2025 National Hurling League

[Laois man]

Then the following week Laois U20s play Galway in portlaoise a tough game and they need all the support they can get. But would you believe there is a round of junior league club games on the same evening.?

[georgedoylesrightleg]

carla wouldn agree 2 da duble header. hoores.

[Verbal]

I have seen or heard no 'cutting the back off' anyone to be honest. Supporters are right to be annoyed. If we went to Belfast and went down fighting then people would be ok. We rolled over to Offaly in Portlaoise too.

The above poster is talking about almost accepting relegation and regroup in Division 5Z or whatever other postcode Division we land in. Its not over. Two games and two wins we survive. 1 vs carlow. 1 vs Dublin with nothing to play for.

Why can't we dig it out?

Division 3 is hurling oblivion.

I didn't see anything about accepting it.
I literally said it was "awful" and "a terrible standard".

They can focus on that, or focus on the opportunities in the months ahead.

I believe the best players are involved.
I believe the management have the best interests of Laois at heart.
This isn't Eamon Kelly or some other journey man. 

I also started by describing it as a very poor performance. Some of what I have seen on social media is going well beyond that.

I stand over what I said.

[Laoisred]

Eamon Kelly's Laois beat Antrim 3 times in 2018. And kept Laois in 1B both in 2017 and 2018, at a time when 1A and 1B were not graded, just a split of the division. Just saying....

[Verbal]

If you think Eamon Kelly was an effective manager or in the least bit interested in developing Laois, well then...

I won't finish that sentence!

[Laoisred]

I tend to stay away from criticising players and/or managers too much as it serves little purpose. But to amswer your question, if by effective you mean keeping Laois in Division 1 two years in a row, then yes, he was effective.

[Joeythelips]

Gutted to see the hurlers relegated to Division 2. A sad day.

[oneshot]

could be down for a while with little underage players coming through and the likes of paddy purcell days coming to an end.

[Voice of tReason]

could be down for a while with little underage players coming through and the likes of paddy purcell days coming to an end.

We're all disappointed to be going down but that's a very pessimistic take.

Team yesterday was very young:
Dunne in goals is early-mid 20s. Fleming a little older but with loads to offer.

Tom Cuddy U20, Comerford 21, Conway and Podge early-mid 20s and Walshe/Cleere no older than 27/28.

Dooley is early 20s, Fiachra mid 20s.

Forwards, Mossy early 20s, Cormac Byrne 19, Dowling, Corby and Dunphy mid 20s and PJ still with plenty left in the tank.

Then you've solid options with good age profiles still on the panel like Jer and Noah Quinlan, James Duggan, James Keyes, Eoin Gaughan, Mullaney, Pauric Dunne, Colin Byrne to name a few. And there's always a need for some experience around the group.

Add there are plenty of talented players in their late teens and early 20s who should have a lot to offer in the coming years:
Ian Shanahan, James Duggan, Ciaran Flynn and Eoin Murphy, Cormac Hogan, Eoghan Cuddy, Jack Breen etc.

Nobody wants to see Laois in Division 2 but that's the reality now and we'll have an opportunity to blood new players throughout the league. We need a management team with the foresight to develop a team/panel for the longterm and I believe we have it with Tommy Fitz at the helm.

[Verbal]

I believe we have that in Tommy too.
I'm not suggesting there isn't critical thinking or comment.

But you don't want a man like that deciding that the flak isn't worth it.

Re Eamon Kelly. We beat Kerry in a playoff in Year 1 and Antrim in a playoff in Year 2.
Both years we finished second from bottom and saved by a second chance.
The second chance doesn't exist this time.

And this was after a full Winter preparing.
If you think he was effective, chat with some of the players and (Laois based) backroom team who were there.

[Laois Rising]

At times played decent hurling on Saturday. Carlow are hurling very well this year to their credit and only for conceding a very unfortunate last minute goal to Antrim they could be in the promotion hunt.

Plenty of youth in our setup. I posted this few weeks back-some of that youth will need to step up, especially those entering into their 3rd/4th year on the panel. Jury is out if some if them can realistically make that next step. However, with Tommy in place as manager they have the right guy to try and get the best out of them and improve them as both players and individuals. We need a manager who is going to be in situ for next three years who will provide the consistency and time to progress things. We can ill afford anymore chopping and changing of manager and there is no need to hit any alarm bells just yet despite relegation. This league campaign was always going to be difficult considering the circumstances.     

[Joeythelips]

could be down for a while with little underage players coming through and the likes of paddy purcell days coming to an end.

We're all disappointed to be going down but that's a very pessimistic take.

Team yesterday was very young:
Dunne in goals is early-mid 20s. Fleming a little older but with loads to offer.

Tom Cuddy U20, Comerford 21, Conway and Podge early-mid 20s and Walshe/Cleere no older than 27/28.

Dooley is early 20s, Fiachra mid 20s.

Forwards, Mossy early 20s, Cormac Byrne 19, Dowling, Corby and Dunphy mid 20s and PJ still with plenty left in the tank.

Then you've solid options with good age profiles still on the panel like Jer and Noah Quinlan, James Duggan, James Keyes, Eoin Gaughan, Mullaney, Pauric Dunne, Colin Byrne to name a few. And there's always a need for some experience around the group.

Add there are plenty of talented players in their late teens and early 20s who should have a lot to offer in the coming years:
Ian Shanahan, James Duggan, Ciaran Flynn and Eoin Murphy, Cormac Hogan, Eoghan Cuddy, Jack Breen etc.

Nobody wants to see Laois in Division 2 but that's the reality now and we'll have an opportunity to blood new players throughout the league. We need a management team with the foresight to develop a team/panel for the longterm and I believe we have it with Tommy Fitz at the helm.

Great post.

That is indeed a good age profile, hopefully Tommy Fitz can bring them straight back up and be better for it.

[G@@]

Gutted to have been relegated. We need to heed the warning signs now and realise we are not much better than Offaly were before they made the drop to the Christy Ring Cup. The upcoming Joe McDonagh Cup contain two wary opponents namely Carlow who we have just found out the measure of, and Down who are powering up the rankings. Both of these fixtures are on the road, so alot of focus for the next campaign which begins this coming Easter weekend when we welcome Westmeath to Portlaoise.

[redsetanta]

We lost to Offaly by a score 9 months ago in a tightly fought contest.

New manager in etc so lets see how we get on in the Joe McDonagh.

Division 2 is a disappointment but i'd be surprised if we didn't come straight back up.