrior who would've made it on any Laois team.

As for the game itself, well Down did what Limerick probably ought to have done last week and scored a ton of goals. It was clear to anyone watching last week that we were far too open and soft in the centre and we ultimately paid a heavy price for that today.

It just goes to show the level of frustration and anger in the county that people are willing to put their names to the comments

I might not agree with some of what is being said

But I'd take it over apathy

Whether it's just a one day wonder and anything is done is another story

I get people will say we don't have the players, but they deserve to have the best preparation possible. Laois really need to get in a decent management set up asap. I know they also need to do a lot of other things to improve Laois football but the current players deserve to be prepared for senior inter county football. As previous posters have mentioned things fitness levels and basic tactics were not up to the standard required the past two seasons. That has to reflect very poorly on the management set up.

Nobody wants this job Joey. They've had the world's worst time getting coaches; in both codes. Brennan said his piece and they got rid. Sugrue bailed prematurely. Who in their right mind would want anything to do with us? Our reputation is shot. We're a root and branch job, not just the branches. Not even sure where you'd start 

Quote from: Joeythelips on June 25, 2023, 08:56:57 PM
I get people will say we don't have the players, but they deserve to have the best preparation possible. Laois really need to get in a decent management set up asap. I know they also need to do a lot of other things to improve Laois football but the current players deserve to be prepared for senior inter county football. As previous posters have mentioned things fitness levels and basic tactics were not up to the standard required the past two seasons. That has to reflect very poorly on the management set up.

Fully agree. We start by improving the things we can actually improve. There may be a lot of things wrong and we have to identify them and fix them one step at a time. The senior management set up is one of those things that clearly isn't working. This is a necessary but not sufficient condition for success.

Lads heads up. Down have shipped some big beatings over the years. We are only starting to get things moving but it has taken a lot of hard work. Laois just havent done the work that down have done this year and you could see their fitness was not up to the same level so they need to prepare better for these games.

This could be a blessing in disguise.
An absolute hammering in front of national cameras at prime time hour for GAA. Its impossible to hide this one, unlike the shocking performances against London this year and Wicklow last which only had a few hardy die hards at it.
What would have been far worse in the long run would have been a "gallant" 7 or 8 point defeat and the powers that be decide to stick with Billy for another year rather than go through the hassle and annoyance of doing work to find a replacement. This is on top of the same lads deciding that everything is hunky dorey in our game and to carry on with our road to nowhere.

I'll shoot from the hip a bit here, definitely not the right moment but here goes anyways.

I think one of the big reasons behind our demise in recent years is Portlaoise and how we don't take advantage of what we have.

Gaelic football is dead in the town. People are completely apathetic to gaelic football there nowadays. The fact that there is no club actually in the town itself is definitely a contributing factor. A strategic review was carried out in 2017 outlining the requirement for a second juvenile club for Portlaoise. Has this been acted on since? This is an absolute necessity IMO, especially given how the Portlaoise club have not traditionally recruited around the Knockmay/Portlaoise College area of town. Adding a club there in that area alone would increase our footballing population by around 10k I'd say, maybe more given how quickly the town has grown? It's unwise for a small county like Laois not to use fully what we have at our disposal.

Change starts from the bottom up.

I know where the rant above is coming from.

But (Dublin aside) football is a rural game. Let the city folk do what city folk do. If you've 1-2 of the willing to work for it like the country boys, it's a bonus. A welcome bonus. But the throbbing heart of Gaelic Games isn't among hundreds of chimney pots.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2020/0201/1112404-laois-make-impressive-statement-with-win-over-armagh/ (https://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2020/0201/1112404-laois-make-impressive-statement-with-win-over-armagh/)

Looking back to 2020 our last decent win was the opening Division 2 game versus Armagh. In the meantime we lost John O'Loughlin, a great servant to Laois, and Ross Munnelly who was at the end of a great career at that stage. Twelve of that panel are still involved so we cannot blame player turnover for our current situation. Armagh was now a Division 1 team and in All-Ireland quarter-finals while we're at our lowest ebb in living memory – so what has happened since 01-Feb-2020 ?

I read an article in today's Sindo about former Clare manager, Colm Collins. Clare were a Division 4 team when Collins was appointed and at his first meeting with the players he made them very aware that Clare football was punching unacceptably below its weight. This is where Laois are now. Let's look and learn at what Colm Collins achieved with Clare in his 10-year stint.

I've been watching Laois football since the early 70's – Johnny Lawlor was our star forward in those days !  In the decade since we've produced top class footballers and until the last couple of years we were always a proud footballing county.

To my mind there are 3 things that contribute to our current situation
1.    Either we are not producing the talent any more or our talent is not nurtured properly
2.   The change in the nature of the game – we've not mastered the possession football game
3.   Lack of vision and ambition in the county

I gather that the Laois SFC format does not help but, living in Dublin, I don't know. However, we're reached 2 Under-20 Leinster Finals in recent years so there is obviously some talent in the county.
There is no point in any sour grapes with Billy Sheehan and I certainly would not criticise the players – I had great sympathy for them yesterday as they gave their all. It's was always a long shot but we will all wonder how we might have performed with a better gameplan.

On the game itself , it was a hard watch in there today.  There have been issues all year and even further back in relation to mobility and pace in the team, the defensive middle in particular. At times we seemed to go heavily defensive this year , even deploying Timmons as a sweeper. This had varying degrees of success , one in particular was the win in Sligo on a very heavy pitch. In hindsight the slower pace probably suited us at the time. For a variety of reasons we moved from rather than adapted this strategy possibly to add a bit more to the attack which struggled when isolated. There were worries going into today, a pacey looking down team were going to cause us problems, the lack of pace in some of the forward positions especially against attacking defenders, the concession of multiple chances per game and whether the consecutive games had taken its toll. Hopefully we weren't going to risk too many players that weren't fully fit, Croke park is not the place to take that chance. Even with this in mind , having conceded a record score against Dublin at home you would have hoped we had learned enough not to allow ourselves to be over ran by a down team that play a similar type of game. Keep it tight and competitive and see where it goes.

