Its a massive task to get out of the current cycle, and not one that can be resolved within a 24month period. its not something that can be fixed by a task force or another off the shelf report on the future of football, Its a bit like sticking the finger in the dam and another leak appearing elsewhere. Its not the current players fault or commitment level, they are the best bunch of lads who are committed to laois end of. You can get hung up on club player versus county, club player versus manager. club player versus county board but it will not get you very far.
Only issues I would see at senior level would be the give back to the clubs at juvenile level, how many of the current crop of players or players over the last 10 years are involved in coaching juveniles. Some players would have obtained coaching at a high level for 10-12 years with no trickledown to the community or clubs.
I know its a massive score put up against laois but its still a massive score that Laois put up against Wicklow. The art of defence is a major problem at all levels and very few county teams excel in defence or at club level, just look at the weekly scores at all levels to see the problems out there. Midfield is also a very challenging issue throughout clubs and at county level. Over the last 4 years both minors and under 20's have been relativley sucessful as in getting into semi -finals etc but there is no pathway into the next level. This could be player apathy or natural reluctance to advance through the county levels but something that should be addressed. I don't know how.
Its all a number game, population size, massive numbers playing at juvenile level up to age 14 and then opting out , major problem at age 14-17 of player participation, Poor senior championship with too many teams, poor coaching as most juvenile coaching is carried out by willing parents as opposed to qualified coaches, Strength and conditioning at younger levels.
over 350 players were initially on the Dublin Minor Panel , Laois probably had 60. Having said that as a comparison Meath lost all their Minor matches this year. Scoring is not an issue Laois Minors have scored 3-7 against Westmeath and 4-19 against Louth and the under 20's scored 3-11 against Kildare. Laois will only ever get a once in a generation squad or team that will push them into the next level and unfortunately no county board or manager will be able to resolve that in the short term, if that's what people are relying upon. Probably the most important teams in Laois now are the under 8s-12s, teach them to kick with both feet, be able to block, be confident to do the adventerous in pocession of the ball, have pride in their club and county, be respectful of coaches and referees, enjoy, enjoy,enjoy, ignore the mad parents / supporters on the side line from home and away teams,
This is not the draw a line in the sand or watershed moment as there is probably another 3-4 years of poor results to come,
