Allianz Football League 2017 - Division 3

[Laoisguy]

Completely agree High Fielder

Story goes the panel are really behind what Creedon is trying to do and his methods

The feelings are they have been very unfortunate with injuries and some dubious ref decisions
I hope we get the win and a bit of stability in terms of game time for the final panel

[Clubber Lang]

Great post High Fielder. Only for stupid red cards Laois could be in a position where a win against Offaly would see them finish the league with five wins and two losses. Both those losses were with seriously depleted teams with a lot of our senior panel members missing or not fully fit. We don't have the reserves in Laois to compensate for injured players and county standard players (Boyle, Meredith etc) unable to commit to panel. I'm satisfied with the job Creedon has done so far- he's blooded a number of new players and has used the league to build his squad. When you see the likes of McMahon returning to the fold at 32 years of age and Munnelly staying on to provide his experience it would indicate to me that things are good in the Laois set-up. These lads have been great servants to Laois football and wouldn't still be there if things weren't right. Creedon should be judged on how this team develops over the next 24 months. At present he is working with a team that didn't end up in Division 3 by fluke. For a number of years we flirted with relegation from Division 2 before the inevitable happened.     

[les Antiques]

There's a good chance Conor Boyle and Paul Cahillane will be back in the county fold after the league comes to a close Sunday
. The negatives are always the easiest to pull out but a win Sunday and then a good Month and half preparation for the championship with a few players returning to the fold ..things will not be bad as it seems . The league will be long forgotten by Creedon and judging from his past endeavours with Tipp and Carberry Rangers he is without doubt Championship driven .
Then will be the time to judge him , not after ' with respect a meaningless league match on a college pitch in Belfast in front of an handful of half interested spectators. If Laois have a near enough full deck of cards regarding players come May ,then will be the time to cast judgement on his reign . Give the man time .
Offaly will be tough and can only see a kick of a ball in it Sunday . That' last time I felt satisfied coming out of Tullamore watching the Laois Senior Footballers was back in 2003 and I remember as a kid watching Laois destroy a strong Meath team in 85 there also . Few and far between , hopefully this Sunday will be sweeter again .

[town1980]

are you for real high fielder when did cahalline dominate county football so what are you on about,,,such a stupid statement omg,,creedon is therre to inspire the LADS that are commited to laois and him so what are you on about,,he is  not able to do this effectively as is evident in the performances,,talking about lads that are not there??well there all over 30-31 so next year they will be 31-32 most are at the end of there careers

[High Fielder]

are you for real high fielder when did cahalline dominate county football so what are you on about,,,such a stupid statement omg,,creedon is therre to inspire the LADS that are commited to laois and him so what are you on about,,he is  not able to do this effectively as is evident in the performances,,talking about lads that are not there??well there all over 30-31 so next year they will be 31-32 most are at the end of there careers

Nobody said anything about dominate. He's a good footballer and every good footballer that leaves or gets injured leaves a gap. Those gaps are getting harder to plug with each passing year, and you're right, maybe our darkest days are ahead of us because we have very little coming through. That's not Creedon's fault either, but you and Ballyroan Abu seemed determined to pin the blame on him for everything. Now it's impossible to know what your actual agenda is, and to be honest who cares anyway, but neither of you want to be balanced in your argument. For that reason, taking either of you seriously, for me at least, is hard. Here's hoping Laois win on Sunday. I'm just hoping you two feel the same.

[Tony]

So many errors in that post town1980, me head is melted. Who thought you in school at all    .

High Fielder never said that Paul dominated club football. He was clearly saying he's a good player who's hard to replace.

He certainly would be in my starting 15, probably corner forward instead of Paul Kingston. Same with Boyle - we could really do with him on the panel. Same with Cahir Healy for that matter, that would give us a massive boost.

Unfortunately, those players aren't there at the moment, and in addition to those players missing through injury, surely this must be taken into account when judging a manager's performance. In any case, I believe March in his first year is way too early to properly judge a manager's performance, unless of course he's not even performing his basic duties.