Well that illusion was shattered very quickly , from a lineball in the first minutes in the furthest corner of the pitch from our goal where we could have pinned them in , we conceded ground and let them unopposed go straight up the pitch into our middle and straight through on goals. No hits , no tackles , no blocks ,just a simple pace move. After that it was rinse and repeat , pop ball into space and multiple runners ahead of our players coming at angles. Nothing outrageous, just well executed give and go, pass and move. In fairness down had a bit of luck and displayed a high level of perfection with their passing and shooting but it was woeful on our part. Players running with their backs to the play , getting dragged out of the area in front of the goals to allow their runners to move into. Down must have been wondering are Laois that naive ? Are they really gone man to man ? The fact that they carved us open with our whole team at times inside the forty without any engagement in terms of a tackle was galling. I felt so sorry for the players at times especially in defense where there was no cover, imagine been one on one with a forward with half the pitch to cover. In the end a little spurt took the trauma off the score line. For the second time this year we conceded 40 points in a game and in both games it could easily have been more. Every weakness once again has been ruthlessly exposed, and this time its in a secondary competition against a team in a division above us. Maybe this down team will go and win the competition and establish itself as a great team but we conceded 8 goals in Croke park, it feels as bleak as that. I am sure lots will play out this week but I can't see how Sheehan can survive this.

The senior team is the flag ship team in the county , which attracts sponsorship, ambition and if going well interest. What's happening at the moment can't continue to become the norm. It will reach a point where it can't be retrieved.

Replacing Billy Sheehan will not improve our fortunes. We are simply miles off the pace. We are going to lose players now too which will weaken us further.

We need a 10 year plan for football and hurling in the county and we need it now!

Trouble is who is going to firstly come up with the plan and who is going to implement it??

We probably have better people in laois than Michael Duignan but is there anyone willing to step up and do it?
It wouldnt be easy but if we could just find a really ambitious, intelligent and driven Chairperson. He/She should be able to pull like minded people into positions to help drive the thing forward.

Like many posts on here it has to start at grass roots from the bottom up.

Long term we need a complete overhaul of everything we do. In the short term we need to dredge the county of all available talent and turn them into a team that can cope with the demands of modern day football. We can disagree all we want about Billy, the standard of club football, the CB or whatever. Fact is that yesterday is not acceptable

Time for Laois to close the gates and let the cows out to graze

Quote from: mcwregor on June 26, 2023, 08:46:49 AM


Trouble is who is going to firstly come up with the plan and who is going to implement it??

Part one is no problem. Any amount of lads could (and have) done that.
Based on the past the answer to part two is "Nobody".

Quote from: High Fielder on June 26, 2023, 08:46:55 AM
Long term we need a complete overhaul of everything we do. In the short term we need to dredge the county of all available talent and turn them into a team that can cope with the demands of modern day football. We can disagree all we want about Billy, the standard of club football, the CB or whatever. Fact is that yesterday is not acceptable

Exactly this, whatever the reasons yesterday was unacceptable. All involved will be linked with that shameful result, I feel sorry for the players as there have had to put in so much time and effort for that end result, its up there with the hurlers conceding 10-20 to the Cork hurlers in 2011. Utter humiliation.

I know people on here are critical of the players but Im sure plenty on here have trained under coaches who were simply not up to the task and we have to say Billy Sheehan clearly is not. Im not saying Laois would start winning trophies under a John Sugrue type coach (someone who has shown he can prepare a team for championship) but at least they will be a best prepared as possible in terms of fitness, planning, tactics etc when they go into battle. This has to be priority number 1.

There has to be a big shake up now, but just of the management of our senior football team, but of the County Board. There must be a root and branch shake up. If not, beatings like this will become commonplace. Our county board has failed us. It cannot continue as it is currently structured.

Quote from: mcwregor on June 26, 2023, 08:46:49 AM
Replacing Billy Sheehan will not improve our fortunes. We are simply miles off the pace. We are going to lose players now too which will weaken us further.

We need a 10 year plan for football and hurling in the county and we need it now!

Trouble is who is going to firstly come up with the plan and who is going to implement it??

We probably have better people in laois than Michael Duignan but is there anyone willing to step up and do it?
It wouldnt be easy but if we could just find a really ambitious, intelligent and driven Chairperson. He/She should be able to pull like minded people into positions to help drive the thing forward.

Like many posts on here it has to start at grass roots from the bottom up.

We don't need another effing plan

We've had 3 in the past 7 years and very little of any of them have been implemented

It's action and implementation is what's needed

Except all we will get is apathy

Quote from: thewobbler on June 25, 2023, 11:25:38 PM
I know where the rant above is coming from.

But (Dublin aside) football is a rural game. Let the city folk do what city folk do. If you've 1-2 of the willing to work for it like the country boys, it's a bonus. A welcome bonus. But the throbbing heart of Gaelic Games isn't among hundreds of chimney pots.

This doesn't make any sense or relevance to Laois

Are you trying to make out Portlaoise is a City ?

That we shouldn't put resources into it because of its population size ?

When there are no issues in the likes of Killarney Tralee Newbridge Naas Thurles Kilkenny etc

Quote from: Chrimtain on June 26, 2023, 10:38:47 AM
There has to be a big shake up now, but just of the management of our senior football team, but of the County Board. There must be a root and branch shake up. If not, beatings like this will become commonplace. Our county board has failed us. It cannot continue as it is currently structured.

+1. Should have happened years ago. It's too late now when we're in this much sh1t

The first and most important ingredient to an intercounty footballer today is pace. It's incredible to think that within the county we genuinely do not have any players with any real speed. Even most mid rank counties would have at least a half dozen players with serious pace to either man mark, get up and down the field or to win ball played in front of them and create attacking opportunities. Ross Munnelly last year at 39 years of age was probably still the quickest forward we had on the panel over the first 5-10 yards. That tells you everything. Losing the likes of Attrite a few years ago was a huge loss as we could not replace him and what he brought to the Laois defence. Over the last 6-7 years he has been the only defender to come through who was truly capable of properly competing at inter county level. We have a lot of very fine footballing players in there now who are comfortable on the ball and will no doubt do a very fine job for their clubs in the club championship where the pace of the game will be that bit slower. However, as yesterday showed, footballing ability is no good if you cannot keep pace with your opponent. Down had their homework done for Laois and knew exactly what to do to hurt us.

I don't know how much you can coach speed into a player but if a lot of those Laois players want to stay playing at intercounty level it is something that they will need to work on over the off season. At the beginning of the league last year and again this year we recorded what appeared to be impressive away victories to Louth and Sligo. What these games showed was that on heavy pitches where pace is taken out of the equation we have players of good footballing ability.   

