Messages

I don't know whether your point about poor administration in Laois is right or not but that is certainly not the reason for the change in fortunes in Louth and Derry. The population of Louth and Derry is pretty much the same now as it was when they were in the lower divisions and the club structure in those counties was roughly the same too. The only thing that really changed was the manager. Laois should never be one of the 6 worst teams in the country, even at times when the crop of players is not the very best.

Why should we not be in the bottom 6 teams in the country ? I mean why do we feel that we are entitled to be above the Wexfords , Leitrims , Wicklows , Sligos , Longfords etc . In fact those are all predominantly football counties ( with the exception of Wexford ) whereas we are trying to balance both hurling and football at the same time with a smallish population.  Also our main population centre in Portlaoise caters for a third of our population and has just ONE club . This notion that we are entitled to be above these so called weaker counties really dosent make sense to me . We are where we are on merit unless there is HUGE long term changes within this county . It's such a steep hill to climb that it will probably never be climbed in our lifetime

Getting rid of Sheehan or keeping Sheehan won't make much of a difference at all in the long term . Our problems go FAR beyond just Billy Sheehan. We are a mess from top to bottom . Our minor footballers last year for example suffered 20 point defeats to both Offaly and Dublin in the championship.
We were a mess before Sheehan arrived and we are still a mess with him . We need a complete rebuild from underage grassroots the whole way up to senior intercounty . You can't solve the problems at senior intercounty without solving the problems at schools , club and underage level too. What went on in Port last night is only the tip of the iceberg, it's the end product of years of taking our eye off the ball . We have sleepwalked into this mess
The next manager that comes in after Sheehan will have the very same problems . The frightening part is I'm not sure whether the expertise nor the appetite is their in Laois to overhaul our structures and change this mess . I honestly think we are going to just limp on the way we are . Truth be told whether we come out of division 4 or not this year it won't make a whole lot of difference in the long run . When we start playing teams in the higher divisions again we are going to be badly shown up again and then back to square one  .
Id like to see all our resources poured into the underage , giving them the best coaching , the best S and C and the professionalism that they would recieve in counties like Dublin for example . We have to put in the hard yards and prepare these young players for senior intercounty football down the line . Simply sitting back and hoping that a " Golden bunch " will come along simply won't work anymore in this age of pace , power and S and C . You won't break even with the likes of Dublin or Kildare for example by sitting Back and hoping we will "magically " improve .  When we get a conveyor belt of good underage teams coming again we will see the knock on affect at senior in maybe 5/6 years .
I have never doubted the ability in Laois but one thing we don't have is the pace and power and size to match any of the semi decent intercounty teams . That thank god can all be worked on put it is going to take a LOT of hard work and patience . I've heard a lot of people say that we are in "transition " . Where exactly are we transitioning to ? As it stands we will be transitioning between division 3 and 4 for the next 10 years unless we roll up the sleeves and put in the hard yards at underage .
Look at Port vs Kilmacud for example . Some very good "footballers"  on that Port team but they simply couldn't deal with the power and pace and size that kilmacud possessed from years of hard work on the S and C side of things . Them Port players have never been exposed to that level of attention to their S and C from a young age like the kilmacud lads . Give them Port lads the same attention to training from a young age as the kilmacud lads and Port would EASILY break even with Kilmacud.
Us people in Laois want the end result of a rebuild without having to go through the actual rebuild process itself . It's going to take a lot of work . I'm not sure we have the expertise and appetite to do it but if we want to become competitive again we will have to do it . LaoisAbu

The Laois people beside me reckoned only 2 names on the program were county material so perhaps Billy Sheehan is keeping his real team in cotton wool for the attempt to get out of Div 4.

If there isn't a 'real' team then Laois are in serious trouble. Laoislad would reckon Laois is a hurling county now - like their neighbours in Kilkenny.

