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All I can say is congratulations to Port, I thought before the game the had way too much for us and unfortunately that was borne out in empathetic fashion.

Port surely have to focus on Leinster now, its has to be their aim.

Portlaoise are in a bad place and the last two years have been an unmitigated disaster. It'll take a long time to rectify the current situation.

Port are some outfit both individually and collectively and of course have a cracking manager to boot. They are justifiable favorites for Sunday and looking at it in the cold light of day they should win well. If Portlaoise play like they did in each round before the semi it will be certainly be over by the water break.

Hard to know where Portlaoise are at but certainly we know where Port are at, you dont win finals with uncertainty around performances. Portlaoise have done a super job to reach the final after the first round defeat to Courtwood and it will bring the younger lads on no end for the next few years.

Head ruling heart, Port 2.10 Portlaoise 0.08

I see Leinster council playing club semis in Croke park..some game changer for the teams to be playing there away from the normal muck and sh1ite at that time of year....

No disrespect to anyone PK but it should be a no brainer. Brody is the best keeper in Laois imo. By a long way.

I agree he should start but I wouldn't bet on it if O'Connell is fit....

Is there any reason Broady hasn't been starting all year? Seems absolute madness given his display at the weekend. Him starting the final will have a huge bearing on who wins it.

He was late back training this year, then when returned got a knock but in any case young O'Connell would not have been displaced this year had he stayed fit. He is a very good young keeper who learned a hell of a lot the hard way this year and I dont think its a given Brody starts the final.

Fair play Portlaoise they were savage, we were poor.  Where Portlaoise stand I'm unsure maybe we made them look better than they are

I'd tend to agree.As good as Portlaoise were , Ballyroan were equally as bad.I literally couldn't believe Ballyroans tactics, they are much better than what they showed yesterday.

Portlaoise were good though, their movement was superb and Brody made a huge difference to the team. Its looks like Portlaoise have finally nailed down their starting 15 just in time for the final.

Port looked good yesterday, they were never in doubt and that match was perfect prep for the final.

Portarlington will win and win very well.

Portlaoise vs Ballyroan will be very tight, cant see a whole lot between them.Maybe another dose of extra time .....

This craic of lads being good club footballers but not being inter county amuses me.Do we really think we have a ready made panel of inter county lads in this county and we can disregard good club footballers?

Laois have to pick the best players we have in the county regardless of whether they are inter county standard or not . For a county like Laois its always about the mgt team making the team better than the sum of it parts as we dont have a panel full of inter county standard footballers, thats not slating anyone but its just fact that some lads we will have to play are not top class inter county footballers but they are the best we have to pick from.

Sean Moore is without doubt deserving of a place on the panel, he is different to anything else we have. Maybe not for winter football but as someone said earlier the hard ground of summer will be great for him.

Heard Billy Sheehan's name mentioned . Not sure how true it is .

I've heard his name doing the rounds too ,varying reports around but one that Chris Conway will be manager and Billy coach seems to be popular....now how true it is I genuinely dont know.

Portlaoise kid how is it dragging a name through the mud he wouldn't play so what are you talking about I know his back after a lot of persuasion so it's a reality ,,without him we are weakened simple as,,stop trying to make something of it

You said he wouldn't play and he is playing so your statement was untrue. I'm not making a big deal of it, it's the least of Portlaoise worries.

[brody wont play for the club]

Giant squid we had a different team when malachy was there our focal point is retired 2 years and brody wont play for the club so its a silly point your making mal is gone a long time and there has been plenty of retirements or have you failed to see that ??i can list more than 10 to 12 players not there now since his time and the clubs who are comming to the fore worked on there kids clubs while we have won fek all minor and u 21 u20 championships,,great to see younger lads comming through but we have to persist for a year or two till they get a lil older ,,no junior champ no intermediate champ won in years there lies the problem for a town of this size

Incorrect with regards Brody.its a lie and you know it only too well, you will not drag a players name through the mud like that on here .

The reality is Brody has been training away and was  listed on the panel Thurs night .

Super win for courtwood ,well deserved.

As for Portlaoise that was truly awful on so many levels , if they play like that again it's a relegation final we are staring down the barrell of.

Big win for Port considering how little they would have trained since the county final and the celebrations that would have happened. It will give them a big boost going into the championship to get one over their main rivals.

Portlaoise kid, what are the new generation of Portlaoise players like? Any of last night that you could see stepping up to the Laois setup?

Yeah I be happy with the new bunch,  I would expect  a good few of them to nail down starting spots with Portlaoise and become very good players, where they go from there time will tell but I'd be disappointed if a few of them were not in or around the Laois senior panel in the next few years.

I thought it was an interesting match, both teams changed quite a bit from their first 15 (more so Port) and that added to it being played at a slow enough pace without any real championship intensity. First half was cagey enough stuff and the goals were killers, Port shut up shop at half time and it was game over. The wide count killed Portlaoise.

One thing that struck me last night is how well coached Port are , their manager has them in some order and provided a superb defensive performance.

There is more to come from both teams and for the first time in many years we have two teams whose year will be a total underachievement if they dont win the county title and thats a good thing for the championship.

No reason why we can't get the problem fixed within Portlaoise GAA. It just needs a lot of financing, good planning and hard work. We have none of that right now, and we get a very poor return from Portlaoise. They get a poor return from themselves too. The facilities and structures should be in place (in a town of that size) to accommodate whoever wants a jersey, and if that means B and C teams, then fine.

Truth is we're afraid of making Portlaoise a monster, so we ignore the issue and go year to year wondering what might be. Unfortunately, for every year that passes, both Portlaoise and Laois are declining. Numbers alone will mean Portlaoise will have plenty of good days, but nowhere near as many as they should. The facilities are poor for obvious reasons, and you really would want to go there as a kid, rather than allow yourself to be encouraged. If there is a failure in some parts to want to represent what is essentially a wonderful and proud club, then what the hell chance is there of a second club being formed? What would be the motivation?

This is a CB issue. If they want what's best for Laois, they need to make Portlaoise a priority. They need to park their own blub bias and actively collaborate with Portlaoise to improve matters. Portlaoise don't have the financial resources or manpower to fix this, but they have what Laois wants and that's numbers. A Portlaoise GAA regeneration would be very helpful to the Laois cause, and if that forces amalgamations elsewhere, then that's what we must do. There are far too many clubs anyway, some of which are wasting their time as stand alone entities. Another problem for another day.....

good post but remember one thing , the CB use Portlaoise as an excuse for failure and always have , it's their get out excuse. . E.g. The CB are losing their sh1ite over Port being this example of progress of Laois football , when in reality it's nothing to do with Laois GAA but moreso how good Port are and their hard work ... Any improvement in Laois football is definitely In spite of Laois county board efforts and that's their preferred game of football , just imagine for a second what our hurlers have to go through ...