Excellent post LR. It was that obvious, sadly

Quote from: thegreeenandgold on June 17, 2023, 06:13:35 PM
Great to win
Fair play to players
But Limerick butchered 5/6 goal chances

Down didn't butcher 5/6 Goal Chances
When lads were spouting on about Limerick game
In my time Billy possibly has presided over 2/3 of the worst results of all time. 

He's in the wrong place at the wrong time. The decline has been years in the making

No Billy is a dreadful manager, any level of organisational ability and we would be far more competitive. 

Quote from: Laois Rising on June 26, 2023, 11:52:11 AM
The first and most important ingredient to an intercounty footballer today is pace. It's incredible to think that within the county we genuinely do not have any players with any real speed. Even most mid rank counties would have at least a half dozen players with serious pace to either man mark, get up and down the field or to win ball played in front of them and create attacking opportunities. Ross Munnelly last year at 39 years of age was probably still the quickest forward we had on the panel over the first 5-10 yards. That tells you everything. Losing the likes of Attrite a few years ago was a huge loss as we could not replace him and what he brought to the Laois defence. Over the last 6-7 years he has been the only defender to come through who was truly capable of properly competing at inter county level. We have a lot of very fine footballing players in there now who are comfortable on the ball and will no doubt do a very fine job for their clubs in the club championship where the pace of the game will be that bit slower. However, as yesterday showed, footballing ability is no good if you cannot keep pace with your opponent. Down had their homework done for Laois and knew exactly what to do to hurt us.

I don't know how much you can coach speed into a player but if a lot of those Laois players want to stay playing at intercounty level it is something that they will need to work on over the off season. At the beginning of the league last year and again this year we recorded what appeared to be impressive away victories to Louth and Sligo. What these games showed was that on heavy pitches where pace is taken out of the equation we have players of good footballing ab ility.   

T A SUPER EXCELLENT POST WELL SAID, 
L R.

HF I don't understand your defence of BS at all. Of course there may be a lot of things wrong with the country board (honestly, I don't know) but the county board is not preparing the team or making defensive plans. This is down to the team and management.

I think everyone on here understands that if we were to play Dublin, Kerry or Mayo tomorrow, we'd most likely be beaten well no matter who the manager is.

However, what happened yesterday is a humiliation against a Tailteann Cup team (albeit one that's on an upward curve). We were lucky that we didn't get the same outcome against Limerick and we squeaked through against a 14-man Fermanagh. We drew with London and lost to Wicklow this year.

There are enough good players in Laois to create a team that's competitive in games like this. A John Sugrue team would not have ended up with a pasting like this. He had, for example, turned Robbie Piggott into a really excellent man marker focused on eliminating the threat of the opponent's best player. He is now a corner back (???!) and really not influencing the game at all. That's where management comes in. It's about picking your best players in their best positions and giving them a role that they can actually fulfil. It's about ensuring that the team adds up to more than the sum of the parts.

Quote from: thegreeenandgold on June 26, 2023, 12:14:52 PM
No Billy is a dreadful manager, any level of organisational ability and we would be far more competitive.

I disagree. They were the best we have available out there yesterday.  They could never get near Down

Just a reminder that Down finished 3rd in Division 3 and were beaten 4-10 to 0-12 points by Armagh in the Ulster championship. Sure, they're a decent young team but hardly world beaters.

Of course. But even allowing for that we're a long way off them. We have to learn to accept that we're in a desperate place. Only when we fully acknowledge that will we set about fixing it. There are still a lot of people who can't accept that we don't have the players at the moment

The senior clubs have us properly castrated too. This insistence on 16 senior teams when in reality we probably haven't got 4 properly senior clubs. I believe every player should have access to senior football,  but I can't tolerate watching teams clinging on just to call themselves senior. It needs shaking up as an immediate priority. We have so many truly awful senior teams

I've just listened to the Laois Today podcast (because it was free of charge  ;)), and I think they make a few pertinent points. They talk of the culture in Laois GAA which makes it difficult to produce good inter county teams I.e. the culture of secrecy when it comes to electing officers and running CB meetings. They talk of the culture of control e.g. club championship matches must be played in OMP so that gate receipts don't go missing. Regarding secrecy, you have to wonder why the press is banned from CB meetings. What have they go to hide? It is, as Steven Miller suggests, an unhealthy situation. Miller also notes that other counties do not appear so fixated on centralising all club games in the county grounds. However, while we (including myself) look for the CB to be shaken up, they note that there isn't a queue of willing candidates to take the top positions on the CB.

I would, as I have said before, dearly like to listen to a podcast from Laois Today where they interview the CB chairman and ask him questions such as why he sought to be elected chairman? Does he agree that Laois GAA is in crisis? What is he doing to promote the games in the county? Does he have ambitions for Laois GAA? What are those ambitions? What is he doing to achieve those ambitions?

Basically, I would like to see our CB officials held to account and come out from behind the veil of secrecy.

People won't walk into a closed shop. Many people with good intentions have gone in and either been outvoted or shot down. That's how it operates. Honestly it's an outdated process in itself. But they seem happy to have it and happy to use it to their advantage

Open it up. Properly. Let's see what we've got

A proper defensive plan cuts out 5 of them goals straight away. They were long balls in to lads being marked 1 on 1 cos we pushed up on the kickouts. Not possible to defend like that in the modern age and not fair to expose players like that either. One goal came from a kickouts that almost rolled from midfield to the half forward line ffs. I'm not saying we'd have won but at least keep it tight till half time and reassess then.... we only kicked 4 points anyways so we might as well have 14 behind the ball and be as nasty and cynical as we could get away with. Would Offaly or carlow turn up with a plan like that. To say that the players are not capable of competing at this level is pure bull. Port would do better than that. It's about a plan and how they train. We were here before john sugrue took over saying the same stuff and suddenly we were div 2. I could name 5 or 6 players capable of playing Co football  who were not in there. Some declined which I'd be annoyed about and some were not asked. That's down to management not asking or making it attractive for them. This comes down to asking x why he won't come in and if x says its cos of work then we tell him that it'll be sorted out if x says its to do with finance then we get that sorted. Transport?? No problem it's sorted. Same for hurlers get the best people in and take away any excuse they might have for declining. I heard of a player being locked out of a meeting for being seconds late after travelling a long distance  for training. That auld stuff has to stop. Put the players first give them the best training the best plan and tactics and I bet a pound to a penny we'd fly div 4 and be strong in Tailteann Cup next year

Just talking about the margin of defeats, I thought the Dublin defeat was the worst in my memory but the Down game surpassed that.

