The future of laois hurling

[clonadmad]

Whilst it's easy to blame the tactics

Offaly had the same tactics as Laois in the second half with the breeze

The difference was that they were a lot more accurate from distance


The were sharper,had a better first touch and were more assured in their passing.

The team with the better hurlers normally wins and that's what happens last night

Clare are as good as Offaly and Tipp,be interesting to see what Galway are like,not as strong as previous years,a win against them could see us into an All ireland semifinal v Tipperary

[blueandwhite1]

Whilst it's easy to blame the tactics

Offaly had the same tactics as Laois in the second half with the breeze

The difference was that they were a lot more accurate from distance


The were sharper,had a better first touch and were more assured in their passing.

The team with the better hurlers normally wins and that's what happens last night

Clare are as good as Offaly and Tipp,be interesting to see what Galway are like,not as strong as previous years,a win against them could see us into an All ireland semifinal v Tipperary

I agree fully. No doubting that this team should be very proud of beating Wexford and Kilkenny and how they fought during the match. No problem with physicality and heart.

I was more disappointed at the quality of our play than the result last night. I remember when we lost the 2013 final, Pat Critchley made some comments after the match that I was reminded of again last night. If you are not better at the basics, you can't expect to win. And the basics need to be thought and perfected well before a player is minor. I think Zoom said u12 is when the skills are fully formed. I see it with all Laois teams that our touch, ability to catch high balls and win rucks is well behind the top teams. Offaly were just a level up as were KK in 2013. What do we need to do to get the standards to that level, early in a players development? When we work that out we will start winning these matches. Offaly have a similar sized hurling population as us. If they can do it so can we.

[Giovanni]

I would agree with most of the above.

However, apart from the basic skill levels, I think Offaly simply worked harder than us (which explains all the cramping in the last 15 minutes). If you work harder than your opposition, you can make the opponents' skill levels look inferior.

The other thing that should be remembered is that most of these lads are 16 or 17 and I think the occasion might have been a lot to absorb for one or two of them. This is understandable and the experience will stand to them.

Having said that, I really find it frustrating looking at high balls going into a one or two man full-forward line that is surrounded by 4 or 5 Offaly backs.

Thanks to Clonadmad for the heads up about the number of tickets being sold. It allowed me to make it on time. Couldn't get over the size of the crowd but it was great to see.

[Laois man]

Great crowd great occasion very proud of our lads but 2 forwards again 4 backs won't get many scores.

[Smellyball]

I wasn't there tonight but it seems like the usual sh!te was going on. Oh look there's a match on and the crowd has caught us by surprise, was there a decent amount of turnstiles open or what caused the delay?
As for the match - poor use of the ball with the wind (although the same could be said of offaly at times), lofting balls into offalys half back line against the wind. Can't complain really though as the better team won.
Fingers crossed for decent performances in the round Robin.

It was held up 10 minutes and everybody had a good time, with no trouble. Stop trying to make something of it.

I'll say whatever I want.
It's the same story any time a reasonable crowd turns up in OMP, a couple of turnstiles open for a crowd of 3000, or the genius - funnel everyone through the one gate at the far end of the ground whilst making announcements to social distance in the stand.

[Laois man]

I was there early last night no issues in getting in.

[Smellyball]

I was there early last night no issues in getting in.

Yeah but obviously some people did, or they wouldn't have delayed throw in citing "crowd congestion"

[Laois man]

I think they were expecting 7 or 8 thousand but about 12 or 13 were there. Sure what's 10 mins on a great occasion.

[LOVEGAA]

Bit unfair to the teams who had warm up done and had to go back into dressing rooms.

The queues were building well before 7pm so they could have done something then

But that aside it was a great atmosphere

[Helix.]

A disappointing result last night on reflection. Offaly far superior all over the field. Won most of the 1:1 battles and we were heavily reliant on frees to stay in the game. Offaly had some excellent athleticism particularly 2 half backs got on a mountain of ball. Ball never seemed to stick any time got into forwards and seemed to try run through tackles and get turned over. Don't know if that's a Laois things as seen the seniors do similar this year. Some positive shoots for the future and hopefully over coming years some of last night's players will see senior action.
Clare and Galway will be good battles and will only bring the minors on.

Super crowd the guts of 12'500. Probably one of biggest attendances for a Leinster match outside of Croker this year. Bloody madness 1 turnstile open for terrace when I went in. If not mistaken Laois offaly football qualifier match few years back delayed for something similar not opening enough turnstiles.You'd think the county board would have learned.

You'd hope in this decade to get to a few more minor finals and eventually breaking a hoodoo and winning one. How the Setanta programme will be some indicator how we go along with clubs getting up to standard (including my own club).

