2018 National Football League Division 4

[The Rover]

good result.
the most pleasing aspect was the way all of the laois players tackled and harassed the
Limerick players when they had possession. full back line were not really tested but to a man they did what they had to do. O'Reilly at midfield has some pace and will improve as the year goes on.looking  forward to the next few rounds and to see how the squad progress and develop.

[OTF]

Great win well done to team and management.
There will be setbacks but a good start as they say.

[Unison]

Great to win with such a young team. I hope John Sugrue continues to build. Promotion would be a nice bonus. Leitrim next day out will be tough, but a win would set us up well for the next home match against Waterford. Thought O'Reilly in midfield was impressive. Evan O'Carroll seemed to improve things when he came on as well.

[SCFC]

Good win but Limerick were dreadful. As poor as you'll ever see.
Great to see new lads in action. Not all of them will make it but isn't that what Division 4 is for? To see if lads are up to it.
O'Reilly looked good. Walsh we know can be brilliant if he holds his head. Disappointed with Farrell, Lowry, Holland. Good to see O'Carroll in for 25 minutes or so.
I think with the likes of Donie, Timmons, Quigley, Murphy of Port who's a serious footballer to come in, we'll walk Division 4.

[Laoiseabu]

SCFC I think your getting a bit excited there it's only day 1 against what may turn out to be the weakest team In this years Div4. Job done we move on . Nothing to get too excited about. When Donie comes back he will add a lot. I suppose now he probably plays the same 15 in Leitrim??

[Junior Ex Laoistalk]

We certainly wont walk Div.4 and its that kind of attitude that has us in the division in the first place. We as supporters seem to think we are better than we really are and should be challenging for Sam every year but the fact is we are a Div.4 team and for the first half we looked every bit of it.

We are definitely far fitter than last year at this time but our football was dreadful in that first half. Our defending was good and saved us from being behind on the scoreboard at half time but our forward play left a lot to be desired. Lads seem to be afraid to shoot when the opportunity arises and on several occasions we passed ourselves into trouble when a shot was on. I don't think we let one ball into Gary Walsh in the first half, instead we preferred to recycle across the field and backwards on most occasions and that will have to change if we are going to get out of this division.

The second half was way better with more direct play at times which brought about a few good scores. The first ball that got sent in early resulted in a good pass from Finbar Crowley and he passed to Gary Walsh who scored a good goal. Then another early ball from Evan to Gary brought a great point from him almost immediately after the goal. That seemed to settle us down and we played some great football after that. Daniel O'Reilly could be a big player for us this year and has some burst of speed in him. Midfield seems to suit him as when he plays on the wing he runs into blind alleys a lot and looses possession which he did again on a few occasions tonight. But his work rate and running off the ball was great as was most of the lads to be honest. He will only improve with time and looks a great find for the county.

The subs made a big difference which is something I haven't seen for many a year with Laois footballers so its great to have a strong panel. We even had Donie sitting on the bench if needed but he didn't get the call tonight. Overall I was happy with the display and we really can give this Div. a good rattle if we continue to improve as much as we did we did as the game went on tonight.

[les Antiques]

A decent win against poor opposition . I think we could see a lot of this in this division . The standard is not going to be high let's face it and building momentum through wins is championship preparation .Hopefully as the league progresses we can build and raise our performance levels but it won't be easy when teams like limerick and Waterford put out blanket defences something Wexford or Kildare won't be doing against us come summer .
Nevertheless two points on the board was vital and it'll be interesting to see how our full back line will cope in Carrick next Sunday .
Danny O'Reilly was good and has got pace to burn along with a good positional sense . Walsh now needs to replicate last nights performance next week and I think he is capable . Paul Kingston worked hard throughout maybe at times trying to much .
I was a little disappointed by Lowry , expected more from particularly after his college exploits . Can see O Carroll starting next week !
Anyone hear how serious Attrides injury is ? 

[town1980]

It's a results game business and the team and management got the result so we'll done onwards and upwards in my eyes ...they blooded a lot of players on what was a sad week for the gaa community..a lot of the unknown players showed up very well.. keep up the good work

[Tony]

Overall happy with the performance but I must admit, at times it was a slightly nervy experience as Limerick had a couple of chances to really change the outlook of the game against the run of play. They were poor and had some woeful misses – the most noteable being a free missed from 14 yards and straight in front of the posts in the first half. Kicking it into the keeper’s hands from there is inexcusable at this level.

In any event, it was a very positive start for us, considering that the line-up was very young and inexperienced. The fact that we really pulled away, only after some stalwards were introduced near the end, speaks volumes really about their experience and knowledge of how to open teams like this up. We needed that added bite up front to convert some chances and split them open through running at them and creating space. Having said that, I really do believe that we saw some very promising new starters for Laois last night. My player ratings were as follows:


Brody – 7. Didn’t do anything wrong and those runs out of defence are actually useful as it provides a free man to run off the man in possession. The only criticism I have is when he goes into the opposition half. To be fair to Brody he’s good on the ball and quick, but if we lose possession & he’s in the wing forward position, that’s just asking for trouble, in my opinion. I really do think we have one of the best and most progressive keepers in the country though, he just might need a bit of refinement as those runs are a bit wild sometimes.