When were we last beaten, if ever, by that much in a championship game?

Quote from: redsetanta on June 27, 2023, 10:10:59 AM
Just talking about the margin of defeats, I thought the Dublin defeat was the worst in my memory but the Down game surpassed that.

When were we last beaten, if ever, by that much in a championship game?

Not sure about championship but I believe this result was our biggest defeat ever .


Kerry Vs Laois in Tralee on December 3rd, 1978

Kerry 6-11; Laois 0-0.

Quote from: Jd on June 27, 2023, 01:07:01 AM
A proper defensive plan cuts out 5 of them goals straight away. They were long balls in to lads being marked 1 on 1 cos we pushed up on the kickouts. Not possible to defend like that in the modern age and not fair to expose players like that either. One goal came from a kickouts that almost rolled from midfield to the half forward line ffs. I'm not saying we'd have won but at least keep it tight till half time and reassess then.... we only kicked 4 points anyways so we might as well have 14 behind the ball and be as nasty and cynical as we could get away with. Would Offaly or carlow turn up with a plan like that. To say that the players are not capable of competing at this level is pure bull. Port would do better than that. It's about a plan and how they train. We were here before john sugrue took over saying the same stuff and suddenly we were div 2. I could name 5 or 6 players capable of playing Co football  who were not in there. Some declined which I'd be annoyed about and some were not asked. That's down to management not asking or making it attractive for them. This comes down to asking x why he won't come in and if x says its cos of work then we tell him that it'll be sorted out if x says its to do with finance then we get that sorted. Transport?? No problem it's sorted. Same for hurlers get the best people in and take away any excuse they might have for declining. I heard of a player being locked out of a meeting for being seconds late after travelling a long distance  for training. That auld stuff has to stop. Put the players first give them the best training the best plan and tactics and I bet a pound to a penny we'd fly div 4 and be strong in Tailteann Cup next year

I disagree with almost all of this. I can accept that Sugrue might, and I stress might, have got us out of Division 4, but not any further. The only way we could have stopped Down would be to build a wall. We just don't have the pace or power.

The local Championship will be starting soon and by God will you see some floury spuds then. This County is set up to fail

floury spuds?

Quote from: on the hop on June 27, 2023, 12:42:15 PM
https://twitter.com/noplanbgaa/status/1673324583292731393?s=48&t=eo8IWOjUnivmojLMPVblVw

Some of the defending was extremely poor even allowing for the defensive set up. The goal from the kickout was dreadful

Quote from: on the hop on June 27, 2023, 12:43:50 PM

Quote from: on the hop on June 27, 2023, 12:42:15 PM
https://twitter.com/noplanbgaa/status/1673324583292731393?s=48&t=eo8IWOjUnivmojLMPVblVw

Some of the defending was extremely poor even allowing for the defensive set up. The goal from the kickout was dreadful

I get people may say our players are not quick or lack physique or not great skills set but that goal was after 30 odd seconds into a knockout championship game against a team from Division 3 and while its a lovely move and finish etc, from a defensive point of view its an embarrassment, lets be honest. That screams a side badly prepared team to me, it looked like a Junior team playing a Senior team to be frank. The fact Laois beat Fermanagh and Limerick now looks like it was down to the players rather than anything management contributed, this shows we have some good players and getting in a decent management team could turn them around. Our lads deserve this as a minimum.

You can't have it both ways Joey. If the players manufactured the wins, then surely they should take responsibility for the losses? Or is it just the losses that Billy has responsibility for? By the way, and lest we forget, Billy is assisted by Chris Conway, whose reputation for tactics and matchplay has been well received in the past. Surely he's not just standing idly by and allowing Billy to go full kamikaze?

The clips provided by OTH are fairly damning. There were enough Laois players in place to stop the onslaught. They just couldn't, sadly.

What happens next by the way? Do we sit around twiddling our thumbs while the CB decide Billy's fate? Do we wait another 2 or 3 months to get someone in? Groundhog Day over and over and another kick for touch. What a mess

Quote from: High Fielder on June 27, 2023, 01:33:12 PM
You can't have it both ways Joey. If the players manufactured the wins, then surely they should take responsibility for the losses? Or is it just the losses that Billy has responsibility for? By the way, and lest we forget, Billy is assisted by Chris Conway, whose reputation for tactics and matchplay has been well received in the past. Surely he's not just standing idly by and allowing Billy to go full kamikaze?

The clips provided by OTH are fairly damning. There were enough Laois players in place to stop the onslaught. They just couldn't, sadly.

What happens next by the way? Do we sit around twiddling our thumbs while the CB decide Billy's fate? Do we wait another 2 or 3 months to get someone in? Groundhog Day over and over and another kick for touch. What a mess

Im saying the evidence in front of us now indicates the wins were as a result of the players in spite of management input and not as a result of it. They were still badly prepared.

My take is if you but a top manager in charge of that Laois team they would have given Down a proper game. But put our management team in charge of a top team and they will finish the season empty handed as they are not up to the task of preparing a team adequately for modern day football in my opinion.

You also can't have it both ways, saying Laois players are not fit and lack pace etc, then why set a team up for that to be exposed or do current management not see this? Surely that screams poor management? It does to me.

It doesn't for me, because I start from a fundamentally different viewpoint as you and JD. The real crime for me is the lack of preparation at underage. The way we treat our best footballers and hurlers who we hope one day will represent us at Senior level. It seemed obvious to me that Down were more athletic in every sense of the word. The sort of athleticism that is nurtured over many years

Quote from: High Fielder on June 27, 2023, 02:06:29 PM
It doesn't for me, because I start from a fundamentally different viewpoint as you and JD. The real crime for me is the lack of preparation at underage. The way we treat our best footballers and hurlers who we hope one day will represent us at Senior level. It seemed obvious to me that Down were more athletic in every sense of the word. The sort of athleticism that is nurtured over many years

100% agree HF

Quote from: High Fielder on June 27, 2023, 02:06:29 PM
It doesn't for me, because I start from a fundamentally different viewpoint as you and JD. The real crime for me is the lack of preparation at underage. The way we treat our best footballers and hurlers who we hope one day will represent us at Senior level. It seemed obvious to me that Down were more athletic in every sense of the word. The sort of athleticism that is nurtured over many years

