Messages

Were laois U15s hurling Limerick over the weekend?

Limerick arrived with 2 teams and split them more or less evenly according to their mentors

Laois A conceded 7/8/9 goals in the first half alone

Laois B got an absolute trimming

Huge disparity in terms of coaching set up,warms up and organisation

Laois minors played the Clare celtic challenge team last week,competitive but beaten also

Laois minors are due to play Tipperary minors this Tuesday

It was a bit silly to go play Limerick. A quick scan of last year's results would have shown that there is simply way too much between the teams to make a "challenge" out of it.

Agreed

but its hard to know what county this group would beat given where they are at.

I hope Im very wrong but the 2022 Minors will be regarded as the golden year for many years to come

We're back in the Kildare, Westmeath, Kerry, Carlow group for challege games with our squads it seems.

Were laois U15s hurling Limerick over the weekend?

Limerick arrived with 2 teams and split them more or less evenly according to their mentors

Laois A conceded 7/8/9 goals in the first half alone

Laois B got an absolute trimming

Huge disparity in terms of coaching set up,warms up and organisation

Laois minors played the Clare celtic challenge team last week,competitive but beaten also

Laois minors are due to play Tipperary minors this Tuesday

It was a bit silly to go play Limerick. A quick scan of last year's results would have shown that there is simply way too much between the teams to make a "challenge" out of it.

Shocking news from Trumera. God rest the poor chap.

One of the most difficult funerals I have ever been at. Heartbreaking.

Shocking news from Trumera. God rest the poor chap.

How in the name of God could a lad walk off a panel after a couple of games? It beggars belief.

Another big beating yesterday. The second half was better but the first half was very poor. In reality there was miles between the two teams. In fairness though, these games are great preparation for the McDonagh Cup.

Laois u20s played westmeath in Coe yesterday. Very poor performance against an unfancied westmeath side. Laois near enough full strength except for aaron phelan and ciaran flynn who were injured.. Left with 5 min to go and laois were up by 2 or 3 points.

hardly know the team ?

Aodh Bowes, Daniel Bowe, Jim O'Connor, David Dooley, Joe Corby

                   Ben campion
Bobby Murphy.      Lawson.     Cathal Cuddy
Philip Tynan.     Tom Cuddy.     Rory Dunne
       Cody comerford.      Podge. Brennan
Cian conroy.     Cillian Dunne.     Brian duggan
Noah quinlan.    Ger Quinlan.   James cuddy

Ross coffey
Cathal Murphy
Colm byrne
Were the substitutes that came on. Its depressing that portlaoise have only one representative on the panel which is the sub goalkeeper.

Is that the full team? Must be lads missing if that is the line out.

Aaron phelan, ciaran flynn,,possibly sean fitz and loughlin conway would pushing hard to start. Good few especially to the age didn't commit for one reason or another. There a very physically small team with one or two exceptions.. a good few of them seemed to be way off the pace fitness  wise.

Aodh Bowes, Joe Corby, David Dooley. Are they not available?

Aodh Bowes withdrew
Joe corby unsure
David dooley rugby
Padraig rafter football

Daniel Bowe, Jim O'Connor?

Laois u20s played westmeath in Coe yesterday. Very poor performance against an unfancied westmeath side. Laois near enough full strength except for aaron phelan and ciaran flynn who were injured.. Left with 5 min to go and laois were up by 2 or 3 points.

hardly know the team ?

Aodh Bowes, Daniel Bowe, Jim O'Connor, David Dooley, Joe Corby

                   Ben campion
Bobby Murphy.      Lawson.     Cathal Cuddy
Philip Tynan.     Tom Cuddy.     Rory Dunne
       Cody comerford.      Podge. Brennan
Cian conroy.     Cillian Dunne.     Brian duggan
Noah quinlan.    Ger Quinlan.   James cuddy

Ross coffey
Cathal Murphy
Colm byrne
Were the substitutes that came on. Its depressing that portlaoise have only one representative on the panel which is the sub goalkeeper.