I feel like we've argued this one into the ground at this stage.

My prediction for the weekend: Offaly 1-11 Laois 1-12.

[town1980]

he is being paid to do a job and at the minute and its not being donr right is that me blaming someone or is it not the case,,,,yee think  i have an agenda i do in my ass,,,i see a team that has won two games in a league competition who arent competitive at the minute so how are myslef and broanabu that wrong???again its my opinion and if you look at the results how is it not a fair reflection on the games as we see it???i think will beat offaly still

[High Fielder]

You need to accept that the team wasn't good enough on the day. Missing players, injuries, suspensions and defections have weakened Laois. That's just a fact. Your expectations have not lowered despite all these factors. You are putting us on a pedestal we do not deserve, and you fail to see how many players are out of position and how many players are getting the jersey because others are not there. We have no right to anything. Westmeath have a better recent history than us in the Championship and they are in Division 4. Offaly have a much richer pedigree than us and we face them in a Division 3 relegation battle. Do you think they are worried about Laois? You blame Creedon and all he did was inherit a mess; a mess that may never be cleared up.

[Keyser Söze]

My prediction for the weekend: Offaly 1-11 Laois 1-12.

How many players do you predict Laois will finish the game with?
Hopefully we manage to keep 15.

[Stradism]

Any word on the team for Sunday? Is Begley fit?

[redsetanta]

There's plenty of debate about the loss of players through injury, leaving the panel or other reasons. Just to compare and contrast these are the teams that lined out against Armagh last year and this year in the league.

Laois v Armagh Feb 2016

LAOIS: G Brody; R Kehoe, M Timmons, D Seale; D Strong, P Cotter, G Dillon; K Lillis, K Meaney; J Farrell, D Kingston, N Donoher; P Cahillane, E O'Carroll, G Walsh.

Subs: M Campion for Meaney (17), A Farrell for Cotter (BC, 33), D O'Connor for Strong (52), D O'Reilly for Walsh (55), R O'Connor for Campion (58)

Laois v Armagh Feb 2017
LAOIS:
Graham Brody (Portlaoise)
Darren Strong (Emo)
Denis Booth (The Heath)
James Kelly (St Joseph's)
Eoin Buggie (Stradbally)
Kieran Lillis (Portlaoise)
Stephen Attride (Killeshin)
Seán Ramsbottom (Timahoe)
Danny Luttrell (Courtwood)
Cormac Murphy (Crettyard)
Ambrose Doran (Graiguecullen)
Niall Donoher (Courtwood)
Ruairi O'Connor (Timahoe)
Donie Kingston (Arles-Killeen)
Kevin Meaney (Arles-Kilcruise)

Subs:
David Conway (Arles-Kilcruise) for O'Connor (14 mins)
Ross Munnelly (Arles-Kilcruise) for Murphy (46 mins)
Padraig McMahon (Ballyroan-Abbey) for Doran (49 mins)
Paul Kingston (Arles-Killeen) for Ramsbottom (55 mins)
Danny O'Reilly (Graiguecullen) for Lillis (63 mins)
Eoin Lowry (Killeshin) for Donoher (63 mins)

[Tony]

This is the story.

Last year we had an awful league campaign followed by a very poor championship campaign.

Lillis left and we were left in a very poor state, something that has been inevitable for years.

What did we need at that point?

A manager and background team that have experience with developing underage structures & have a proven pedigree with being successful in this area.

How long did it take for Tipp to get from poor side to good side and looking like they'll be a tier 1 side within a few years? It took a LOT of time. Years.

So, surprisingly enough we managed to get a manager and background team with proven pedigree with Tipperary.

Honestly, I would keep him even if we got relegated to div 4 & had a poor championship. It all needs time - him, his background team and other people involved with developing laois gaa underage need and deserve time.

Why? Because we need to give this years, we need to develop underage especially minor / u21 throughout the county. WHY OH WHY would you throw out a man with PROVEN pedigree in this area. Tipp are going from strength to strength and like it or not, it's a fact he had a significant influence on Tipp's turnaround.