And we will be having the same conversation in 10 years time as we are having now if underage in this county isn't addressed

Whether you are Billy Sheehan or Jack O'Connor or Mickey Harte

You are prisoner to what's coming off the underage assembly line

The underage set up is at best mediocre and at worst downright shambolic across the various development teams in both codes

The Schools and in particular the second level  schools in Portlaoise are nothing short of a disgrace

Quote from: High Fielder on June 27, 2023, 02:06:29 PM
It doesn't for me, because I start from a fundamentally different viewpoint as you and JD. The real crime for me is the lack of preparation at underage. The way we treat our best footballers and hurlers who we hope one day will represent us at Senior level. It seemed obvious to me that Down were more athletic in every sense of the word. The sort of athleticism that is nurtured over many years

Agree with this . If anybody has watched our warm ups this year the lack of athleticism is painfully evident . This has all been created from a lack of imagination, creativity and preparation of our underage teams for the past decade .

Quote from: High Fielder on June 27, 2023, 02:06:29 PM
It doesn't for me, because I start from a fundamentally different viewpoint as you and JD. The real crime for me is the lack of preparation at underage. The way we treat our best footballers and hurlers who we hope one day will represent us at Senior level. It seemed obvious to me that Down were more athletic in every sense of the word. The sort of athleticism that is nurtured over many years

Yes I agree our player development is not good, it should be designed (as it is in successful counties) to prepare players for senior inter county football. My point is that you could win multiple u-20 AI's but if you put a management team such as what we have currently they will not get the best out of the group.

Both issues need addressing urgently. Hopefully the Down result will be our 'rock bottom' moment which drives serious change.

Billy hardly will try to hold on, no resignation.

I think people are looking at Sugrue's time with Laois through rose tinted glasses. Granted we achieved back to back promotions in the league and made a Leinster final (playing division 4 sides) but when we stepped up to face a half decent side we were blown out of the water by each of these teams too. In the division 3 league games that we got promoted we played in Croker twice and on Croker's open and firm pitch we were easily defeated by Louth and Westmeath in those games. If memory serves me correctly Louth could have taken us for a half dozen goals that day. In the bigger championship games, Cork blitzed us for 5-19 and Monaghan probably should have put up a similar score line the year before only for an unbelievable goal saving display by Graham Brody. He recorded 6 one-on-one saves that day. Meath also walked in 3 goals against us in a Leinster semi-final and probably left a further 3 goal scoring chances behind them as well. That Laois side of 2018/2019 is probably also stronger than the Laois side at Billy's disposal in 2023 with players like Attrite and Gareth Dillon available at the time.

The argument that if we had a different management in place it would improve Laois dramatically doesn't stack up when you look at the evidence. Laois simply don't have the players to compete at a high level at the moment. A new management team might improve things  slightly but regardless of who is managing us it is lunacy to think that we could have gone toe-to-toe with an in form Down team. Need to put all our efforts into revitalising the underage set-up in the county at both club and school level and meaningfully look to tackle the Portlaoise problem where a town of 20000 plus is a GAA wasteland if you drill into the actual participation numbers.       

Spot on again, 
l.R

Quote from: Laois Rising on June 27, 2023, 07:52:00 PM
I think people are looking at Sugrue's time with Laois through rose tinted glasses. Granted we achieved back to back promotions in the league and made a Leinster final (playing division 4 sides) but when we stepped up to face a half decent side we were blown out of the water by each of these teams too. In the division 3 league games that we got promoted we played in Croker twice and on Croker's open and firm pitch we were easily defeated by Louth and Westmeath in those games. If memory serves me correctly Louth could have taken us for a half dozen goals that day. In the bigger championship games, Cork blitzed us for 5-19 and Monaghan probably should have put up a similar score line the year before only for an unbelievable goal saving display by Graham Brody. He recorded 6 one-on-one saves that day. Meath also walked in 3 goals against us in a Leinster semi-final and probably left a further 3 goal scoring chances behind them as well. That Laois side of 2018/2019 is probably also stronger than the Laois side at Billy's disposal in 2023 with players like Attrite and Gareth Dillon available at the time.

The argument that if we had a different management in place it would improve Laois dramatically doesn't stack up when you look at the evidence. Laois simply don't have the players to compete at a high level at the moment. A new management team might improve things  slightly but regardless of who is managing us it is lunacy to think that we could have gone toe-to-toe with an in form Down team. Need to put all our efforts into revitalising the underage set-up in the county at both club and school level and meaningfully look to tackle the Portlaoise problem where a town of 20000 plus is a GAA wasteland if you drill into the actual participation numbers.       

This is our flagship team - the one that will encourage and inspire young lads in Portlaoise and elsewhere to come out and play. Are we really saying that we can't expect more than to be beaten by Wicklow, draw with London and be hockeyed by Down in the Tailteann Cup. I followed the team through all these years and I don't ever remember that we were at such a low.

I am not arguing that we shouldn't focus on the younger teams as well. This is perfectly obvious. But if we're not able to create a proper setup for our senior team, are we really imagining that the underage teams will be properly prepared??

Quote from: Laois Rising on June 27, 2023, 07:52:00 PM
I think people are looking at Sugrue's time with Laois through rose tinted glasses. Granted we achieved back to back promotions in the league and made a Leinster final (playing division 4 sides) but when we stepped up to face a half decent side we were blown out of the water by each of these teams too. In the division 3 league games that we got promoted we played in Croker twice and on Croker's open and firm pitch we were easily defeated by Louth and Westmeath in those games. If memory serves me correctly Louth could have taken us for a half dozen goals that day. In the bigger championship games, Cork blitzed us for 5-19 and Monaghan probably should have put up a similar score line the year before only for an unbelievable goal saving display by Graham Brody. He recorded 6 one-on-one saves that day. Meath also walked in 3 goals against us in a Leinster semi-final and probably left a further 3 goal scoring chances behind them as well. That Laois side of 2018/2019 is probably also stronger than the Laois side at Billy's disposal in 2023 with players like Attrite and Gareth Dillon available at the time.

The argument that if we had a different management in place it would improve Laois dramatically doesn't stack up when you look at the evidence. Laois simply don't have the players to compete at a high level at the moment. A new management team might improve things  slightly but regardless of who is managing us it is lunacy to think that we could have gone toe-to-toe with an in form Down team. Need to put all our efforts into revitalising the underage set-up in the county at both club and school level and meaningfully look to tackle the Portlaoise problem where a town of 20000 plus is a GAA wasteland if you drill into the actual participation numbers.       

