Messages

anybody know of any new players involved with the footballers?

Keenan definitely back in the new year

Good jesus, we cannot seriously be losing all these lads???

Devastated to see C/B lose, I really fancied them before the match and genuinely believe they left it behind them. OTB were cuter and I suppose that comes from experience and they deserve credit for pulling through. Hopefully C/B learn from this and see that they are well able to compete and beat the best club teams around.

As for the football Sunday, I see it as an extremely tight match between Sarsfields and Portlaoise, by all accounts Sarsfields are extremely confident about beating Portlaoise.  I feel Portlaoise will have to improve greatly to beat them and as with the hurling last Sunday I think goals will decide this game.

Can't see Ross making the first 15 next year. His pace is gone. I'd rather see him retire and be remembered as the best forward Laois ever produced. Id have meradith in the team. New manager or Not  the forwards will be much the same as laois year and to be honest there isnt much wrong with that.  We might get Kieran Lillis to commit who would be a great option at centre back.

My team would be: Broady , Booth/ Paul begley, Timmons, attride, strong, lillis, begley, Quigley, JOL, Donagher, Meridith , Paul Kingston, O'Carroll, Donie ,Shiels/O'Connor/Walsh/ Evan Costello

I have nothing but respect for Ross and IMO is still nailed on for a starting position with Laois. On a seperate note , IMO he is not our greatest forward, not by a clear distance.

Great move by Pat to go back to developing the younger groups but the candidates I have heard that are  being put forward for the minor position are of a very poor managerial standard IMO. We cannot afford to mess around with these young lads.

Little bit of topic but great to see Donie Kingston getting an All Star nomination this morning despite the poor year we had. Hopefully he'll one in the not too distant future.

Delighted he got some recognition on a national stage, he is a top player and Laois would be in severe trouble without him.

As for Sundays two matches , I expect to extremely tight matches.

With Emo vs Arles-Kilcruise  I expect Kilcruise to win by a couple of points, they know how to win and have some fine players.If there was any team I would like to see win the county title if my own club didnt it would be Kilcruise without doubt. As a club they are a credit to themselves.

As for Portlaoise vs Arles-Killeen . Arles-  Kileen seem to be flying and will without doubt be fancying their chances against Portlaoise on Sunday and rightfully so. Its very hard to know where Portlaoise are at, physically they are in amazing shape but they haven't been tested yet and haven't come out of first gear and that certainly wont be good enough on Sunday.  By all accounts the new management team of Portlaoise have shaken things up significantly and have put it up to players who were perceived to be in a comfort zone, which is great to hear and I see a strong performance from a number of lads on sunday. Portlaoise by 2 points

For me its  not nessessarily about Mick, its about whether he gets total and utter support from both the CB in terms of resources and players who are willing to commit to the county when asked.

If he can get whats he needs from both these sources he has a chance to be a success, otherwise he wont and it wont be his fault to be honest.

Zach will not be playing Sunday from what I hear....

[a simple simon]

Don't worry about Wolly. Is he a good manager - that's all we need to know. Anyone have a run down of his managerial CV? I've listened to a few interviews with him, seems like a bit of a simple simon. Does the man have a tactical brain? Is he proven? I don't think he's proven with his experience at portlaoise. Portlaoise have been head and shoulders above the competition in laois, and even my cat Roger could probably have managed them to success in laois over the last 5 - 7 years.

A simple Simon, what the hell does that mean?

Mountmellick looked tired at times alright but I thought the conditioning and fitness of the Portlaoise team looked immense. I dont think I've ever seen Bruno as fit.

Is it true that the semis are Sunday the 4th and final is on the 11th?

A total non entity of a game, Mountmellick were never in the game. Portlaoise looked good but missed a number of chances. Defensively Portlaoise were very good.

i haven't seen the Leinster either , so if I'm wrong I apologise...

If the selection panel is made up of Mick Lillis, Joe Higgins, Leo Turley and Mick Dempsey, I wonder who are the 3 inside candidates? I would hope/assume that at least one of the non-Laois candidates is John Evans?

I think Hoganstand messed up on that one, which they usually do when they are not copying and pasting from other sites. Original journalism is not their strength.   

The cash is not there so we will end up with some patch up job, the modern inter county set up is more than a manager and all about setting up a top class arrangement of people. Laois dont have a pot to p**s in so how can we set up such a set up? With the best will in the world there is no chance.