D Holland – 6.5. Again, didn’t do much wrong and wasn’t really tested but a few times I did note him running aimlessly around when near a Laois man in possession, instead of purposelfully making himself available as a pass option.

S Nerney – 7.0 Comfortable in possession, quick and a big lad. Needs to fill out a bit more perhaps but definitely a good option going forward. Not really tested as Limerick forwards were a bit toothless.

Fennell – 7.0. Good in possession and solid all round.

T Collins – 6.5. Solid enough but wasn't tested.

Attride – Wasn’t on long enough but a pity for our captain to go off so early. To me, it looked like he tweaked his hamstring so he may be out for 2 – 4 weeks before he trains properly again.

F Crowley – 7 Solid performance.

JOL – 7.5 Typical JOL performance. Gave his all and was one of our best performers. Good in possession and good support play.

D O Reilly – 8 – Great performance by Danny, very quick, looked very fit and agile,  on this form will be a regular for us, midfield seems to suit him. Nice to have that speed around the middle of the field as JOL and Quigley aren’t speed merchants.

A Farrell – 6. Was a bit disappointed with Alan, looked very rusty and not very confident with the ball. Will likely improve a lot.

P Kingston – 7 Good performance all round but can do better with some decision making and shot selection.

B Glynn – 5. Poor all round from brian and he looked very disappointed with his performance. Has potential but didn’t have a good game. He fielded a ball superbly at one point only to kick it 10 metres to the opposition. Looked rusty but should be given more time.

E Lowry – 7 Looked very good in spells, has decent speed, needs to be more clinical and improve decision making but definitely has very good potential.

G Walsh – 8.5 – Head an shoulders above any other forward on the field, showed his class and took his scores very well.

Dowling – 6 – Had a quiet game, took his point well but fairly quiet otherwise. He will hope to get on more ball next time out.

Begley – 7.5. Very solid and assured game for Colm and was a great sub to have to Attride. Great playmaker and covers the whole field. Looks fit and hungry.

E O Carroll – 7. Evan made a positive impact when he came on. Got on a lot of ball and was good in possession. He will be looking for a starting place.

Other subs not on long enough to rate. Overall, a positive start to the League, especially in the context of so many new faces and an inexperienced team. Lots to look forward to, with plenty of lads to come back, and a lot of good headaches for Sugrue given that a lot of the new lads are showing up, working very hard and making a good claim for their starting spot.

[redsetanta]

Great to get the result and a 9 point win is as good as you could ask for however it has to be taken into context. It's Div 4 football and Limercik were poor enough.  Gary was flying in the second half last night but one thing he won't be is consistent. He is one of the best forwards in the Div though when he does put his mind to it. The same failings are there with regard to turning possession into scores with a lot of efforts falling into the keepers arms or being sent wide.
As long as Laois learn from each game and continue to improve it bodes well and for the new comers Div 4 will work t otheir advantage in getting game time and confidence.
Laois should have too much for most of the teams in Div 4 and really should be looking at being in the mix at the end of the league.

[BallyroanAbu]

Great Result, move on from here and hopefully get out Div 4.  Limerick were poor

[blueandwhite1]

Limerick were like a poor junior club side. Easily the worst team inter county team bar Kilkenny I have ever seen.

Of the 'new' lads, Nerney, O'Reilly showed well. Hard to tell about some of the others as they weren't properly tested. It was nice to see the impact the younger lads pace had defensively where they were able to get up in the oppositions face and tackle without fouling.

I thought John O'Loughlin had a disappointing game. He slows the game down too much and was responsible for much of the sideways play in the first half. He also fouled much too often. If only he could keep the ball moving forward. I'm a fan generally but thought he didn't show great yesterday.

Sugrue spoke very well again afterwards.

[Tony]

Blue and white - when you refer to Sugrue speaking well about if afterwards, I presume you were listening to radio 3 live? I don't see any links to audio from his press interview afterwards online. Would like to hear.

[Bamford1995]

In my opinion I'd have brendan quigley in the middle instead of o Loughlin, he could be utilised well at centre back or maybe even centre forward?

[blueandwhite1]

Blue and white - when you refer to Sugrue speaking well about if afterwards, I presume you were listening to radio 3 live? I don't see any links to audio from his press interview afterwards online. Would like to hear.

Yes, he was on live when I got into the car. Interestingly, he referred to the first half as being more like Laois have got into the habit of playing over the last few years - side to side and backwards. He also spoke about the deliberate injection of pace into the team. He seems a very shrewd observer of what is happening on the field. I'm sure midlands 103 will stick it on their twitter feed at some point.