Laois Senior Football Championship 2022

[clonadmad]

You conveniently ignored my point about the harm done to the club and not just the players. But that's what you do. Crettyard should do whatever they feel is best for their club. As should Killeshin. I thought they had a good thing going. Both of them. In my opinion it's a pity.

As to your point about Crettyard walking in and out of amalgamations, and I'm not aiming this at you Clonadmad, but that is absolutely shocking, and yes I'm aware of it. Our CB should be ashamed for sanctioning such a lax approach. I wonder did they try and intervene when the initial split took place? Or are they happy to sanction short term amalgamations? Makes you wonder what their criteria is for sanctioning any amalgamation. They have after all turned down some

"But that's what you do"

Less of the ad hominem lad

It might serve you a lot better

If that club has done any harm,it's been self inflicted

The reality is that any club that walks in and out of 3 full juvenile amalgamations in 4 years needs to seriously have a look at itself

As for the county board they stand guilty for allowing this incessant bed hopping in both codes

[georgedoylesrightleg]

always the county boards fault isnt it.

[Pugwash]

The Laois county board need to shift the focus from League to Championship long term for starters. Would I be right in saying that any side playing Division 1 football would have played 10+ (if not more) league games this year?

Surely by removing an unhealthy amount of league games and giving players more championship games, it would be a good starting point for one.

I would echo the above statements regarding the state of the Senior Championship, half of the sides in it are cannon fodder and are only senior teams in name.

I wouldn't necessarily lay much blame at the feet of these clubs because many are small rural villages/parish teams who are merely year on year making up the numbers.

We've all lost count at how times this has been said on here by posters, that mirroring the Kerry Championship is the way to go. Until we follow suit, we will continue to have a poor product (Laois Senior Championship) that impacts the Intermediate Championship, Junior Championship and most importantly the Laois inter county team.

Lets take Paul Kingston and Evan O'Carroll, two expectational players in my opinion. No disrespect to Killeen or Crettyard but could you imagine the level of player for the most part that they're not only playing alongside but training against when the inter county season is over within their club?

Hypothetically speaking, if Killeen joined with Barrowhouse and Kilcruise to play in the Laois Senior Championship with a squad of the best 20-25 players picked. Not only would Paul be getting tested more in training but you would see his true potential a lot more on the field at club level. The same would apply to Evan if Crettyard joined with Killeshin or Ballylinan.

Again, in order to ensure clubs like Killeen, Kilcruise, Barrowhouse never die you would incorporate these clubs as separate entities in an Intermediate or Junior Championship. But allow the amalgamated sides to play in a Senior Championship under the same name they would use at Juvenile level.

Then your traditional big clubs like Portlaoise, Port, Graigue, St Josephs, Stradbally etc who are all strong enough to go solo would play in a separate Senior Championship with no amalgamations allowed. You would of course then have your big hitters playing in another Senior Championship against your amalgamations also.

1) 8 Team Laois Senior Championship (2 Groups of 4 teams) The winner represents Laois in Leinster as no amalgamated sides would be allowed.
2) 12 Team Laois Senior Championship (3 groups of 4 teams) with 4 amalgamated sides allowed. In theory you would have the 8 sides above + 4 new teams. Lowest finishing sole senior side gets relegated to intermediate.

[clonadmad]

There's 27 football only clubs in the county according to Laois today on their podcast yesterday and there's 16 senior teams

Cut it to 8 in senior,intermediate,junior A and B

Kerry have 3 times the number of registered players that Laois have

It's comparing apples with oranges on that one fact alone

[The Saint]

It's that time of the year where Josephs get all excited before exiting in a heroic two point defeat.  Graigue think they are back but that's every year since 1965.  Ballyroanabbey talk about 92.  O Dempsey's are just O Dempsey's.  Courtwood and St Man's realize they are just making up the numbers.  Portlaoise dream of the good old days and Port win a 3rd County in a row. 

Laois Championship and we love it

I've read this 3 times and there's not a word of a lie in any of it!!😃

[Robbo]

The Laois county board need to shift the focus from League to Championship long term for starters. Would I be right in saying that any side playing Division 1 football would have played 10+ (if not more) league games this year?

