Allianz Football League 2017 - Division 3

[Laois fan]

Last night shows how important quigley,Timmons,o Loughlin, o Carroll,Meredith etc are and the gulf in class between are first 15 and new guys.Also would love if the manager asked Brody to stay in his goals, it totally slows down the play and is an accident waiting to happen

[Ballyroan Abbey]

Fitness, tackling, defensive structure and intensity - things that supporters are saying we were missing, all take time to be worked on. And if it wasnt these things it be something else to complain about. When we had mcnulty in charge what did the players have? Answer - intensity, defensive structure, tackling and fitness. What were results like? Answer 2011 league final, 2012 all ireland quarter final lost by 2 to all ireland champions, 2013 forth round qualifiers lost to all ireland champions - what did the supporters do? Answer complained that the team werent attacking enough and basically ran the man out of his job, as was done with kearns, as was done with micko, so while ye may complain about being fickle or demanding its a good discription of laois followers. Unfortunetly this county has critics and know it alls not supporters

[High Fielder]

Oh give up. You are actually being more of a know all by implying you know better or more than the rest of us.It was a rotten performance by any known metric or opinion. Feeble and embarrassing. It will get better because it couldn't get any worse

[welcomehome]

I must have been at the wrong game last night,going by all the post.they were way off the pace,some of them look overweight.When i go to see laois playing i would like to see a bit of passion.and a bit of structure,that wasnt there last night....

[Ballyroan Abbey]

Oh give up. You are actually being more of a know all by implying you know better or more than the rest of us.It was a rotten performance by any known metric or opinion. Feeble and embarrassing. It will get better because it couldn't get any worse

How? Where do i imply that im a know it all? All i want is a bit of perspective, the easiest thing in the world is to criticise, it was round 1 of the league with 5 debutants and half a team missing through injury and theres people already getting their shovels out to bury creedon

[the sash]

Very early days n your right we shouldn't cast judgement until the league is over but its amazing how much we've dropped off the pace from 10 years ago or so. Mick o dwyer's b team would have beatin louth. Our problem has been our failure at underage in the last ten years. We told sean dempsey n co his services weren't required anymore n look where we are now. The younger players coming into the senior setups have never been tested at a high level as we don't reach minor n u21 finals anymore albeit last years minor team that we very fortunate the way the draw fell. We need to get our big towns n catchment areas performing again  n the county board should be targeting this. In my own town rugby is a big draw on our players ,we need to make gaa more attractive for these players who are not from the big gaa families. Our population has increased by 20 thousand in the county from ten years ago n yet this is not reflected on the gaa front

[High Fielder]

Oh give up. You are actually being more of a know all by implying you know better or more than the rest of us.It was a rotten performance by any known metric or opinion. Feeble and embarrassing. It will get better because it couldn't get any worse

How? Where do i imply that im a know it all? All i want is a bit of perspective, the easiest thing in the world is to criticise, it was round 1 of the league with 5 debutants and half a team missing through injury and theres people already getting their shovels out to bury creedon

Nobody is wanting rid of Creedon. People are legitimately asking questions. This set up is costing money and the performance was abysmal. Not just bad but abysmal.

[BallyroanAbu]

Creedon has made things far harder for himself, this was very much a must win a home game against weaker opposition before what looks like tougher tests.  Our players do not have great resolve they are coming off 4 poor seasons and to be honest they really did not need this.  I would be surprised if things get better, I hope I am wrong but for the optimists  on here Peter Creedon has failed the first test in a pretty spectacular way. He may salvage something if he can get a result against Armagh or Tipperary.  If not don't worry about championship as we wont be in it very long.   

[the sash]

Very early days n your right we shouldn't cast judgement until the league is over but its amazing how much we've dropped off the pace from 10 years ago or so. Mick o dwyer's b team would have beatin louth. Our problem has been our failure at underage in the last ten years. We told sean dempsey n co his services weren't required anymore n look where we are now. The younger players coming into the senior setups have never been tested at a high level as we don't reach minor n u21 finals anymore albeit last years minor team that we very fortunate the way the draw fell. We need to get our big towns n catchment areas performing again  n the county board should be targeting this. In my own town rugby is a big draw on our players ,we need to make gaa more attractive for these players who are not from the big gaa families. Our population has increased by 20 thousand in the county from ten years ago n yet this is not reflected on the gaa front

[ILikeStrawberryJam]

Its a fair point that it was the first match and all that. And one can accept getting beat but
the tactics were non existant from where i was sitting. Thats what concerned me.
Louth are louth. This is division 3. And we were annihilated on our home patch.
They dominated the kick outs. Defended in numbers. And broke at speed.
We had no tactical plan. Horse it into donie who was double marked.
If your playing against a blanket defense you need a tactical plan. We had none.
Creedon deserves time but that was shambolic. I dont mean to be a drama queen but youd
Have to be very concerned about where laois football is going..

