Leinster Senior Football Championship 2017

[Tony]

Beginning to think the Laois job is a bit of a poisoned chalice to be honest. Justin McNulty had the makings of a great manager - where is he now post Laois? Dempsey was good at underage but his stock has gone way down after his stint. TOF wasn't great anyway but nobody will take him on now. Kearns spell was dissappointing & he was in the wilderness for a bit before making a return to form now. MO'D himself even complained that he was unhappy with the setup in Laois and wanted out after the players pretty much kicked him out. Not even mentioning Mick Lillis as we all know what happened there. Now Peter Creedon - a well respected manager after his work with Tipp, could be out within a year and god knows where he'll go.

That could all change of course, pending the championship. But for the CB to kick a background coach like McGeehin out because of "costs" midway through a season is disgraceful in my opinion.

Trying to remain positive though and hoping for a turnaround come summer..

[Zooming around]

Is it definitely a cost cutting exercise? That seems a bit strange. Who said it was to do with costs?

[ILikeStrawberryJam]

Its depressing to see an article like that in the national media ..

Maybe the CB are broke ..
There couldnt have been anymore than 300 at the last home match against Longford
No one is going to support the county fooyballers anymore ..
Its a knockon effect .. team doing badly .. some lads not committing .. very little support .. no money in the coffers ..

We need a 10 year plan .. everything else is band aids

There was 25-30k tipp fans in croker for the semi final last year .. the supporters will come back if the team started to have some success but it took tipp 10 yrears to get there ..

[OTF]

Is it definitely a cost cutting exercise? That seems a bit strange. Who said it was to do with costs?

The article says that  but nor confirmed by the chairman, hurling coach gone as well for same reason, yet  McConville has being brought in.
Must be doing it for nothing.

[Zooming around]

Is it definitely a cost cutting exercise? That seems a bit strange. Who said it was to do with costs?

The article says that  but nor confirmed by the chairman, hurling coach gone as well for same reason, yet  McConville has being brought in.
Must be doing it for nothing.

The McConville thing is what's throwing me. There's no way he's any less than Kelly or McGeehan so I doubt very much that it is cost cutting. It just doesn't make any sense.

[oneflewoverthecuckoonest]

tony I am going to pick you up on your last musings on this thread, and gather up a few overall thoughts.

firstly tony, you now declare Laois football a poisoned chalice, during the entire league, you offered the excuse of "missing players" for poor performances.....you have been an apologist from day 1 for this management.

I will tell you my views on the most recent(8-10 years of laois managements).
Justin McNulty I met 2 weeks ago....I was a big fan of him as a manager....style marks would have been low, but he kept us organised and competitive(possibly even punching above our weight).....he told me he is giving total commitment to his job at Stormont and has minimal involvement in GAA management now.........if he did leave politics and return to GAA, there would be a queue to offer him an intercounty role.

Liam kearns is a canny operator: a decent manager, not top class.....he was part of the Roscommon set up under John Evans and now with Tipp.....canny because he only moves to counties with the talent already at his disposal....you will not see him at a Carlow for instance.

O Flaherty, at best a selector, a 5 star spoofer as a manager.
Mick Lillis a good man at club management and was fighting a losing battle from day 1 at the helm of the seniors as most saw him as a sticking plaster arrangement.

Now for your view Tony, that Creedon was well respected.......if he was so well respected why was he rejected out of hand for his native Cork job when that position was vacant last summer?

I posted on the football league thread at half time in the opening league game against Louth....I said then what I was watching was a disaster and my prediction of relegation unfortunately materialised.

A management team can be unlucky with missing players....BUT......
(1)  a proper management will have a definite game plan and in the modern game such plans if adhered to can dilute the effect of missing players...............from day 1 against Louth this Laois team has had no plan whatsoever.

(2)  during the league campaign this squad has lacked fitness compared to other sides..........one must then question the fitness coach

(3) the lack of fitness and lack of gameplan/style, items 1 and 2 have been cruelly exposed in Division 3.....yes 3....doubtful if any of the 7 other teams in the division will grace an all Ireland quarter final in 2017...........if you are found out in division 3, imagine how bad things would have been against the quality sides.

