Messages

We all know what he said is true but lets face it he was gone anyway. There is only one loser in all this and that's Laois hurling, is Brennan the oracle? no but he made us become a better team and aside from Cheddar its a long time since we saw that. They both set standards high and wanted to aim even higher, both hit a brick wall and left. This cycle will never end as our CB don't give a toss about long term success for hurling in this county.

CB are on the hit list as usual for not meeting these standards but also lets not forget that its no secret how disappointed Brennan has been with lads not committing. We need those not committing to play and they wont, so once again standards not being met . So there's more at play than our CB and from what I hear that's as much of an issue as our CB for the mgt team.

At the end of the day Brennan comes out of this smelling of roses and will probably rock up at a high level county with Corcoran and achieve success.

Do the CB actually want laois hurling to be successful? If yes ,they will  move heaven and earth to continue the progress we have made under Brennan and keep him and his team , everything he asks of the players and CB is for the greater good of Laois hurling.

I suspect the answer is that Laois hurling is down their list of priorities, Brennan will leave and we will be back to square one and possibly worse by the new year .

No chance Eddie Brennen will be laois mgr for next year.

Lots of word around about players missing but its such a strange time that nothing is unexpected.

At the end of the day lads have to make the correct call for themselves, if they sit it out for a few months they can play next year and stay safe in the mean time.

I think you'll be waiting. We got dismissed in the last two podcasts on Laois Today, but I'm happier to read the opinions of some posters on here, who I consider to be very good judges. Unfortunately, our local media have no objectivity whatsoever. The sky isn't always blue.

I'd totally agree High fielder, some posters on here are really good to listen to, obviously some are not but I've always found some interesting discussion especially lately now that the troll has departed. Some of the output from qualified journalists on certain local media outlets is quite shocking in quality and agenda driven for the most part.

Interesting to hear they dismissed this site considering that local Laois media outlets use this place as a reference point every day for info and leads on stories

Kevin Fitzpatrick to manage Portlaoise senior football team.

The correct call from Portlaoise, a great appointment.

When and where is the final?

Was listening to Cahair Healy speaking with Shane Stapleton, he trains in London Tuesdays and Thursday and flies back for games at weekend. A big commitment, though he's been doing it a good while.  Would he not be better to play with London?

He is doing that for years for his club let alone county, of course for an easier life he could play over there but he loves his club and county and wont let a little factor like living in another country get in the way of that.

We have some great lads across the codes but trust me its not a typical Laois attitude.

Any word on the refixed Cavan game?  Next Sunday I assume?

Lads, how is the county boards fault that so many strong hurlers won't commit? It is not as if the set up or funding isn't there. Surely the blame for the fact that almost nobody from Camross wants to hurl with Laois lies with Camross? Then when you look at the long list of Leigh Bergin, PJ Scully, Joe Campion, Cha Dwyer etc. etc. I would bet that what is most galling to Eddie is the number of capable players that don't want to play senior hurling. Simply can't be competitive in a small county unless everyone is in pushing for places.

I'm no fan of the county board but sometimes they are used (a bit like the government) to hide where the real accountability lies - with the clubs and the players themselves.

Completely agree with you,nail on the head

I don't think anyone that's anyway informed on what's going is blaming the CB

They have done their very  best in relation to the set up

Eddie Brennan and his management also can't be blamed for the year ahead.

The lads that don't want to commit and their clubs in certain circumstances are where the blame resides

Are the CB not the reason why he was going to walk? A demand not met?

It's nothing to do with the CB,he's pulling his hair out at the attitude amongst those who won't commit.

I wouldn't blame him if he walked

No outsider manager of consequence or substance  would ever touch laois again.

We will be back to chasing the likes of Eamon Kelly and every other mercenary journey man manager all over again

I wholeheartedly  agree but the reason he was going to walk was not player related,defo a CB issue

Lads, how is the county boards fault that so many strong hurlers won't commit? It is not as if the set up or funding isn't there. Surely the blame for the fact that almost nobody from Camross wants to hurl with Laois lies with Camross? Then when you look at the long list of Leigh Bergin, PJ Scully, Joe Campion, Cha Dwyer etc. etc. I would bet that what is most galling to Eddie is the number of capable players that don't want to play senior hurling. Simply can't be competitive in a small county unless everyone is in pushing for places.

I'm no fan of the county board but sometimes they are used (a bit like the government) to hide where the real accountability lies - with the clubs and the players themselves.

Completely agree with you,nail on the head

I don't think anyone that's anyway informed on what's going is blaming the CB

They have done their very  best in relation to the set up

Eddie Brennan and his management also can't be blamed for the year ahead.

The lads that don't want to commit and their clubs in certain circumstances are where the blame resides

Are the CB not the reason why he was going to walk? A demand not met?

You could hardly blame him.

No where else would this lack of commitment take place.

In 3/4 Years time and we down in 2 or worse where Offaly are,at the minute in the championship.

We will rue the opportunity we had as a county.

couldnt agree more

Eddie had to be talked into staying I heard he was for the off a few weeks back

100% true, CB fault, players dug him out.

Both matches were similiar for me anyway, Laois were ok at best in both but we are desperatly missing the lads who are out though injury and otherwise .We just dont have the numbers, Ross is a good player but he is alone in the forwards, Cha and Mark Kavangh are massive losses.

Also in both matches we fell off a cliff for the last 20 minutes or so, conditioning wise we are miles off.

There has been some bright spots but its just not enough to beat the better teams. We need the few new lads coming in and supplementing the team rather than coming in to make up the gaping holes left by experienced lads.

I would say Eddie is at his wits end with lads not committing, Its already been suggested there is no chance he is staying beyond this year.At this moment in time it seems last years success has meant nothing and brought us nowhere

Overall we played some nice stuff, were set up well, team spirit looks good and they put everything into it. Can't ask for more than that.

From an Armagh visitor, I think Laois can take some pride in their team.

That reminds me of another thing I was going to say. We all know it at this stage but our support is pathetic. It was a nice evening for February, dry and not that cold, there's no excuse to be outnumbered by a county 2 and a half hours away. When Armagh were getting back in the game, the noise from the crowd was boosting them. As you say, Laois people should have pride in this team, they deserve our support.

couldn't agree more but laois is laois and always will be , laois people always have an opinion on the teams but never back them up by actually going to a match.

Laois played well last night, I suppose the best judge of the result is that Armagh supporters  were completely  sick with the result, as if it was an insult that they lose to us. Fair play to our lads they played well and there is more to  come hopefully,  itll be a rocky road but sure to the true laois supporters that's par for the course.

Laois abu.

Was looking for the colleges gaa thread but in fairness in needs a thread of its own.

What an achievement by Pat with IT Carlow on top of the basketball. He is a living legend and we should be very proud to have him. His achievements as both a player and manager are second to none in the county. He has done immense work for gaa in Laois. The man should have a street named after him in Portlaoise or a statue in the square. He would probably hate it being the humble man that he is. He must be the greatest sporting person to come from Laois.

Couldn't have put it better. And despite everything he's done in Laois GAA, he's still down paying his EUR 15 like everyone else to get into OMP. To be honest, I don't think we've ever appreciated properly his coaching talents. I can't remember any team that he didn't improve subsantially.

true legend.

Such a pity he was shafted by our county board in 1995 to get that bollox Keating in.Classic Laois GAA move.