Another great post LR

Under Sugrue there was progress, under Sheehan there was regression.  Sugrue took us out of Div 4, Sheehan took us into Div 4.  He also managed to keep us there.  Sheehan only rebuilt in panic, Sugrue was quite methodical in his rebuilding.  I think we over do Sugrue but there is no doubt we were improving this is a shit show.

Quote from: Laois Rising on June 27, 2023, 07:52:00 PM
I think people are looking at Sugrue's time with Laois through rose tinted glasses. Granted we achieved back to back promotions in the league and made a Leinster final (playing division 4 sides) but when we stepped up to face a half decent side we were blown out of the water by each of these teams too. In the division 3 league games that we got promoted we played in Croker twice and on Croker's open and firm pitch we were easily defeated by Louth and Westmeath in those games. If memory serves me correctly Louth could have taken us for a half dozen goals that day. In the bigger championship games, Cork blitzed us for 5-19 and Monaghan probably should have put up a similar score line the year before only for an unbelievable goal saving display by Graham Brody. He recorded 6 one-on-one saves that day. Meath also walked in 3 goals against us in a Leinster semi-final and probably left a further 3 goal scoring chances behind them as well. That Laois side of 2018/2019 is probably also stronger than the Laois side at Billy's disposal in 2023 with players like Attrite and Gareth Dillon available at the time.

The argument that if we had a different management in place it would improve Laois dramatically doesn't stack up when you look at the evidence. Laois simply don't have the players to compete at a high level at the moment. A new management team might improve things  slightly but regardless of who is managing us it is lunacy to think that we could have gone toe-to-toe with an in form Down team. Need to put all our efforts into revitalising the underage set-up in the county at both club and school level and meaningfully look to tackle the Portlaoise problem where a town of 20000 plus is a GAA wasteland if you drill into the actual participation numbers.       

Do you think Sheehan is as good a coach as Sugrue?

I don't think Sugrue was some sort of magician, there were not other county boards queuing up for the guy after he finished with Laois. But he did have his sides well prepared and organised when they took to the field. They were far from perfect but you felt he was getting the best out of the players at his disposal. He certainly had better players at his disposal (JOL, Kingston, Dillon etc) as mentioned, but I think if a coach such as Sugrue had this Laois team they would be at least be organised to give a division 3 side a game and not be beaten out the gate after 20 mins. I agree with Billy in one regard, that scoreline actually flattered Laois, it was like watching a junior team play a senior team. If they wanted Down could have really gone to town on us.

Also even if you get the underage structures needed in place to develop our players (and this urgently needs addressing) you still need to have a senior management in place next year. Do we just write it off and give Billy another go? We need to get someone in who will get the best out of the talent that currently exists in the county at senior level, that is the job description for the role.

Billy another year,  means less than 200 fans at Senior Inter County Matches, his actually costing us every game he manages in fan apathy.

Surely the county board have had a meeting since Sunday to discuss what went wrong.

https://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/gaa/1234356/something-has-to-change-urgently-in-laois-gaa.html

Fair play to Conor Ganly in the Leinster Express

We need more of this from our local press

Quote from: BallyroanAbu on June 27, 2023, 10:29:45 PM
Billy another year,  means less than 200 fans at Senior Inter County Matches, his actually costing us every game he manages in fan apathy.

Don't worry. O'Moore Park will soon be called The Home Of Munster Football. Their teams play there more often than we do

Quote from: Laois man on June 27, 2023, 11:32:40 PM
Surely the county board have had a meeting since Sunday to discuss what went wrong.

No guarantees. Potentially Billy's last job at inter County. I'd say they're genuinely afraid to let him go, because let's face it, he won't do a Sugrue and go quietly. That still rankles me by the way. If he walked away I felt he should have explained why. If he was pushed, it didn't make much sense. Once again the Laois GAA public disregarded

Quote from: Chrimtain on June 28, 2023, 06:37:21 AM
https://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/gaa/1234356/something-has-to-change-urgently-in-laois-gaa.html

Fair play to Conor Ganly in the Leinster Express

We need more of this from our local press

Ballsy alright. Can't imagine he's done himself any favours there

Quote from: Chrimtain on June 28, 2023, 06:37:21 AM
https://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/gaa/1234356/something-has-to-change-urgently-in-laois-gaa.html

Fair play to Conor Ganly in the Leinster Express

We need more of this from our local press

Its about time, the pressure must start from the press. Call out the current county board as they have in the above example, at least get them to have the guts to be more open and indicate what (if any) plan is in place to address this.
The longer we dont hear a peep from the board it just adds to the feeling that they are happy to just carry on, either let Billy continue and let all the ire of the supporters be on him. Or, more likely, appoint another yes man and when that goes south next year they again can sit back safe in the knowledge they are shielded from the continued anger of the county.

The silence from the County Board is deafening. We need to hear from them. Their reaction to Sunday's debacle should not be kept behind closed doors. They need to talk to the wider Laois GAA public.

They owe it to the people who buy the jerseys, the match day tickets, even those who support Laois GAA by entering the All County Draw. Most of these people do not have access to secretive County Board meetings.

Quote from: Chrimtain on June 28, 2023, 09:51:10 AM
The silence from the County Board is deafening. We need to hear from them. Their reaction to Sunday's debacle should not be kept behind closed doors. They need to talk to the wider Laois GAA public.

They owe it to the people who buy the jerseys, the match day tickets, even those who support Laois GAA by entering the All County Draw. Most of these people do not have access to secretive County Board meetings.

Every person in clubs in the county need to start speaking to their county board delegates and impress on their views as to how serious the current situation is

Hard honest conversations need to be had

Quote from: Chrimtain on June 28, 2023, 06:37:21 AM
https://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/gaa/1234356/something-has-to-change-urgently-in-laois-gaa.html

Fair play to Conor Ganly in the Leinster Express

We need more of this from our local press

Speaking truth to power is the only way to drive change, well done Conor, hopefully more get involved and get the pressure on county board. As others have said on here there is a need for transparency so people in charge can be held accountable. Plans have been drawn up for change and the Laois public have a right to know what were the recommendations of the plan, how many of those have been implemented and what blockers are hindering their implementation if any. In other words was the plan rubbish or are we just sitting on our hands and hoping things get better.

