Topics

Clean Slate - New thread
Can we win the Joe Mc in 2024??
I believe they are back in training.
Who are the new members of the squad? Do we have everyone back from last year?

Another new era. What can we expect?
Any news on new members to the panel or lads not committing?

The senior hurlers/opportunity

I am a cheddar fan. His enthusiasm and love for hurling and laois cannot be matched. After the fiasco of Eddie leaving I felt Cheddar was a good appointment. He is not another teddy Mc or Eamonn Kelly type journey man. He has put a very impressive backroom team in place with Franny Forde considered one of the best coaches around. Cheddar will have his ducks in a row and if he gets buy in he will have the team very well prepared for battle. Last year against Wexford was a shambles.  I am all for trying new things but the game was over after 15 minutes and the plan just didn't work. It looked like this was the first time they had tried this system. Surely a league match or a few practice matches would have shown the management this wasn't going to work? However, Cheddar listened to the players and changed things up. We beat Antrim and we really could have beaten Waterford who are probably the second best team in the country in my opinion. In that game we were totally outclassed in the first half and it looked like we would take another beating. Far from it though as the lads showed some character and class to battle back to lead with 5 mins to go. Cheddar and his management made a few changes that got us back into the game and they deserve credit for that. He also made a couple of big calls before the game having lost R Mullaney and L Cleere. Moving F C Fennell back on Dessie Hutchinson was an inspired move as fennel did as good a job as anyone on one of the best forwards in the country.
A great win against Antrim followed by an outstanding and impressive performance against Waterford sets us up nicely coming into 2022. Wexford and Dublin are not that good, Kilkenny are workmanlike but they haven't got the players they had before to scare you and Galway wont be bad but will be in a bit of transition. I genuinely believe that if we can get a few more to commit and get a full buy in from the panel that we could get a couple of wins, get out of the group and have a right crack at leinster. Following that what are our goals over the next two/three years? For me it should be getting to a leinster final. Imagine the hysteria that would bring to the county. Laois people showed in 2019 that they are crying out for a team to follow and I don't think a leinster is beyond us!

Non committals/regrets

This is a well flagged and massive issue in the past, currently and in the future for Laois hurling and football. I struggle to understand it. People will throw out the 'ah sure why would they bother' 'sure laois are at nothing' 'the commitment is savage'. I look at it as such an honour, it's a huge privilege in most other hurling counties. Clubs and general public in Laois don't help and many would discourage lads from going in. Its an awful shame. I appreciate it curtails their social life but most intercountry players are finished by the time they are 32. They have a good 40 years to socialise after that. They only get a few years to have a proper go at it. I really believe that the ones that haven't committed will look back with a huge amount of regret when they finish hurling. They will carry that regret for a long time. They are putting the effort in with their clubs so it's literally only another couple of months that they would do with the county anyway. I would also question why we have so many defections in laois compared to other counties. Im not talking about the likes of limerick or Kilkenny but the likes of Carlow and Offaly hurlers have very few that don't commit. Eddie Brennan commented that 22 players had not committed in 2019, that's staggering.
Im not sure if there is an answer for this but I would question if the management and in particular the co boards efforts to get lads on board and keep them on board. Everything that needs to be done should be done, im talking along the lines of helping with job opportunities(locally), college scholarships, transport to training, expenses etc. David Dooley was in with laois seniors last year until he was told he couldn't play. One of our most promising up and coming prospects was lost to rugby, could more have been done to keep him with the u20s for the year, he could have made the difference against Kilkenny. I wish him well in whatever he chooses to do in the future but hopefully we will see him in the blue and white of laois again.

Leigh Bergin, Gearoid Burke, Joe Campion, Colm Stapleton, Cathal Dunne, Aidan Corby, Mark Dowling, Robbie Phelan, Liam O Connell are just a few I'd like to see involved

Letting them live a little

Eddie Brennan was a breath of fresh air for the players when he was involved. Letting them have a few pints after the McDonagh success and after the Dublin match was well documented as a positive move and one that the players really appreciated and to be fair the were professional enough not to take the piss. For all Cheddars good traits I think he needs to rejuvenate the panel and bring a bit of a fun element into the set up. I heard of hour upon hour long meetings going over tactics sucked the life and good out of the players at times last year. You would wonder about it considering how they played against wexford.