Is that the full team? Must be lads missing if that is the line out.

Aaron phelan, ciaran flynn,,possibly sean fitz and loughlin conway would pushing hard to start. Good few especially to the age didn't commit for one reason or another. There a very physically small team with one or two exceptions.. a good few of them seemed to be way off the pace fitness  wise.

Aodh Bowes, Joe Corby, David Dooley. Are they not available?

Laois u20s played westmeath in Coe yesterday. Very poor performance against an unfancied westmeath side. Laois near enough full strength except for aaron phelan and ciaran flynn who were injured.. Left with 5 min to go and laois were up by 2 or 3 points.

hardly know the team ?

                   Ben campion
Bobby Murphy.      Lawson.     Cathal Cuddy
Philip Tynan.     Tom Cuddy.     Rory Dunne
       Cody comerford.      Podge. Brennan
Cian conroy.     Cillian Dunne.     Brian duggan
Noah quinlan.    Ger Quinlan.   James cuddy

Ross coffey
Cathal Murphy
Colm byrne
Were the substitutes that came on. Its depressing that portlaoise have only one representative on the panel which is the sub goalkeeper.

Is that the full team? Must be lads missing if that is the line out.

What is missing from the likes of antrim, laois, westmeath, perhaps even dublin to get upto the level with the likes of kilkenny and limerick?

Genuine question.

Is it schools? Is it coaching? Is it parents not buying in? Soccer?

Id love to go and hear the different demographics, watch the training sessions at younger age groups just to see how it differs compared to us.

A mixture of dual sports doesn't help but the tradition of Kilkenny Tipp Cork and so on is a big factor in having the mindset right, for Antrim we have 4 clubs that play hurling at a decent level. We need ten and a few decent intermediate teams to push on to senior...

Schools is B level and county juvenile is at B grade too

I'm not sure or able to put my finger on it but it'll be a mixture of what you have posted..

As for training/coaching kids the right way that's a big factor too. We had fantastic coaches in our club that were doing all the right things with a group of kids a while back, the lads were developing well but the drop off or commitment disappeared.

I think the expectations are lower in these counties, too. When Laois beat Dublin to get to the all-Ireland quarter final a couple of years ago, everyone thought they'd kick on, get lads back - but instead, lads dropped away, as if they reckoned it was as far as they could go. Also - and just talking about Laois here - there's no one around who realistically EXPECTS they can win, say, a Leinster title, because there's no one (or very few, at least) who've seen it done. Offaly, on the other hand, I think do have serious ambitions to be 'back up there', and that's in no small part due to the fact there's plenty around who've seen it done, know what it takes, and fully expect that it CAN be done. And I think they probably will overtake Laois, Antrim, Westmeath pretty soon.

I also think that in the counties mentioned, hurling very much plays second fiddle to football. Sadly.

Offaly have won all Irelands in recent memory. That is priceless.
It's a real pity that the momentum generated by Eddie Brennan in Laois just petered out.

Petered? "Fucked" would be a more appropriate word there.

What is missing from the likes of antrim, laois, westmeath, perhaps even dublin to get upto the level with the likes of kilkenny and limerick?

Genuine question.

Is it schools? Is it coaching? Is it parents not buying in? Soccer?

Id love to go and hear the different demographics, watch the training sessions at younger age groups just to see how it differs compared to us.

A mixture of dual sports doesn't help but the tradition of Kilkenny Tipp Cork and so on is a big factor in having the mindset right, for Antrim we have 4 clubs that play hurling at a decent level. We need ten and a few decent intermediate teams to push on to senior...

Schools is B level and county juvenile is at B grade too

I'm not sure or able to put my finger on it but it'll be a mixture of what you have posted..