We have to demand change, our players and people deserve better. Laois may not have an illustrious history in terms of winning trophies but we have produced some outstanding players in both grades down the years. We may not all agree with each other on here but the fact we are here at all shows we only want Laois to succeed.

Here's the 2018-2020 Plan

https://laoisgaa.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Laois-GAA-Strategic-and-Action-Plan-2018-2020.pdf

Scroll down to page 19 to see how many of these have been implemented and these should have all been implemented 3 years ago at this point

Quote from: Chrimtain on June 28, 2023, 09:51:10 AM
The silence from the County Board is deafening. We need to hear from them. Their reaction to Sunday's debacle should not be kept behind closed doors. They need to talk to the wider Laois GAA public.

They owe it to the people who buy the jerseys, the match day tickets, even those who support Laois GAA by entering the All County Draw. Most of these people do not have access to secretive County Board meetings.

Sadly, the CB are accountable to nobody as things stand. That isn't going to change and they don't want it to. I cannot see the day when they take responsibility for what's going on around them; in fact I'm sure they're wondering why the focus is on them at all. I have less faith in the CB than I do in Billy Sheehan if I'm honest. Don't shoot me Joey!

Quote from: clonadmad on June 28, 2023, 11:49:05 AM
Here’s the 2018-2020 Plan

https://laoisgaa.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Laois-GAA-Strategic-and-Action-Plan-2018-2020.pdf

Scroll down to page 19 to see how many of these have been implemented and these should have all been implemented 3 years ago at this point

In fairness, it is a lovely looking document.

In our last serious strategic plan of 2018-2020 developed by a group of very respected GAA people within the county the following was noted: 

The Review Committee is very concerned at the
current range of activities for which GDAs are
responsible and the almost complete lack of input
and oversight from any volunteer members of the
Association in the county. The recommendations
which are outlined in this report are aimed at
addressing these shortcomings. In particular, they
are aimed at delivering clearer work programmes
for GDAs, improved supervision/monitoring of their
work, greater input from volunteer members of the
Association plus improved governance and oversight
of all coaching and games programmes in Laois. The
proposed new coaching and games structure for Laois
is shown in the schematic in Appendix B at the end of
this section of the report.

Over the last five years can the County Board really stand over what they have done and implemented to alleviate these serious concerns. From what I have seen in Laois GAA is that these concerns have only exasperated in that time or where some positive change has been made it has not been sustained or developed to the levels that it should (in some cases granted people have taken up positions to only move on again after a short time which is disruptive).

Mid rank counties like Cavan, Roscommon, Sligo, Down, Offaly, Kildare who have invested serious time, people, resources and money into juvenile coaching and player development in the last couple of years have started or will start to see the fruits of this over the next couple of years at senior level as these players filter into the senior set up. I fear that the gap from Laois to some of these mid rank counties will grow further if we do not tackle the concerns identified in a now 5 year old strategic report with both short and long term solutions.

The clubs in Laois do need to step up as well. A proper review meeting should be called and do what they do in Limerick- each club must be represented by their Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer, County Board Delegate, Coiste na Nog officer and at least one current player. Identify what is achievable and be realistic in what change can be brought about-identify how the county board can support the clubs in coaching and player development. Provide the necessary supports and funding so that you gain the buy in from the clubs- clubs must respond in kind by implementing and supporting these initiatives/structures etc. Identify what has worked in clubs e.g. Ballyroan (football), the Harps (hurling)- can this be replicated in other clubs, can clubs like The Harps and Ballyroan be supported further to step up coaching even further to take it to a new level again. Small steps but it gets the ball rolling.

As is the case in most clubs, those in power are there because nobody else wants to do the job. Those with ability have little interest and with some exceptions, those with interest have little ability.

Look at Offaly - who have a visionary like Michael Duignan willing to take apart the old guard and inspire a new group of volunteers to step up. We can all say that 'things need to change' but people need to step up and be encouraged to do so. The insiders in the CB know that too well.

There's an onus on clubs to step up also as regards facilities

How many clubs in Laois have stands?

How many clubs in Laois have decent floodlights?

How many clubs in Laois have scoreboards?

How many clubs in Laois have decent level playing surfaces?

You go to most of our neighbours and clubs are well equipped and well appointed

It's not all the clubs fault here at the same time as in those other counties,they don't have all their club games rammed into the county ground

Instead games are played in the club grounds and those clubs get some of the gate which they invest back into their facilities

Club games for so many different reasons need to be taken out of OMP and played in grounds around the county

Quote from: blueandwhite1 on June 28, 2023, 01:29:08 PM
As is the case in most clubs, those in power are there because nobody else wants to do the job. Those with ability have little interest and with some exceptions, those with interest have little ability.

Look at Offaly - who have a visionary like Michael Duignan willing to take apart the old guard and inspire a new group of volunteers to step up. We can all say that 'things need to change' but people need to step up and be encouraged to do so. The insiders in the CB know that too well.

Duignan was the fugurehead for change in Offaly

But he was cute enough to know if he went in on his own

The system would swallow him whole

Instead he gathered 8-10 well qualified people to go in with him

Even at that it took 2 conventions and a lot of blood spilt to get all the right people in

Similar is needed here

A well known and reputable person to gather a cabinet

Quote from: clonadmad on June 28, 2023, 02:12:17 PM

Quote from: blueandwhite1 on June 28, 2023, 01:29:08 PM
As is the case in most clubs, those in power are there because nobody else wants to do the job. Those with ability have little interest and with some exceptions, those with interest have little ability.

Look at Offaly - who have a visionary like Michael Duignan willing to take apart the old guard and inspire a new group of volunteers to step up. We can all say that 'things need to change' but people need to step up and be encouraged to do so. The insiders in the CB know that too well.

Duignan was the fugurehead for change in Offaly

But he was cute enough to know if he went in on his own

The system would swallow him whole

Instead he gathered 8-10 well qualified people to go in with him

Even at that it took 2 conventions and a lot of blood spilt to get all the right people in

Similar is needed here

A well known and reputable person to gather a cabinet

Who are ya thinking of? Niall Rigney maybe?

Quote from: Chrimtain on June 28, 2023, 09:51:10 AM
The silence from the County Board is deafening. We need to hear from them. Their reaction to Sunday's debacle should not be kept behind closed doors. They need to talk to the wider Laois GAA public.