[clonadmad]

A disappointing result last night on reflection. Offaly far superior all over the field. Won most of the 1:1 battles and we were heavily reliant on frees to stay in the game. Offaly had some excellent athleticism particularly 2 half backs got on a mountain of ball. Ball never seemed to stick any time got into forwards and seemed to try run through tackles and get turned over. Don't know if that's a Laois things as seen the seniors do similar this year. Some positive shoots for the future and hopefully over coming years some of last night's players will see senior action.
Clare and Galway will be good battles and will only bring the minors on.

Super crowd the guts of 12'500. Probably one of biggest attendances for a Leinster match outside of Croker this year. Bloody madness 1 turnstile open for terrace when I went in. If not mistaken Laois offaly football qualifier match few years back delayed for something similar not opening enough turnstiles.You'd think the county board would have learned.

You'd hope in this decade to get to a few more minor finals and eventually breaking a hoodoo and winning one. How the Setanta programme will be some indicator how we go along with clubs getting up to standard (including my own club).

The Setanta is for u10's only this year

i hope to God we wont be waiting or dependent on that bunch for our next final appearence in 2030

Theres a lot that could be done right now .

This years u15's need resources put into them as a matter of urgency

the u14's manager was only put in place for this year in the last 10 days and they have had only one session done so far,they are going to be going out against counties shorty who have been training  as development squads one day a week since November

If we want to replicate last night as opposed to patting ourselves on the back for the "occasion",like what some are doing today that I spoke to.

We would box off every Saturday or Sunday for hurling development

And get every hurler in the county from u10 to u15 into a Setanta program

But we won't

[Laois man]

Who's the U14 manager?

[Robbo]

A disappointing result last night on reflection. Offaly far superior all over the field. Won most of the 1:1 battles and we were heavily reliant on frees to stay in the game. Offaly had some excellent athleticism particularly 2 half backs got on a mountain of ball. Ball never seemed to stick any time got into forwards and seemed to try run through tackles and get turned over. Don't know if that's a Laois things as seen the seniors do similar this year. Some positive shoots for the future and hopefully over coming years some of last night's players will see senior action.
Clare and Galway will be good battles and will only bring the minors on.

Super crowd the guts of 12'500. Probably one of biggest attendances for a Leinster match outside of Croker this year. Bloody madness 1 turnstile open for terrace when I went in. If not mistaken Laois offaly football qualifier match few years back delayed for something similar not opening enough turnstiles.You'd think the county board would have learned.

You'd hope in this decade to get to a few more minor finals and eventually breaking a hoodoo and winning one. How the Setanta programme will be some indicator how we go along with clubs getting up to standard (including my own club).

The Setanta is for u10's only this year

i hope to God we wont be waiting or dependent on that bunch for our next final appearence in 2030

Theres a lot that could be done right now .

This years u15's need resources put into them as a matter of urgency

the u14's manager was only put in place for this year in the last 10 days and they have had only one session done so far,they are going to be going out against counties shorty who have been training  as development squads one day a week since November

If we want to replicate last night as opposed to patting ourselves on the back for the "occasion",like what some are doing today that I spoke to.

We would box off every Saturday or Sunday for hurling development

And get every hurler in the county from u10 to u15 into a Setanta program

But we won't

Agree with this. Pump everything into our underage structures. Take loans if needed to fund it. We als find a way to balance the books.

Great to see setanta back and no criticism intended to all those running it but needs to be seen as a minimum requirement. Strike now while the interest is high.
We missed the Joe Mc train, here's another we need to get on.

[Laois man]

Any dates yet for minor Round Robin games or who we play first?

[G@@]

Heartbreaking for the lads, to be honest I think the occasion fazed them. Our first touch was jittery at times - we looked nervous, whereas against KK we were much more clinical, so it's safe to say we didn't perform as good as we could have. Our aerial battles let us down too, Offaly had tall lads in key positions and we were unable to compete - especially in the HF and FF lines.  Offaly worked alot of diagonal which tested us to defend - and while we did cope well, off the shoulder running put us under further pressure - so with that a huge credit goes to the HB and FB lines for keeping their goal threats out (I think Offaly managed just 1 goal chance). A bit of panic in the second half with on the ground clearances, twice we ground cleared the ball and Offaly unmarked converted these gifts to points. Our workrate and heart was brilliant though - we fought for everything even down to the last whistle. Including kids there was rumoured to be close on 18K there last night which made the atmosphere electric. Fair play for everyone who organised busses of kids to come in - no easy task!
Hopefully we can grab a win over Clare or Galway which puts us into a semi-Final v Tipp.

Any dates yet for minor Round Robin games or who we play first?

We play whoever loses Clare V Galway on May 28th; We play who ever wins Clare V Galway on June 6th. Clare play Galway on May 21st. https://www.gaa.ie/hurling/news/electric-ireland-all-ireland-minor-hurling-quarter-finals-draw/