Line Balls

Just a word on this, we gave up some very soft scores especially in the league from very poor line balls out of the backs in particular last year. Needs to be worked on

Forwards/Scoring power

Against Waterford last year if we had another forward playing well we would have won. Roddy was well held and when he was we had little support for paddy Purcell and cha. Unfortunately mark kav was and will be a loss. Outside of that we need to be getting more from our other forwards and maybe unearth a couple of new ones. Of the ones that are there, picky needs to be playing up there and not at wing back, we have plenty of wing backs and hes in the form of his life for his club in the forwards. We need to get more out of Aaron dunphy who was outstanding for B/K this year putting up big scores. Would like to see Ben Conroy get a good run in the league, see what he can do. There are some promising players from the u20 set up also but some of them may want to stay with the u20s again this year as they should have a decent outfit and its probably hard to blame them.

Personnel options
GK – Rowland, Simms, (Fleming and Dunne if interested)
Backs – Cleere, Hartnett, Conway, Fennell, Downey, P Delaney, Mullaney, McEvoy, Kelly
Midfield – Purcell, Kelly, Lennon, Fennell, Keyes
Forwards – Purcell, Cha, Picky, Roddy, Willie Dunphy, Aaron Dunphy, Collier, Lyons, Conroy, Scully, Ryan

Decided to spark a bit of talk and debate about the make up of the laois senior hurling panel in 2021.
I have listed out 59 potential players for laois in 2021. I have divided them in different groups goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, forwards, lads worth having a look at, lads that we could do with but have not committed in recent years and young lads. I have no idea of the make up of Cheddars training panel so im guessing really. Would like to get your opinions on who should be there and maybe what our best starting 15 is. I have guessed the ages of all players, I shouldn't be too far out but forgive me if I am! The average age of the first 32 named below is 25.8yrs old. Also forgive me if I have left anyone obvious or maybe not so obvious out.
Goalkeepers (2)
Enda Rowland (26)
An excellent goalkeeper with a great attitude and a love for the jersey
Paul Simms (25)
A good back up to Rowland but barring injury to Enda hard to see him get in
                               
Defenders (12)
Sean Downey (26)
Not sure is full back his best position and whether he can nullify the best in the game remains to be seen. Got caught for Eamonn Dillons goal against Dublin but other than that did quite well in 2020.
Matthew Whelan (32)
A warrior for laois for almost 15 years at this stage and hardly missed a game in all that time. I don't ever remember Matthew getting a roasting for laois and he has seen some dark days. Not sure if he is soldiering on this year or not as he didn't seem to come into the reckoning in 2020. Owes laois nothing.     
Lee Cleere (22)
Struggled a bit early on against Dublin but Cleere is one Cheddar will be counting on in the coming years. An excellent competitor                                                                 
Donnacha Harnett (25) 
Have been very impressed with Hartnett in the past couple of years, seems comfortable at county level and has done well on some top players                                                   
Jack Kelly (25)
Kelly was one of our top performers in 2019. Strange he didn't start against Dublin last year and taken off early against Clare when playing well.
Ryan Mullaney (25)
Mullaney is another that has performed very well in the past couple of years. I think he is most at home at centre back but could also be used at full back.
Podge Delaney (22)
One of laois best players in 2020 and we will big performances again in 2021
Colm Stapleton (25)
In and out of the team a bit. Got his chance against Clare and did quite well but made a couple of errors also.
Ronan Broderick (25)
Unfortunate injury against Dublin, Hopefully he makes a good/speedy recovery
Eric Killeen (23)
Will be looking for more game time and fight for a place
Ciaran McEvoy (26)
Will be hoping to take his chance
Diarmuid Conway (21)
Looking forward to seeing Conway getting a chance.

Midfielders (4)
John Lennon (25)
An important cog in the wheel. Sorely missed in 2020
Paddy Purcell (28)
Again not starting Paddy against Clare when we were already missing players seemed a strange move to me. However he didn't sulk and got stuck in and played well when introduced. Laois need to be getting the best out of Paddy Purcell.
Fiachra C Fennell (23)
A great engine and pace which suits this laois team. Hopefully he can improve his end product. Has a part to play
Conor Phelan (25)
Has been used as a substitute, will be looking for a chance from the start

