2024 Allianz Hurling League

[les Antiques]

first time to see the hurlers in a while and they made hard work on beating a very limited Kildare team who were down several injured players. Strong wind throughout the game was with Kildare in the first half and they started very strong before Laois got their bearings. Both teams deployed a sweeper at times which benefitted Kildare more as they got off a lot of shots, had they been more accurate they could have been further ahead. Laois seemed to have issues tracking players in the middle third. Despite the wind being very strong Laois seemed to persist in hitting high balls into the corners which didn't suit the inside line.

Scoring rate for both teams decreased in the second half as both seem to be very laboured at times, possibly doing heavy training. Laois exploited a few mistakes in the second half and finished with three good goals. Kildare fell away for 20 minutes where Laois scored well to open a gap. near the end they became a bit ill disciplined and let Kildare get a few scores. Wasn't the best performance but got over the line.

What are the facilities like at Hawkfields OTH ? Never been out there .

[County Man]

Listened to the game on Kfm. Seemed to be a competitive battle and sounded like Martin Phelan and Jer Quinlan had good games. I read that it is the first time since 2011 that we scored 3 goals in half a game of hurling in the league.

Good to be back winning games, reminds me of 2013 when we were last in division 2A under Cheddar. We won the 2A title that year and ended up running Galway close in the Leinster championship.

Looking forward to going to the next game v Carlow on the 24th. Will be a good test. Carlow in my opinion would be on a par with both Westmeath and Offaly.

Some result for Offaly down in Wexford park. Westmeath competitive with Limerick, although a weakened Limerick outfit.

Ultimately, this year is about the Joe McDonagh cup. It falls nicely in that we have Offaly in our first game and Westmeath in our last in the group stages. We're building nicely towards it.

[on the hop]

first time to see the hurlers in a while and they made hard work on beating a very limited Kildare team who were down several injured players. Strong wind throughout the game was with Kildare in the first half and they started very strong before Laois got their bearings. Both teams deployed a sweeper at times which benefitted Kildare more as they got off a lot of shots, had they been more accurate they could have been further ahead. Laois seemed to have issues tracking players in the middle third. Despite the wind being very strong Laois seemed to persist in hitting high balls into the corners which didn't suit the inside line.

Scoring rate for both teams decreased in the second half as both seem to be very laboured at times, possibly doing heavy training. Laois exploited a few mistakes in the second half and finished with three good goals. Kildare fell away for 20 minutes where Laois scored well to open a gap. near the end they became a bit ill disciplined and let Kildare get a few scores. Wasn't the best performance but got over the line.

What are the facilities like at Hawkfields OTH ? Never been out there .

it always has the feel of a training / centre of excellence but the fact that newbridge is closed there isn't really much more of an option for the hurlers, Clane have a stand where a few club games are played in the hurling area of the county. There is a lot of games played there during the year with the lights and the majority of the county teams use it to train. i know that the camoige play a bit more in Kilcock recently , Rathcoffey and the Leixlip 4G astro pitch, the facilities have improved in a lot of clubs. its a narrow site, just over the length of a pitch and each pitch is in a row after that the further you go in. There are four pitches and a training area / wall ball.  pitch one with the small stand is the main pitch. it feels a bit short for hurling. Pitch two is often used for juvenile / LGFA matches and then there are two more training pitches. The dressing rooms are in the main building and are basic enough. They have built a fairly big gym there recently. Parking can be a disaster if there is a decent crowd there.

[Laois man]

Facilities are very poor.

[Blow-in]

Did we sack our Hurling coach?

[Spiritof1915]

Did we sack our Hurling coach?

He was in flying form this evening.
Good intensity training before an important game on Saturday

[Ogie]

We've sacked both our hurling coaches in the past three weeks, Connolly & Horgan, doesn't reflect  well on the Manager bringing in these coaches.

Need to get it sorted fast, could be hard get a quality coach at this time of year .

Two wins but two underwhelming performances, bigger test Saturday evening.

[Zooming around]

Has the team been named?

[Joeythelips]

Has the team been named?

Laois team for the weekend

[G@@]

Did we sack our Hurling coach?

What's all this about then? Is there backroom unrest, why?

[Laois man]

Big fame this evening best of luck Carlow have good forwards Chris Nolan needs serious watching hit 1.06 in the last fame from play still think laois by 3 or 4 point's.

[Mossy Bruce]

Sitting here, hoping Midlands radio will cover the whole match.

I'll be recording it (to listen to later) as I need to start on the mowing on a rare sunny day this time of year, here.

[burdizzo]

Disappointing from Laois tonight. Carlow probably 10 points the better team. Stronger, more physical, and far more able to break the tackle than our lads. The only bright spots were David Dooley, and Diarmuid Conway, who had a good game. Podge did well, too. Paddy Purcell's radar was off until late on (on his 100th appearance for Laois, no less. Fair play.), and Picky seemed quiet enough apart from the frees. They clawed it back near the end, but I don't know how they expected lobbing high balls in was going to work against a bigger defence. Carlow aren't wonderful, and their touch was no better than ours, but they were well worth the win.

[Mossy Bruce]

...Paddy Purcell's ...on his 100th appearance for Laois, no less. Fair play...

Wow! Hats off!

[blueandwhite1]

Have seen no evidence that this management team are any good. Our hurling standards and the way the team is set up looks second rate.