(4) little or no discipline. 

the only people I hear defending this management are those that appointed them and their close friends......if a senior club side in laois brought an outside coach in with these results in a club league campaign, said coach would be sacked before the championship and someone else brought in to try and give the set up a shot in the arm and at least some level of renewed optimism.


How many of the 16 senior clubs sides in laois would offer Creedon a job judged on his results to date with this county?



Look the big picture was this executive in Laois have been out of their depth for some time....on the credit side, they have developed the training facility.....but on the pitch, they have overseen the plummeting in standards of laois inter county football from underage to senior, and little of late has happened to address that trend. 

The executive appointed and stood by a dud like O Flaterty for 2 years, then appointed Lillis in a panic.  To appease the masses last Autumn Creedon and his "top class backroom team" were appointed in a publicity blitz as a measure to quell the anger that was bubbling with Laois football supporters.
Apart from Tipperary underage, Creedon was in essence an unproven quantity, and that aspect meant he deserved time to prove himself as well as buying time for the executive. In a results and performance business, we now know, that Mick Lillis was every bit as good as Creedon and co., and once again the executive failed.

A speedy exit from the championship is desired, and what is required is a special conference of all those concerned about Laois football, and a plan for intercounty from Under 14 to Senior needs to be detailed, not a piecemeal job covering cracks.

The above said, we may beat Longford, but we will fail the moment we encounter a half decent team this summer.

[Keyser Söze]

tony I am going to pick you up on your last musings on this thread, and gather up a few overall thoughts.

firstly tony, you now declare Laois football a poisoned chalice, during the entire league, you offered the excuse of "missing players" for poor performances.....you have been an apologist from day 1 for this management.

I will tell you my views on the most recent(8-10 years of laois managements).
Justin McNulty I met 2 weeks ago....I was a big fan of him as a manager....style marks would have been low, but he kept us organised and competitive(possibly even punching above our weight).....he told me he is giving total commitment to his job at Stormont and has minimal involvement in GAA management now.........if he did leave politics and return to GAA, there would be a queue to offer him an intercounty role.

Liam kearns is a canny operator: a decent manager, not top class.....he was part of the Roscommon set up under John Evans and now with Tipp.....canny because he only moves to counties with the talent already at his disposal....you will not see him at a Carlow for instance.

O Flaherty, at best a selector, a 5 star spoofer as a manager.
Mick Lillis a good man at club management and was fighting a losing battle from day 1 at the helm of the seniors as most saw him as a sticking plaster arrangement.

Now for your view Tony, that Creedon was well respected.......if he was so well respected why was he rejected out of hand for his native Cork job when that position was vacant last summer?

I posted on the football league thread at half time in the opening league game against Louth....I said then what I was watching was a disaster and my prediction of relegation unfortunately materialised.

A management team can be unlucky with missing players....BUT......
(1)  a proper management will have a definite game plan and in the modern game such plans if adhered to can dilute the effect of missing players...............from day 1 against Louth this Laois team has had no plan whatsoever.

(2)  during the league campaign this squad has lacked fitness compared to other sides..........one must then question the fitness coach

(3) the lack of fitness and lack of gameplan/style, items 1 and 2 have been cruelly exposed in Division 3.....yes 3....doubtful if any of the 7 other teams in the division will grace an all Ireland quarter final in 2017...........if you are found out in division 3, imagine how bad things would have been against the quality sides.

(4) little or no discipline. 

the only people I hear defending this management are those that appointed them and their close friends......if a senior club side in laois brought an outside coach in with these results in a club league campaign, said coach would be sacked before the championship and someone else brought in to try and give the set up a shot in the arm and at least some level of renewed optimism.


How many of the 16 senior clubs sides in laois would offer Creedon a job judged on his results to date with this county?



Look the big picture was this executive in Laois have been out of their depth for some time....on the credit side, they have developed the training facility.....but on the pitch, they have overseen the plummeting in standards of laois inter county football from underage to senior, and little of late has happened to address that trend. 