As for training/coaching kids the right way that's a big factor too. We had fantastic coaches in our club that were doing all the right things with a group of kids a while back, the lads were developing well but the drop off or commitment disappeared.

I think the expectations are lower in these counties, too. When Laois beat Dublin to get to the all-Ireland quarter final a couple of years ago, everyone thought they'd kick on, get lads back - but instead, lads dropped away, as if they reckoned it was as far as they could go. Also - and just talking about Laois here - there's no one around who realistically EXPECTS they can win, say, a Leinster title, because there's no one (or very few, at least) who've seen it done. Offaly, on the other hand, I think do have serious ambitions to be 'back up there', and that's in no small part due to the fact there's plenty around who've seen it done, know what it takes, and fully expect that it CAN be done. And I think they probably will overtake Laois, Antrim, Westmeath pretty soon.

I also think that in the counties mentioned, hurling very much plays second fiddle to football. Sadly.

Agree with all that plus I'll add one if that's ok.

The standard clubs play at will determine how good you are. The small few clubs in Laois, for example, play each other all the time. Rivalries build up and the year becomes all about beating the rivals as opposed to improving.

Visionaries in Naas saw something. They took their teams down to Kilkenny, begged to be put in the A division, learnt a few hard lessons in the beginning but eventually prospered. They are now part and parcel of the Kilkenny club underage scene competing well in its competitions, winning a minor league recently. More importantly, their players see a way of improving. Their current senior team is the harvest of that work.

I couldn't agree more with the last 2 posts. Off the back of their best minor team in 20 years the Offaly county board had the vision to try and develop that group of players standard even more. playing at the very top level gives those players the confidence to go and try and develop at senior inter county level.
Where is that vision in this county. Secondary school hurling is absolutely VITAL in any player/club/county's development.
if you break down the standard of hurling in our secondary schools it makes for horrific reading
(All levels and open to correction)

All Portlaoise schools, C level. Primary concern - Football and soccer
Portarlington, No competitive hurling that aware of. Primary concern - Football and rugby
Mountmellick, No competitive hurling that aware of. Primary concern - football
Clonaslee, C level. Make the best of small numbers available.
Heywood, Poor B level efforts. Primary concern - Football and Basketball
Rathdowney, C Level. Doing a great job with numbers available.
Mountrath, B level. The standard bearers for 2nd level hurling in this county.

The only slight sliver lining is The Harps lads going to Johnstown. Many have Leinster B medals over the last number of years. Playing in the A junior and Senior Championships this year.

There's no easy fix obviously but if the county board were serious about hurling they would employ GDAS and pay them well.
Address the player pathways. Primary/secondary/third level in tandem with the development squads.
A GDA specifically assigned to primary and secondary schools development. One goal being the development of a Laois Schools team in A grade at 14, 16 and 18s for league and championship.

We had a Laois Combined Colleges team at Juvenile age group hurling in A and it was gotten rid of.

I emailed Conor Shannon yesterday and it bounced straight back to say he had finished his role with Laois GAA on January 27th.

So he's gone anyway whatever about the rest of them.

I don't have any insight into why this didn't happen.... But I can't imagine the GAA wouldn't have been reasonable in this matter.
Nothing to be gained from being otherwise.

The LGFA nationally have a reputation for being difficult & unreasonable. I have no idea if that extends to this situation, but I wouldn't be jumping to dump the blame at the feet of Laois GAA.

Agreed. Laois GAA are normally very accommodating in these situations.

Without knowing, I wouldn't be surprised if the LGFA wanted half the gate without contributing anything in they line of costs, stewards etc.

Maybe, and hopefully, it's something simple like the pitch isn't able for two games at this time of year.

People like Pat Critchley, Tadhg Doran, Enda Murphy, Elaine Mahony, Lorcan Mahoney, David O'Brien, Mark Peters, Patrick Mullaney, Gary Moore would all do this role well and that's just from the hurling side. I presume all these have been asked.......... at least I hope they have.