Surely by removing an unhealthy amount of league games and giving players more championship games, it would be a good starting point for one.

I would echo the above statements regarding the state of the Senior Championship, half of the sides in it are cannon fodder and are only senior teams in name.

I wouldn't necessarily lay much blame at the feet of these clubs because many are small rural villages/parish teams who are merely year on year making up the numbers.

We've all lost count at how times this has been said on here by posters, that mirroring the Kerry Championship is the way to go. Until we follow suit, we will continue to have a poor product (Laois Senior Championship) that impacts the Intermediate Championship, Junior Championship and most importantly the Laois inter county team.

Lets take Paul Kingston and Evan O'Carroll, two expectational players in my opinion. No disrespect to Killeen or Crettyard but could you imagine the level of player for the most part that they're not only playing alongside but training against when the inter county season is over within their club?

Hypothetically speaking, if Killeen joined with Barrowhouse and Kilcruise to play in the Laois Senior Championship with a squad of the best 20-25 players picked. Not only would Paul be getting tested more in training but you would see his true potential a lot more on the field at club level. The same would apply to Evan if Crettyard joined with Killeshin or Ballylinan.

Again, in order to ensure clubs like Killeen, Kilcruise, Barrowhouse never die you would incorporate these clubs as separate entities in an Intermediate or Junior Championship. But allow the amalgamated sides to play in a Senior Championship under the same name they would use at Juvenile level.

Then your traditional big clubs like Portlaoise, Port, Graigue, St Josephs, Stradbally etc who are all strong enough to go solo would play in a separate Senior Championship with no amalgamations allowed. You would of course then have your big hitters playing in another Senior Championship against your amalgamations also.

1) 8 Team Laois Senior Championship (2 Groups of 4 teams) The winner represents Laois in Leinster as no amalgamated sides would be allowed.
2) 12 Team Laois Senior Championship (3 groups of 4 teams) with 4 amalgamated sides allowed. In theory you would have the 8 sides above + 4 new teams. Lowest finishing sole senior side gets relegated to intermediate.

Nah. We're not Kerry. Small county; no need for area teams.

Why don't we encourage clubs to follow likes of park, cortwood, ballyroan, clonaslee and rosneallis.invest in juvenile set-ups, build up gradually and when the time is right you'll go up.
Some of those clubs have enjoyed mutually beneficial juv arrangements that served all parties. More of that, less bed-hopping.


Divisions of 8-12 with 2xgroups of 4-6.
Do it over one year. Too many clubs will object though so need a co board to just drill it through. Maybe then when some clubs find themselves inter or even junior they'll think about parish teams and amalgamations.

[Spiritof86]

It's that time of the year where Josephs get all excited before exiting in a heroic two point defeat.  Graigue think they are back but that's every year since 1965.  Ballyroanabbey talk about 92.  O Dempsey's are just O Dempsey's.  Courtwood and St Man's realize they are just making up the numbers.  Portlaoise dream of the good old days and Port win a 3rd County in a row. 

Laois Championship and we love it

I've read this 3 times and there's not a word of a lie in any of it!!😃

In a nutshell . Port have all this planned to perfection.

[Laois Rising]

In Kerry only 8 clubs take part in the senior football championship along with the 8 regional sides.  There are 60 odd football clubs in Kerry. In Laois 16 clubs play in the senior football championship and we have only 27ish football clubs in the county. It's madness how Laois football is structured. It's no surprise then when you see Kerry teams repeatedly winning All-ireland Junior and intermediate titles-and these clubs are thrilled to win these titles and it brings great pride, exciting and joy to these clubs and parishes. I see Kerry are actively looking at tweaking their structures slightly again regarding their championships to maximise the quality of them. They establish review committees at the end of each year to identify how they can improve things going forward.

[High Fielder]

We probably need to forget about structural changes because the dinosaurs simply won't vote for them. The majority of clubs in Senior are probably no better than Intermediate standard anyway, so being able to call themselves Senior is where the actual currency lies.

