2019 Allianz National Hurling League

[Mossy Bruce]

Awesome! I just bought "tickets" to Saturday's match through GAAGO. I never thought I'd have the opportunity to watch a full Laois match, let alone watch it live. Thanks for the suggestion, Don Draper (and Never beat the deeler)!

[redsetanta]

Mice one Mossy hopefully you get a competitive game.

[G@@]

Enjoy the game Mossy! Delighted to hear that you will be able to watch it live from your home almost 5,000 miles away!

[Mossy Bruce]

From the Limerick Leader:

"Just six of All-Ireland team in Limerick line-up for Laois hurling league quarter final"

https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/sport/368578/just-six-of-all-ireland-team-in-limerick-line-up-for-laois-hurling-league-quarter-final.html

[Mad Mentor]

From the Limerick Leader:

"Just six of All-Ireland team in Limerick line-up for Laois hurling league quarter final"

https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/sport/368578/just-six-of-all-ireland-team-in-limerick-line-up-for-laois-hurling-league-quarter-final.html

That will be their excuse when we beat them.

[burdizzo]

No Cha on the team?

[redsetanta]

Willie Dunphy injured I take it. Picky left out too. Cha did look a bit unfit the last day. Defense lines up the same which is fair enough.

[les Antiques]

Is Cha not suspended or maybe I'm mistaken .

[Heshs Umpire]

Jesus, the wides are killing us...

[Mossy Bruce]

Apart from those wides (yes, and lots of them) and the final score, Laois played a respectable game--against the AI Champions, no less.

I am starting to feel optimistic about the upcoming Joe McDonagh Cup.

What a freekin' thrill to see Laois playing live! I better be careful or I might get addicted to this hurling stuff.

[merman]

Tough evening. Limerick are excellent and played a lovely brand of hurling. They've great depth to their panel and the lads that came in look like real options for the Munster Championship games.

The wides....Jesus the wides.
If we'd only hit a fraction of what we missed in the first half, we'd have been within touching distance at half time. As it was, the match was over. We knew it, Limerick knew it.

Collectively, I'd say management will be happy enough. We competed well for most of the match. There were some commendable individual performances with all the backs having good games, Lee Cleere and Joe Phelan especially. Phelan is having a brilliant year; a great choice as vice-captain.

The shooting was poor at times but we're at least trying to do the right thing. The Joe McDonagh Championship will be played at a slower pace and if we can keep doing the right things, fine tune the execution and decision-making, we might be in the shake-up.

[Keyser Söze]

The amount of times we attempted "nice" pick ups/controlling touches/ruck root outs from 8-15 was unbelievable. Suppose it comes back to the intensity of our SHC and the quality of opposition we face in championship at IC level.
Inexperienced and youth are acceptable excuses but racing to a ball with the likes of Tom Condon and attempting to control one handed is crazy. Similarly no look passes, shooting off the hurl under pressure etc. One or two of our players further out the field who generally hurled quite well seemed very determined to get themselves on the scoresheet in the second half (abandoning their own primary job in the processs). I'm not talking about overlaps that arose presenting our wingbacks with shooting opportunities.
Must learn from all of this.

Despite all of this, it was a decent, fighting performance. There seems to be spirit & fight there. I'd be optimistic heading to JM.

[burdizzo]

Yes, despite the big margin of defeat, it wasn't all bad, and they kept working hard all the way through. The backs, as merman says, were solid, midfield and half forwards had their moments, but the full-forward line was a bit toothless, I thought. I know it's easier to stop a lad scoring, than to actually score, but still, we don't have too many options in up there. Cha's omission? Well, he may not be fit enough, and he may have got sent off against Dublin - and I know it's no harm to run the panel when the game is lost - but we certainly need him on board and firing for the McDonagh Cup, because we don't have an awful lot of options in the forwards.

The other thing - how many scores did we concede with that short puck-out in the second half?! Didn't really achieve much, even when it didn't directly cough up a score.

[Mossy Bruce]

... The other thing - how many scores did we concede with that short puck-out in the second half?! Didn't really achieve much, even when it didn't directly cough up a score.

Yeah, the short puck-outs were puzzling me, too.

[Mossy Bruce]

A preview into the new 2020 League Division 1 and our new "Group B":
Wexford
Clare
Dublin
Laois
Carlow
and the loser of the upcoming Kilkenny v Cork

From: https://www.laoistoday.ie/2019/03/10/revealed-laois-hurlers-2020-league-opponents-confirmed-following-todays-action/