They owe it to the people who buy the jerseys, the match day tickets, even those who support Laois GAA by entering the All County Draw. Most of these people do not have access to secretive County Board meetings.

Deafening!!? Really ?Ah would you stop . It's  been three days ffs .  Yes they are  as culpable as anyone else in this mess but this is not the Premier league here .
Things will happen and Sheehan will be gone and the current CB will be come under scrutiny deservingly and be replaced .

However let's look at the alternatives lads . There is no one exactly putting their hand up here . There is a ballot and vote every year and I have seen no new individuals willing to put their lot in with Laois or even attempt too in the past 5-8 years . There has been a few half hearted attempts and when the going gets tough they feck off . These are all voluntary positions for the most part .

Saying that this whole concept in place of secret County Board meetings is absolutely ludicrous . This initially was meant to be a 6 month thing but yet here we are ..

Item #1 is get the mouth of a manager out the door. He brings our county down with not only his antics along the line and opposition, but also in the media.

Quote from: Zooming around on June 28, 2023, 03:27:11 PM

Quote from: clonadmad on June 28, 2023, 02:12:17 PM

Quote from: blueandwhite1 on June 28, 2023, 01:29:08 PM
As is the case in most clubs, those in power are there because nobody else wants to do the job. Those with ability have little interest and with some exceptions, those with interest have little ability.

Look at Offaly - who have a visionary like Michael Duignan willing to take apart the old guard and inspire a new group of volunteers to step up. We can all say that 'things need to change' but people need to step up and be encouraged to do so. The insiders in the CB know that too well.

Duignan was the fugurehead for change in Offaly

But he was cute enough to know if he went in on his own

The system would swallow him whole

Instead he gathered 8-10 well qualified people to go in with him

Even at that it took 2 conventions and a lot of blood spilt to get all the right people in

Similar is needed here

A well known and reputable person to gather a cabinet

Who are ya thinking of? Niall Rigney maybe?

Say he's your Duignan

Who's your next 6/7/8 people in the Cabinet ?

Who is the Laois equivalent of Carina Carroll?

Quote from: Spiritof86 on June 28, 2023, 04:19:14 PM

Quote from: Chrimtain on June 28, 2023, 09:51:10 AM
The silence from the County Board is deafening. We need to hear from them. Their reaction to Sunday's debacle should not be kept behind closed doors. They need to talk to the wider Laois GAA public.

They owe it to the people who buy the jerseys, the match day tickets, even those who support Laois GAA by entering the All County Draw. Most of these people do not have access to secretive County Board meetings.

Deafening!!? Really ?Ah would you stop . It's  been three days ffs .  Yes they are  as culpable as anyone else in this mess but this is not the Premier league here .
Things will happen and Sheehan will be gone and the current CB will be come under scrutiny deservingly and be replaced .

However let's look at the alternatives lads . There is no one exactly putting their hand up here . There is a ballot and vote every year and I have seen no new individuals willing to put their lot in with Laois or even attempt too in the past 5-8 years . There has been a few half hearted attempts and when the going gets tough they feck off . These are all voluntary positions for the most part .

Saying that this whole concept in place of secret County Board meetings is absolutely ludicrous . This initially was meant to be a 6 month thing but yet here we are ..

No new faces because people have lost interest. It was the same in Offaly. People put their hand up when the conditions are right. They're far from right at the moment

We need to stop comparing ourselves to Offaly . They have a history of winning Leinster titles and All-Irelands . We do not have the same history .
We have no one of Michael Duignans calibre at the moment.

Conditions been right is an easy scapegoat . Between Colm Browne's first reign as Laois manager and the appointment of Justin McNulty I didn't see wholesale changes at County Board level . Correct me if I'm wrong . Same faces perhaps different roles .

So what needs to happen Spiritof86? They've made calls for additional help and nobody answered the call. Surely that tells you that they have lost the Laois public?

Quote from: High Fielder on June 28, 2023, 06:40:44 PM
So what needs to happen Spiritof86? They've made calls for additional help and nobody answered the call. Surely that tells you that they have lost the Laois public?

Absolutely they have lost the Laois public High Fielder . That trust has long gone .

There is a complete lack of transparency . The County Board is essentially a closed book .
I've no idea what happens next . It is more than likely going to take a couple of individuals who are currently involved in the county board to make a significant stand .

As much as the local media may write a semi controversial article or people post their distaste on social media nothing will happen until a couple of individuals directly involved with the County Board make an emphatic statement about the current malaise .

So if everything this Board do is shrouded in secrecy (the result of which only benefits themselves) why would potentially interested candidates buy into that? Why would anyone devote their precious time to an Administration that don't want us to know anything? Are we meant to trust them? I don't. Are we meant to trust the process that keeps them there? I don't. And are we supposed to accept that these people are the best people to drive Laois GAA forward? I don't. 

The very fact that they close ranks and don't stand down is odd to me. It makes me suspicious, and I'm afraid to say their media ban does nothing to dampen that suspicion. They will eventually make a concession to try and muster support and open the gate a little, but it's gone too far for me. We deserve the opportunity to try something different and make things better for Laois GAA. Things really couldn't be any worse than they are just now. As always, nothing personal, however the County is bigger than those who administrate it

It would appear that there was a meeting of the CB Executive Committee earlier this week. Was what happened in Croke Park last Sunday discussed? Who knows? Does the Laois GAA public need to know? Apparently not.

Quote from: High Fielder on June 29, 2023, 06:57:24 AM
So if everything this Board do is shrouded in secrecy (the result of which only benefits themselves) why would potentially interested candidates buy into that? Why would anyone devote their precious time to an Administration that don't want us to know anything? Are we meant to trust them? I don't. Are we meant to trust the process that keeps them there? I don't. And are we supposed to accept that these people are the best people to drive Laois GAA forward? I don't. 

The very fact that they close ranks and don't stand down is odd to me. It makes me suspicious, and I'm afraid to say their media ban does nothing to dampen that suspicion. They will eventually make a concession to try and muster support and open the gate a little, but it's gone too far for me. We deserve the opportunity to try something different and make things better for Laois GAA. Things really couldn't be any worse than they are just now. As always, nothing personal, however the County is bigger than those who administrate it

I have to agree with all this. A basic pre-condition for generating a broad-based support is to have real transparency in the debates and decision-making. It really is very counterproductive if basic information is being obscured.