To throw him out would be lunacy, in my opinion, ESPECIALLY given the clear as day context of players not available / injured / playing out of position / you name it.

Careful what you wish for. At least with this setup we're aiming to go in the right direction and have a holistic plan for minor / u21 / senior. It certainly beats the clueless mentality that we've witnessed for years now.

You can throw Roe in there or higgins or clancy but let's face it. That's more of the same like dempsey or lillis and not focussing on underage. We need a sea change in the county & that's what's being attempted. I can't for the life of me understand the short-sightedness of town1980 and B-abu. Granted it's only a very small portion of voices on here but I have to wonder if you're thinking about the long-term and I also have to wonder if you're seeing what's in front of your eyes : players missing from all over the park. Not up to standard ability from large numbers of our players. Players playing out of position etc. You don't seem to even acknowledge that. I'm not saying Creedon & his team are Jesus and his apostles - We're saying they have proven experience in getting a poor team across u-21 and senior into a better one over the course of years. We're a poor team weather you like it or not & we're trying to get better holistically but it needs time.

[clonadmad]

Div3 Permutations

To secure promotion:
Louth (10, +11): promoted
Armagh (9, +46): Avoid defeat against Tipperary
tipperary (8, +18): Need to beat Armagh

To avoid relegation:
Offaly (4, -27): Need to beat Laois
Antrim (4, -19): Need to beat Longford
Laois (4, -18): Need to avoid defeat against Offaly as a draw will bring their superior scoring difference into play.
Longford (4, -6): Need to avoid defeat against Antrim as a draw will bring their superior scoring difference into play.

[blueandwhite1]

This is the story.

Last year we had an awful league campaign followed by a very poor championship campaign.

Lillis left and we were left in a very poor state, something that has been inevitable for years.

What did we need at that point?

A manager and background team that have experience with developing underage structures & have a proven pedigree with being successful in this area.

How long did it take for Tipp to get from poor side to good side and looking like they'll be a tier 1 side within a few years? It took a LOT of time. Years.

So, surprisingly enough we managed to get a manager and background team with proven pedigree with Tipperary.

Honestly, I would keep him even if we got relegated to div 4 & had a poor championship. It all needs time - him, his background team and other people involved with developing laois gaa underage need and deserve time.

Why? Because we need to give this years, we need to develop underage especially minor / u21 throughout the county. WHY OH WHY would you throw out a man with PROVEN pedigree in this area. Tipp are going from strength to strength and like it or not, it's a fact he had a significant influence on Tipp's turnaround.

To throw him out would be lunacy, in my opinion, ESPECIALLY given the clear as day context of players not available / injured / playing out of position / you name it.

Careful what you wish for. At least with this setup we're aiming to go in the right direction and have a holistic plan for minor / u21 / senior. It certainly beats the clueless mentality that we've witnessed for years now.

You can throw Roe in there or higgins or clancy but let's face it. That's more of the same like dempsey or lillis and not focussing on underage. We need a sea change in the county & that's what's being attempted. I can't for the life of me understand the short-sightedness of town1980 and B-abu. Granted it's only a very small portion of voices on here but I have to wonder if you're thinking about the long-term and I also have to wonder if you're seeing what's in front of your eyes : players missing from all over the park. Not up to standard ability from large numbers of our players. Players playing out of position etc. You don't seem to even acknowledge that. I'm not saying Creedon & his team are Jesus and his apostles - We're saying they have proven experience in getting a poor team across u-21 and senior into a better one over the course of years. We're a poor team weather you like it or not & we're trying to get better holistically but it needs time.

Tony, I would guess that the vast majority of people would agree with your views on the current set up, players and the reasons for our downfall. In fairness, the slide has been predicted consistently for years on this website and on Laoistalk. I wouldn't waste my breath trying to convince the two or three 'Manager out' contributors on here as their arguements are puerile. There is not a soccer forum.

[BallyroanAbu]

Thanks Tony, you don't ever stop insulting me.  It's 5 years of Jokers as managers not 2.  At least I am not in your deluded mode.