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Jezz hesh that's quiet a list of absentees. I would have thought the squad would have been too small to cope with those losses. Fair play on the win. Ballyroan must be kicking themselves

How is Alan kinsella been playing since his bad injury?

Can only comment on our game last weekend as didn't see the other three.
It was a tall order for Courtwood to win that game being without Donoher and Hogan on top of the lads who are unavailable this year (Collins, Luttrell and Luke Doran).
But Ballyroan Abbey never really put the game to bed and paid a huge price getting caught with that late goal.
Thought Colm Walsh, Diarmuid Whelan and Davin McEvoy were their best players. Sean O'Flynn rightly grabbed the headlines but his brother Paul and Cian Doyle were also very good for us.
The draw could've been kinder for the next round though!🙂

That's my worry with him. Would he really leave a chance at another 20 all ireland to manage laois in division 4. Be great to get him I think. An outside face may be what we need. A fresh outlook

I hear Ger Brennan has put his hat in the ring for it too.

If we are going inside from the names mentioned I'd like Kearns. Been around a good set up before with sugrue and has done some good things at club level.

Congrats to the minor and 20 management's. Both look like good appointments with strong backroom teams.

Flanagan is an interesting one . More than decent record with Kildare u-20s . re. In his three years in charge, Kildare U20s took home two Leinster Championships, as well as reaching two All-Ireland finals and winning one . Not sure what would entice him to been part of a long term Laois project though .

Some nice looking games in the winners section.
Looking forward to emo vs Joseph's.. Good barometer for where both those teams are at.
Port still favorites even with all the injuries

https://www.rte.ie/sport/hurling/2021/0111/1189062-long-term-cahir-healy-bows-out-of-laois-gaa/

Congrats and Thanks To Cahir on what was a great career, effectively retiring.
Probably the most dedicated Footballer/Hurler of his generation in my opinion.
All players make a personal sacrifice to play county/club nowadays but he went above and beyond. 

Delighted for Courtwood, odd year for them with so many players missing. Not that I have anything against Kilcruise but their race is run and from a senior championship perspective I think Courtwood will be stronger next year.
Seen a post on the Courtwood facebook page about the 1999 Intermediate final. went a had a look. Kilcruise actually had a number of players playing this evening that played in that final. Remarkable really.
Arles  Team in the 1999 final - E.Kelly, E.Mulhall, J.Conway, J.Wall, JP.Conway, P.Conway, M.Mooney, G.Harkins, N.Kelly, C.Conway, L.Wall, B.Conway, JM.McDonald, K.Kealy,E.Mooney, subs R.Munnelly, A.McElroy, K.Kealy, E.Warren, A.Hughes, T.Wall, F.Tully, M.Munnelly, J.Condron, M.O Shea

Whos the oldest player in this years Senior Championship is it Chris Conway? I reckon he's at least 43. some servant.

The First round was really a mixed bag. some great games mixed in with some really poor standard, low intensity games.
I suppose that can be expected given the lack of preparation time teams have had. Id expect it to improve as the year goes on.
I think the Laoisgaa tv service deserves great credit. 5 euro is excellent value for money. if they were able to publish a weekly match programme that we could download it would be very welcomed.
On the structure discussion I agree now that we probably have too many senior teams. 2 or 3 teams are clearly getting cut adrift in my opinion which wasn't the case a few years ago. I like the look of that round 2 draw some nice looking games on paper.
I'll do me best to give a power ranking of where I see teams after round 1.