The executive appointed and stood by a dud like O Flaterty for 2 years, then appointed Lillis in a panic.  To appease the masses last Autumn Creedon and his "top class backroom team" were appointed in a publicity blitz as a measure to quell the anger that was bubbling with Laois football supporters.
Apart from Tipperary underage, Creedon was in essence an unproven quantity, and that aspect meant he deserved time to prove himself as well as buying time for the executive. In a results and performance business, we now know, that Mick Lillis was every bit as good as Creedon and co., and once again the executive failed.

A speedy exit from the championship is desired, and what is required is a special conference of all those concerned about Laois football, and a plan for intercounty from Under 14 to Senior needs to be detailed, not a piecemeal job covering cracks.

The above said, we may beat Longford, but we will fail the moment we encounter a half decent team this summer.

Very well put.

It's not a witch hunt against Creedon, and there is no vested interest (from me anyways, and I'd suspect not from this poster).
There is only so much apologising and excuse making that people can bear.
Intercounty managers are renowned for having "mouthpieces" in the media, particularly outsiders in middle tier counties. Whatever happens now the excuses have been well established- "The County Board just didn't back Creedon. It wasn't his fault,and sure anyways those players can't be managed!"

[Stradism]

Cant remember a time when expectations were as low as they are now coming into this Leinster campaign.
2 weeks to go and so much disinterest, I hope CB does something to promote this game and get a respectable home crowd!

Would like to see a team like this, but I expect Kelly, P.Kingston and Walsh all to start.

Brody

Timmons
Booth
O' Connor

Attride
Lillis
Begley

JOL
Quigley

Donoher
EOC
Farrell

Moore
Kingston
Conway

[Tony]

I don't think Moore is ready to go in corner forward on a big physical match like this. Also why mark timmons in the corner? When he's fit he's one of the top natural full backs in the country. Lillis at cb doesn't have enough pace. Anyway each to their opinion Stradism!

I for one am really looking forward to the championship. I have a strange funny feeling that when expectations are as low as they are, we might actually do something impressive in summer.

[town1980]

Tony you talk some -----,,, why are lads on here picking Timmons full back he hasn't played all year? He will be no where near the team this year ,creedon was hauled into the county board office and was asked what the hell was going on he got rid of mcgeehan, scapegoat maybe he had to act blame some one, there is no settled team at the minute the mood is down best as the players haven't a clue what's happening Donnie is still hurt and will be fit but could lack that sharpness,another poster seen 3/4 lads out boozing last weekend so that's has the panel complaining in house, we need 24 Ross mulaneys, billy sheehans if we're gonna bring pride back but at the minute we don't have that

[BallyroanAbu]

tony I am going to pick you up on your last musings on this thread, and gather up a few overall thoughts.

firstly tony, you now declare Laois football a poisoned chalice, during the entire league, you offered the excuse of "missing players" for poor performances.....you have been an apologist from day 1 for this management.

I will tell you my views on the most recent(8-10 years of laois managements).
Justin McNulty I met 2 weeks ago....I was a big fan of him as a manager....style marks would have been low, but he kept us organised and competitive(possibly even punching above our weight).....he told me he is giving total commitment to his job at Stormont and has minimal involvement in GAA management now.........if he did leave politics and return to GAA, there would be a queue to offer him an intercounty role.

Liam kearns is a canny operator: a decent manager, not top class.....he was part of the Roscommon set up under John Evans and now with Tipp.....canny because he only moves to counties with the talent already at his disposal....you will not see him at a Carlow for instance.

O Flaherty, at best a selector, a 5 star spoofer as a manager.
Mick Lillis a good man at club management and was fighting a losing battle from day 1 at the helm of the seniors as most saw him as a sticking plaster arrangement.

Now for your view Tony, that Creedon was well respected.......if he was so well respected why was he rejected out of hand for his native Cork job when that position was vacant last summer?

I posted on the football league thread at half time in the opening league game against Louth....I said then what I was watching was a disaster and my prediction of relegation unfortunately materialised.

A management team can be unlucky with missing players....BUT......
(1)  a proper management will have a definite game plan and in the modern game such plans if adhered to can dilute the effect of missing players...............from day 1 against Louth this Laois team has had no plan whatsoever.