Forwards (14)
Picky Maher (28)
One of the best in the business on his day. A couple of superb points against Dublin but we need a bit more overall given his talent
Cha Dwyer (27)
Not bringing Cha back into the panel in Autumn was another funny call by EB. Laois cant afford to be without the likes of cha. He is a leader in this team and we will need him at his best.
Mark Kavanagh (23)
Kavanagh is becoming an important player in this team, his scoring ability makes up for his lack of physique. Hopefully injuries are behind him
Ross King (27)
Roddy carried the can up front for a lot of last year and did as well as he could. A top player for laois and will need more support
Willie Dunphy (29)
After an epic 2019, Dunphy wasn't as influential in 2020 but still remains a very important player for laois
Eanna Lyons (27)
Will be very keen to get back hurling with laois after missing out last year. Has a good attitude and if he could become more of an aerial threat it would serve us well
Aaron Dunphy (23)
A super talent with great speed. After and excellent 2019 campaign, he didn't excel as much in 2020. Made some handling errors that you wouldn't expect.
James Ryan (27)
Ryan played well at times in 2020 and drifted out of games at times also. Will be hoping to add consistency to his game.
James Keyes (21)
Has developed physically in the past year. Took a brilliant goal against Clare. Hopefully he can improve again this year
Stephen Bergin (26)
Dogged by injury in 2020. Can play his part starting or from the bench again this year
Pj Scully (27)
Pj is back in with laois and will be hoping to push for a starting place
Ben Conroy (27)
Injured in 2019 and was in England for a lot of 2020. A top club player in laois be interesting to see if he could make the step up for laois
Eoin Gaughan (22)
Played a bit in 2020 in the absence of others. Will be hoping to make an impact in 2020
Mark Hennessy (20)
Came on for the last couple of minutes against Clare so he must have been impressing in training. Played well for laois under 20's against Carlow. Will develop in the next couple of years
Liam O Connell (24)
This is an interesting one. Ive heard O Connell is part of the panel. Not sure if he has ever even played senior with his club. Was an excellent minor until he was plagued by injury.

In and out/Worth a look (13)
Conor Cosgrove (20)
Frank Flanagan
Cian Taylor (26)
Aaron Bergin (23)
Daniel Comerford (22)
Ciaran Comerford (22)
Liam Senior (21)
Podge Lawlor (28)
Paddy Whelan (28)
Stephen Phelan (23)
Robbie Phelan (23)
Aidan Corby (25)
Stephen Finan (26)

Not available - (7) All listed below have not committed for the past couple of years for whatever reason. It's a real shame as these guys would really drive on the current panel and all could possibly start in the championship. I believe these lads will have some regrets if they don't come back and give it a go as they are all in their prime now and they are missing out on playing at the highest level with their county. Ive no doubt they were in portlaoise or in croke park supporting laois in the summer of 2019. They were incredible days to be a laois person, surley it stroke a chord with them and would have said "god id love to be out there", I have to say I was surprised when none of them were involved in 2020 after the year we had in'19. Cheddar was interviewed recently and when questioned about non committals he played it down so maybe he has got a few of these guys back in. We definitely have had a huge amount of guys that have not committed in recent years and I think I remember Eddie Brennan saying he had 22 guys decline. Id be keen to know the reason behind it and what could be done to encourage more to play with their county. Many of lads would kill for the honour!

Gearoid Burke (27) Was a steady wing back for cheddar during his last term in charge. Would be a great option to have if available this year.
Dwayne Palmer (25) Hasn't been around the past couple of years. Would provide great competition for a corner back spot.
Joe Campion (25) Hasn't committed to the county panel for the past couple of years. Would be a great addition to the laois set up as he has the physique and ability to excel.                               
Leigh Bergin (25) Didn't play any hurling club or county in the past couple of years for whatever reason. It's a pity as he was progressing into a fine hurler prior to that.
Ciaran Collier (25) Hurler of the year in 2018 and unfortunately hasn't committed in recent years. Hasn't had the best club campaigns is '18 but if committed he could find form and be a good addition to laois.
Mark Dowling (23) Camross best player in 2020 and has progressed very well. Didn't seem to get much chance in 2019 under brennan but would definitely feature if he commits in 2021.
Eoin Fleming (26) Undoubtedly the second best goalie in laois for the past few years, probably has become frustrated with lack of opportunity.                                 

Potential/Maybe not ready yet
Dunne is one that is probably ready to make the step up as under study to Rowland and learn his trade with a view to challenging Rowland for the position down the line. Id like to see burke in too as he has a lot of the attributes required for this level and training with the senior team will bring him on leaps and bounds. Dooley is an excellent prospect and considering who his father is hopefully he will choose the small ball over other sports. Maher had an excellent club campaign for rosenallis. The others are young but have potential to push on.
Cathal Dunne (20)
Ciaran Burke (20)
David Dooley (17)
John Maher (20)
Fionain Mahony (18)
Danny Brennan (19)
Tomas Keyes (18)