Bord na Mona O’Byrne Cup 2019

[redsetanta]

3 lads from Port starting. A long time since they had such representation on a Laois senior team.

[Laoiseabu]

3 lads from Port starting. A long time since they had such representation on a Laois senior team.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing ?

[redsetanta]

Well it's good for Port. And the club will benefit because lads on the county team beings interest and more younglads in to the club. The players will also improve.

[Chrimtain]

Good to see young guys like Scott Osbourne, Adam Campion, Brian Daly, Marty Scully and Sean Byrne all starting at the weekend. Hopefully others will get opportunities in subsequent matches.

It would have been interesting to see the names of those who impressed John Sugrue during the recent divisional tournament and have made it onto the panel, provisionally or otherwise.

We are lucky to have someone like Sugrue in charge. Long may it continue.

[Chrimtain]

This is amazing, I couldn't have imagined this happening so soon after we hit the depths of Div.4. We have a lot to thank John Sugrue for, we are so lucky to have him in charge and long may it last...

Laois defender speaks about fierce competition for places on intercounty setup
https://www.laoistoday.ie/2018/12/06/laois-defender-speaks-about-fierce-competition-for-places-on-laois-setup/

Great to see young guys make comments like this: "Personally I love the challenge and it's always been a dream to play for Laois so whether it's a home training on by myself or down at the club, I try to build on that and try to match the lads here beside me.

"It was a brilliant year last year, especially for my first year in. For me the best achievement was to actually get onto the panel and that was fantastic in itself.

"It's been a lot of work but it's something I wanted to do."

Hopefully Ruaidhrí C Fennell will continue to improve and eventually make the starting fifteen.

[SCFC]

3 lads from Port starting. A long time since they had such representation on a Laois senior team.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing ?

There's our Kildare poster again. Full of positivity for Laois.
It's the Byrne Cup ffs. If there was 15 Port lads it wouldn't matter. You try lads and see if they have something about them.
On Scully, wasn't he used as a forward before and didn't really make it? Now after a really good year at centre back for the club, he's picked as a forward again!

[Butch Cassidy]

Isn't Byrne from Port a back too? Remember him playing backs for Laois minors.

Interesting to hear Munnelly is back. Has to be one of the most committed Laois footballers we ever had

[Laois fan]

Bryne often plays midfield for port now,i wondering are they experimenting with new rules and the mark putting him half forward

[Laoiseabu]

3 lads from Port starting. A long time since they had such representation on a Laois senior team.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing ?

There's our Kildare poster again. Full of positivity for Laois.
It's the Byrne Cup ffs. If there was 15 Port lads it wouldn't matter. You try lads and see if they have something about them.
On Scully, wasn't he used as a forward before and didn't really make it? Now after a really good year at centre back for the club, he's picked as a forward again!

I might be a lot of things but I'm not a Kildare man. The question i asked wasn't meant to have a negative spin on it .

[High Fielder]

I don't know what's worse. Being from Kildare or denying you're from Kildare  Only kidding Laoiseabu.

Did we not get penalised for training this time last year? Club Championship aside, and even that, I have no love for Gaelic football at this time of the year. It really is no gauge of a player or team's ability and I have no idea what we're doing playing inter county football in early December. Madness.

Anyway, we are where we are and the team is experimental. There are lads on that team who need to work a lot harder to make it at this level. I'm sure they know that, and if they don't, Sugrue will tell them in short order. Aside from that, individual rather than team performances are what matter so early in the season. You're looking for lads all the time, and this is some of those lads' chance to start showing well

[on the hop]

well that didn't go to well, I actually thought we might be a bit better when I saw the team selected. The game was over at half time and we had half a chance of a goal just before the break when Gary Walsh one on one with the keeper and he decided to chip and the ball and it floated over the bar. at least a goal might have made the second half interesting. 1-3 to 0-3 in the second half and I think there was no score for the last 15 or 16 minutes from either side which was possibly a better view of the game. A bit like Westmeath this time last year Meath looked a bit further ahead of us in at present, not surprising looking at some of their upcoming games in the league and the fact that their management are under a bit of pressure after under performing last year. They are going hard for this trophy reflected by the amount of regulars they played and bringing on the likes of graham reilly when we were trying new guys. it was also obvious that there regulars are a bit ahead in fitness than our ones that played. I think 24 players had a run and it was always going to be that we were going to lack a bit of shape. certainly the game and the conditions suited a bigger meath team who bottled us up constantly in attack even if the ref gave them a bit of lee way in terms of physical tackling. At the same time our forwards were awful considering we started four regular enough players, the lack of ball winner killed us and there was little or no link up play. if we don't move the ball fast in the forwards the three hand pass rule is going to kill us as we have come to rely on handpassing quickly like most teams on it.

on a night when no one really did themselves any justice, campion tried hard in the corner. its hard to make your debut and find yourself marking a fast corner forward with half the field to run into. in fairness he stuck to his task. The rest of the defence were at sea bar Timmons in patches. We were swamped at midfield and the forwards were really poor though it would be good to look at Byrne and Scully again. Byrne looks to have a bit about him. Interesting to see how big the panel is at the moment. We togged out 24, Fennell was injured from the programme, so it would be interesting to see what others are to could back. obviously the likes of donie, Begley and evan will appear along with hopefully the likes of frank Flanagan, lillis, Dillon, boyle and a few others from portlaoise but I wonder if any players from o dempseys are training with the panel. I dont know what the position is with others like eoin buggie, Kelly from st. joes, moore and murphy from port is.

[High Fielder]

We probably have the makings of a decent U20 team this year, and that will muddy the waters a little as far as the Seniors are concerned. I personally would like to see Sugrue having control of everything because not only would he do a better job, but he'd also see that there are lads at that level who have more potential than a lot who togged out last night. I hate being ruthless, and I know lads can improve, but for one reason or another, a lot of lads who togged last night will never make it at this level.

[on the hop]

we would also have the makings of a decent junior team, but we don't bother entering that competition anymore.

[High Fielder]

True, but I guess resources and finance dictate that. In all honesty, the GAA would need to get a grip of itself. It's ridiculous asking amateur players to prepare at this time of the year. The whole structure needs to be streamlined and properly thought out. There are too many demands being placed on players and we have to remember, they do this for the love of the game. When you see the likes of Daniel Flynn walking away, it puts into perspective how threadbare this organisation is. In an overall context, it generally (unless you're a Dublin player) makes no meaningful contribution to your life and fortune. It should be something for the GAA to think about, but instead they're too busy feathering their own nests.

[Junior Ex Laoistalk]

The 2019 O'Byrne Cup gets underway next weekend with four first round games taking place.
Eleven of the 12 Leinster counties are taking part, with All-Ireland champions Dublin entering at the semi-final stage on January 12. The final is scheduled for Friday, January 18 and is set to televised by TG4.
The confirmed fixtures to date are as follows:

Round 2

Saturday, December 15
Westmeath v Offaly, Westmeath venue
Kildare v Carlow, Kildare venue
Wicklow v Louth, Wicklow venue
Wexford v Laois, St Patrick's Park, 2pm
Meath v Longford, Ashbourne, 5pm

Round 3

Saturday, January 5
Carlow v Offaly, Carlow venue
Westmeath v Kildare, Westmeath venue
Longford v Louth, Longford venue
Wexford v Meath, Wexford venue
Wicklow v Laois, Wicklow venue

Laois' O'Byrne Cup Round 2 clash with Wexford will now take place on Saturday at 2pm in Kennedy Park, New Ross (note change of venue).