[High Fielder]

In many respects, this is not even about Peter Creedon. Truth be told, Laois football is declining year on year, and one man alone can't arrest that. Out of 36 players used in the County Final, I think only 3 got game time yesterday, and not too many more are available to the panel. Lads come and go through the revolving door and in all honesty, I've seen lads wearing the shirt in the last 5 years that would be no better than an average club player - at best. It might just get worse before it gets better and as Offaly are showing, when you're down, it's very hard get back up. My expectations are extremely low anyway, so I didn't go over last night expecting to beat Louth. I did want to see something though. A bit of hitting, some sort of plan and maybe even an individual putting his hand up. Not one of those basic requirements happened. It was just stupid stuff that we were watching; not even worthy of a training session. There is no excusing that let it be the first league game or the last. I actually have sympathy for Creedon here. He might have been sold a pup.

[SCFC]

That's a good point about last years final. Only Begley, Brody, Lillis and Buggie played last night. Not enough. Comerford, Cahillane, Jody Dillon all playing soccer. Healy hurling. Who else should be in there? Seale? Maybe Shiel?

[County Man]

A lot of activity on here. Is it only me or is it at its liveliest when we get a heavy defeat?

In terms of the match, we know it was a bad day at the office, no doubt about that. First of all, give a bit of credit and respect to Louth. They are a well drilled, organised team who were very clinical on the night. I was quite impressed with them.

Laois hit a few bad wides early on which would have settled us. Louth grew in confidence then and began to exploit us. First goal was very soft really.

Game over as a contest after 50 minutes once 2nd goal went in.

We really are decimated with injuries at the moment which has to be taken into account. This team have never played together before with new guys like James Kelly, Eoin Buggie, Luttrell, Eoin Lowry and Ambrose Doran featuring. We need to learn about these guys and they deserve a chance. This is the time for that.

The league can be used to blood these new players and to see who can step up. Guys will be returning from injuries in March so we will get stronger as a group. Its unlikely we can get promoted this year but if we stay up and learn about new players and develop our style for championship, that will suffice.

Lets judge Creedon and the team once 2017 season is over. I honestly feel the year will get better as it goes on.

For Armagh and Tipperary, we need to tighten up in defence and be competitive. We'll get more positive results from the Sligo game on. I believe we will be flying for the championship and will have a great cut at it.

Laois Abu

[Giovanni]

Hard to know what to make of that. I actually thought we started quite well and if it hadn't been for some wild and stupid shooting, we could have settled into the game. In that first 10 minutes, I was happy to see some nice accurate foot passes going quickly into the forwards (Strong was good here) and nice movement from several of the forwards, esp. David Conway.

After that, though, I'm afraid it was a bit of a shambles. As someone else said, I can't get my head around the tackling at all. Everyone seems much more keen to follow runners than to put the man with the ball under pressure. If you don't put the man with the ball under pressure, you're going to concede a lot of scores - it's pretty simple really. Same with the kickouts - can't understand how we let it continue for the whole game. It's one thing to concede a kick out 21 yards out on the touchline but it's another thing to have the keeper kick the ball 50 m directly down the middle of the field to an unmarked opponent (although in fairness the Louth kickouts were excellent).  I know that the overall quality of player has reduced with the injuries but you don't need to be a team of Diarmuid Connollys to be organised and react to what's happening around you. That's very worrying.

On the positives I think Alan Farrell is going to be a super player but I hope they're not going to do another Peter O Leary on him and try to turn him into a corner back. Denis Booth wasn't bad. Meaney did the best he could (and I'm not sure why he was taken off) and David Conway and Gary Walsh (who should clearly have started and might have made a big difference in that first 10 minutes) played well. Was also good to see McMahon back. Was very disappointed with Donie. We keep talking about him being double marked but that is, I'm afraid, the inevitable consequence of refusing to run. If he wants more space, he's going to have to work a lot harder.

Hopefully there'll be a bit of a reaction against Armagh.

[blueandwhite1]

Jack Nolan made some interesting points on Midlands Radio 3. He says that our county players are generally a reflection of the club game in Laois - lacking physicality, intensity and no consequence for a bad season with so many senior teams off the mark.

We need a strong underage structure once again and a dog eat dog championship like in the hurling. Until then, we are going nowhere only backwards.

Even if we do improve, when we see survival in Div 3 as a success, it shows you how far we have fallen. We are now a top 20 county at best.

The good news for me is that many in Tipp credit Creedon with building the structures in the county and taking on the vested interests. I wish him luck in Laois. The recent resistance to reforming the senior championship illustrates the challenges he faces.