Billy Sheehan isn't hiding a real team , we are in division 4 for a reason . We have about 5/6 lads to come back into that team ( some of them may not even make any difference in fact ) . Half of the Laois starters last night will be on the team and the 3 subs that came on ( Finn , OCarroll and B Byrne ) will all be on the team too . We will do very very well to come out of division 4 . Serious serious problems down here in Laois football at the moment from senior intercounty right the way down to grassroots .

Apart from having a poor manager, we are now deciding that average players from outside the county are eligible.  They keep finding new lows.

I 100% agree with you Ballyroanabu . I know the player(s) you are talking about too .

Don't agree at all the likes of port/ ballyroan have got in high profile managers as they want to win a Leinster /Laois championship .But to say they have neglected there underage is bshit  both clubs have also hired full time gdos this year and also have been two of the stronger underage clubs the last few years

My point was in general hence why I didn't name check any particular club, which I thought was pretty obvious.

The standard of the Laois Senior Championship at the moment is very poor, yet the majority of our clubs continue to spend ridiculous amounts of money on managers instead of investing in youth structures and infrastructure. Surely the main priority of every club should build from the ground up and not the other way around? When Laois were doing brilliantly at underage level in the late 90s, look at the knock on effect it had on our senior team? We were going toe to toe with the best sides in the country and our Senior Championship was imo a very good product too which helped.

A lot of clubs were just unlucky that Portlaoise for the best part of a decade were a once in a lifetime side, so unfortunately there wasn't a greater spread of county titles won by other clubs. But it still didn't take anything away from better the standard was back then compared to now.

Look at our flagship team, who are going to be in Division 4 alongside London, Carlow, Wicklow etc. An embarrassment but it's where we deserve to be.

Laois as a county are probably 10-15 years away from ever being truly competitive at senior intercounty level again and I reckon our Senior Championship is years off being what one could deem as a good product.

It's very much like the Irish Soccer Team, years of neglect at grassroots has caught up with them. Yet, while the rest of Europe had teams evolving with modern trends, our Senior Team were stuck in the dark ages.

Great post I 100% agree with everything you said

Sean o neill niall gorman sean greene the graigue centre forward from carlow originally are aĺl in. Niall corbett is in but seems to be outfield only young swaine from portlaoise in. No sign of Brody theyre the few newish lads I'd know offhand

Jaysus only 1 from Portlaoise ??

port to win pullin up

Jaysus George it's only 2 weeks ago that Castletown without Ben Brosnan almost took Ports scalp .

Can't see BA being caught at this grade. They will have plenty to spare over Portlaoise I think.

Emo Courtwood are the only team that can catch Ballyroan. They will need Paddy Hosey back in the team if they want to do it though I think

Think port will beat kilmacd.

Think Crokes will do them by 5/6/7 points . Crokes will be better set for Port this year as they know what Port are about now . Shane Walsh will take a bit of stopping

I believe it's far from a done deal yet - this mystery man in line for the BA job!

Who is the mystery man ?

multi all Ireland winning manager - big signing by the roan

Spill the beans George 😂😂

Bigger one on the way in the most unlikely place. 

Could you give us some insight ?

Tommy Mulligan added to Laois backroom set up along with Chris Conway and Gerry McGill.
Tom Hargroves who has been recently appointed to a full-time Laois GAA role as Head of Athletic Development Is also involved .

What a disaster . More dinosaurs

eddie done a great job, great servent. be hard replaced but great tools to work with. in a good place.

Many new lads eligible to play next year ? I know Alan Kinsella will be back and young Ryan Little will be up from minor . Both should add a few extra scores up front . Anyone else ?

It's a pity Jason Moore never got a real run in a Laois jersey, whether it be because of work commitments or other. You can't teach pace and I think a good coach could have turned him into a very good inter-county half back.

Portarlington primed for another run at Leinster but will be tested up in Wexford. Think they'll be without Adam Ryan as well who was excellent also today.

Only managed to catch a couple of minutes of the game.
If that was Moore that was involved in the red card incident he should be embarrassed to ever set foot on a football field again.
I've no desire to see sneaky fanny heads in the blue and white.

What an embarrassing statement