(2)  during the league campaign this squad has lacked fitness compared to other sides..........one must then question the fitness coach

(3) the lack of fitness and lack of gameplan/style, items 1 and 2 have been cruelly exposed in Division 3.....yes 3....doubtful if any of the 7 other teams in the division will grace an all Ireland quarter final in 2017...........if you are found out in division 3, imagine how bad things would have been against the quality sides.

(4) little or no discipline. 

the only people I hear defending this management are those that appointed them and their close friends......if a senior club side in laois brought an outside coach in with these results in a club league campaign, said coach would be sacked before the championship and someone else brought in to try and give the set up a shot in the arm and at least some level of renewed optimism.


How many of the 16 senior clubs sides in laois would offer Creedon a job judged on his results to date with this county?



Look the big picture was this executive in Laois have been out of their depth for some time....on the credit side, they have developed the training facility.....but on the pitch, they have overseen the plummeting in standards of laois inter county football from underage to senior, and little of late has happened to address that trend. 

The executive appointed and stood by a dud like O Flaterty for 2 years, then appointed Lillis in a panic.  To appease the masses last Autumn Creedon and his "top class backroom team" were appointed in a publicity blitz as a measure to quell the anger that was bubbling with Laois football supporters.
Apart from Tipperary underage, Creedon was in essence an unproven quantity, and that aspect meant he deserved time to prove himself as well as buying time for the executive. In a results and performance business, we now know, that Mick Lillis was every bit as good as Creedon and co., and once again the executive failed.

A speedy exit from the championship is desired, and what is required is a special conference of all those concerned about Laois football, and a plan for intercounty from Under 14 to Senior needs to be detailed, not a piecemeal job covering cracks.

The above said, we may beat Longford, but we will fail the moment we encounter a half decent team this summer.

Very well put.

It's not a witch hunt against Creedon, and there is no vested interest (from me anyways, and I'd suspect not from this poster).
There is only so much apologising and excuse making that people can bear.
Intercounty managers are renowned for having "mouthpieces" in the media, particularly outsiders in middle tier counties. Whatever happens now the excuses have been well established- "The County Board just didn't back Creedon. It wasn't his fault,and sure anyways those players can't be managed!"

Thats telling you wholeheartedly agree with original poster, we won't beat Longford by the way.

[Tony]

He's been training and playing well with graige the past few weeks, of course he has to slot back into full back. That's talking sense. Booth works hard but has been found out at full back with the harder ground for years. Mark has to be fb, he's fit and will have a few challenge games to be match fit. Put Dennis in the corner maybe. We don't have the luxury a la Dublin or kerry to rest our big players if they're not 100%sharp. We just don't have the strength in depth for that. Mark has to start and to start in his best position.

[Keyser Söze]

Thats telling you wholeheartedly agree with original poster, we won't beat Longford by the way.

Don't understand this remark?

[town1980]

I was at the Carlow challenge game TONY whoever is filling your head with this info is way off,, mark timmons will not start he might not be brought on in any game in fact his major operation I think will see him end his Laois senior career, his 32 and a double hip operation with him playing 2-3 club games means you start an intercounty game,, there's a reason lads start training in October to be ready for the summer, Tony good fellow your actually clueless and mr Broanabu has just proved it to all of us

[Dave like the tv channel]

If we've no money in the coffers for on-the-field stuff, then why has the CB undertaken "legacy" projects like the centre of excellence. Someone I know told me that because it's in Laois, it should be called a 'centre of normality'. Good burn, but shows that Laois is not even a blip on the GAA Richter scale anymore.

Why have we taken on MASSIVE capital projects, when our on-the-field exploits are taking a nose-dive?

How much of a loss was made on that field in Ballyroan, which was bought in the boom? Why are dressing rooms being built in the COE, when OMP is right beside it?

This is what the Dubs slate the lesser counties for - developing grounds and CoE's, while they invest in players etc. You can qualify their remarks easily by pointing out that they can have a shitty little county ground because Croker is available to them, while training facilities are at their disposal, in the many Unis in the city...plus Abbottstown.......(edit).....all paid for by the Croker.

We need a businessman at the helm in Laois CB for a while. Someone canny, with good contacts. Plus we need forward-thinking, proactive people and not reactive, protectionists.