1. Portlaoise: no explanation necessary. on paper still the team to beat
2. O'Dempseys: move marginally ahead of Port after hammering Courtwood I think. 7-17 is a scoreline that few teams in Laois could post on their best days.
Didnt see the game.
3. Portarlington: Struggled over Stradbally, although conditions seemed appalling. If Colm Murphy is not fit to face Portlaoise I dont think they will have the firepower to down the town the next day. They have best strength in dept in the championship.
4. Graiguecullen: impressive display against what now looks like a weak Killeen team. rallied from a shaky start to completely dominate. Lee Timmons was excellent in attack. With Brian Byrne, Trevor Collins and Dicey back they have serious mobility.
No sign of Aaron Forbes on the match programme. any news on him. Big loss.
5. Emo: Beat Killeshin very comfortably. seem to have added a nice bunch of young lads into the team. could quite easily have had another bag full of scores the last day. be interesting to see if they can repeat that performance.
6. Ballyfin: looked nervy at the finish of their local derby against Rosenallis but they clung on. A nice balance to their team.
7. Ballyroan-Abbey: If you said to me before the game that Ballyroan would be without Tierney, Scott Conroy, McMahon and Marty Scully then I would have given them no chance. to their credit they dug it out and if they can add these 4 back into the group of impressive young lads they could surprise a few again.
8. Stradbally: The first of the first round losers in my opinion, id have them ahead of the heath. ran Portarlington close and have a few bodies back this year.
9. Ballylinan: gave Portlaoise a game, didn't get a chance to see it. I presume it was very defensive judging by the final score. still have the quality to make a run. looking forward to them vs Rosenallis.
10. Rosenallis: A young team that's full of running. a nightmare round 2 draw for them really. Regardless i cant see them getting into trouble this year and with the age profile of the team they will be senior for a good few years to come.
11. The Heath: again another Team that has added a lot of young lads in. really great to see. A notable omission from the match panel the last day is Evin Keane. anyone know why he is missing? without him I doubt they will have the forwards to beat some of the bigger teams.
12. Courtwood: again didn't see the O'Dempseys game but Niall dunne and Niall Donoher are two big losses to them.
13. Killeshin: looked a shadow of the team that was very impressive last year. their defense at times looked wide open. they need Attride back.
14. St. Josephs: for me the most disappointing performance in Round 1. I thought this year would have been ideal for them. with an experienced management set up and possible players returning from abroad. Dylan Doyle was abut their only forward the last day against a patched together Ballyroan team.
15/16. take your pick with the 2 Arles teams. Both look like they are waiting to be put out of their misery. they simply don't have the legs to compete with some of the younger teams anymore. Killeen's best defender Joe Mulhare was missing, anyone know if he will be back?

Byron
Higgins, Timmons, Healy
McMahon , Tom Kelly, Begley
Quigley, Clancy
Munnelly, Mick Lawlor, Kevin Fitz
Beano, D. Kingston, Conway

What a talent. I'll miss seeing those outside of the left shots from distance. The Laois championship has lost an entertainer.
Portlaoise don't look like they have a replacement for him.

Very good Laois support at the game last Tuesday.
Impressed with 1 or 2 in particular. Whelan obviously, 10 points and ran himself ragged. an obvious one to make the step up next year. great potential.
Tyrrell won an amount of primary possession and Laois looked to have the homework done on the Kildare kick outs which was great to see.
Mohan was excellent, Lacey deserves huge credit given the fact that he isn't a natural fullback.
Big Dan, Slevin and Dunne have scope for improvement I think.
Owens from Emo is probably unlucky not to start but its a very competitive forward line.
A great win but I wouldn't be getting carried away. its still only a prelim round game.
SCFC thats a strange rule if they are allowed play when the seniors are out. Crazy rule in my opinion anyway. the Hurling doesn't have the rule at all.

Breen job is logistics as far as I know. Can we blame him for the team looking a little lost on Sunday 
On the O'Carroll and Donie selection issue, Evan is a confidence player and had a bad start, I would have persisted with him as some of our forwards are a little shot shy.
Donie is still our best forward, i'm guessing he was dropped for fitness or form issues. Donie probably needed this kick up the backside when he was 22 or 23 to reach his true potential.
I wouldn't be atall bit critical of Sugrue for making the call. He's trying to change the squad mentality.
I'd love to see Donie take this as motivation and kick on.

Correct and right SCFC. Big Dan was very impressive. Nice little team they have. The two midfielders were very good, laid a solid foundation for the forwards to run riot.
Tipp to be fair, fell apart after half time. 

Where did yee see the transfers lads? Delaney would be a loss to Stradbally alright

Interesting article. If i'm reading it correctly and no rules have changed. "the Rules Advisory Committee in Croke Park have now said that all of those amalgamations should not have happened".
this is a serious shit storm. where does this leave our championship for the last number of years. We had illegal teams competing in the championship?

It's been ages since i'v posted on here, Actually genuinely looking forward to the league this year.
Strong looking team considering we are missing Healy, Begley and Donie.
Looks like we have genuine options now in the fullback line. I haven't said that in years. Great to see Boyle back.

The new mark system and a full forward line with the 2 kingstons and Evan could be something to look forward to.

I think Down away might be a bridge too far this weekend. Down and Westmeath are probably the 2 best teams in div 3. we have both away.
Realistically a top 3 finish and a fight for promotion is what i'm after.
 

Disappointing final in truth. Sarsfields never really got going but to be honest as a previous poster stated, sarsfields have offered nothing at minor level for the last 3 years so making a final is a fair achievement.
St Josephs/Barrowhouse started the championship as favorites and justifiably so. probably the best team of any of the last 5 years or so. the 2 higgins twins were subs they are that strong.
Anybody have any idea on the age profile of the team?
On the moore v keogh debate. I dont think its a debate at all to be honest. Moore had 2 Josephs players on him for the entire game. It was odd to see. not a sweeper playing in front but 2 men either side for the full game. You cant really compare the two performances as like for like on that basis.