Tailteann Cup 2023

Started by Laoiseabu, May 01, 2023, 02:15:37 PM

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Laoiseabu

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

Blow-in

"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?

High Fielder

Who said that? Sheehan or the LT reporter?

georgedoylesrightleg

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

on the hop

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.

Spiritof86

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 .

Chrimtain

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

Tier2

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 😳


Chrimtain

#53
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 Boy Wonder

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

georgedoylesrightleg

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

Spiritof86

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 .




on the hop

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.

Laois Rising

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.   

Spiritof86

#59
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 .