It's sad to say, but we've created something absolutely of no use to us as a county with our structures. And you have this bizarre situation whereby the same club delegates will vote against meaningful change because it benefits their clubs; and simultaneously piss and moan about how poor our county teams are. Create some competition ffs. Force the bigger clubs to become better instead of thinking they can hoover up county titles - Port and Portlaoise before them. Get away from this ridiculous scenario whereby teams, and there are so many of them in Laois, are happy to win one game just so they can call themselves a Senior football club. It's a meaningless tag in a county going absolutely nowhere. We need to work out what's more important to us, and fast. What we have right now is a low grade, unproductive and maybe Portarlington aside, low in quality Championship

[SpeculativeEffort]

The Laois county board need to shift the focus from League to Championship long term for starters. Would I be right in saying that any side playing Division 1 football would have played 10+ (if not more) league games this year?

Surely by removing an unhealthy amount of league games and giving players more championship games, it would be a good starting point for one.

I would echo the above statements regarding the state of the Senior Championship, half of the sides in it are cannon fodder and are only senior teams in name.

I wouldn't necessarily lay much blame at the feet of these clubs because many are small rural villages/parish teams who are merely year on year making up the numbers.

We've all lost count at how times this has been said on here by posters, that mirroring the Kerry Championship is the way to go. Until we follow suit, we will continue to have a poor product (Laois Senior Championship) that impacts the Intermediate Championship, Junior Championship and most importantly the Laois inter county team.

Lets take Paul Kingston and Evan O'Carroll, two expectational players in my opinion. No disrespect to Killeen or Crettyard but could you imagine the level of player for the most part that they're not only playing alongside but training against when the inter county season is over within their club?

Hypothetically speaking, if Killeen joined with Barrowhouse and Kilcruise to play in the Laois Senior Championship with a squad of the best 20-25 players picked. Not only would Paul be getting tested more in training but you would see his true potential a lot more on the field at club level. The same would apply to Evan if Crettyard joined with Killeshin or Ballylinan.

Again, in order to ensure clubs like Killeen, Kilcruise, Barrowhouse never die you would incorporate these clubs as separate entities in an Intermediate or Junior Championship. But allow the amalgamated sides to play in a Senior Championship under the same name they would use at Juvenile level.

Then your traditional big clubs like Portlaoise, Port, Graigue, St Josephs, Stradbally etc who are all strong enough to go solo would play in a separate Senior Championship with no amalgamations allowed. You would of course then have your big hitters playing in another Senior Championship against your amalgamations also.

1) 8 Team Laois Senior Championship (2 Groups of 4 teams) The winner represents Laois in Leinster as no amalgamated sides would be allowed.
2) 12 Team Laois Senior Championship (3 groups of 4 teams) with 4 amalgamated sides allowed. In theory you would have the 8 sides above + 4 new teams. Lowest finishing sole senior side gets relegated to intermediate.

Nah. We're not Kerry. Small county; no need for area teams.

Why don't we encourage clubs to follow likes of park, cortwood, ballyroan, clonaslee and rosneallis.invest in juvenile set-ups, build up gradually and when the time is right you'll go up.
Some of those clubs have enjoyed mutually beneficial juv arrangements that served all parties. More of that, less bed-hopping.


Divisions of 8-12 with 2xgroups of 4-6.
Do it over one year. Too many clubs will object though so need a co board to just drill it through. Maybe then when some clubs find themselves inter or even junior they'll think about parish teams and amalgamations.

The highlighted sentence is the one I have most issue with.
We have a small county but about half the county has no access to senior club football. Its even more crucial in a county like Laois to maximise all resources and have a pathway to senior club football available.

Your argument that 'park, cortwood, ballyroan, clonaslee and rosneallis.(should) invest in juvenile set-ups' is laughable as these are clubs who actually do this already. Effort is not the issue. The problem is that these clubs reach senior every couple of generations. The rest of the time their effort is the same but the population/numbers/talent is not present to sustain senior football. This is where the regional senior teams would benefit the clubs we have without forcing clubs into amalgamations.

GAA clubs have more than one aim. They are about more than just having a senior team. Of course they want to play at the highest level but very few will sacrifice their identity and social focal point for this. In a regional set-up these clubs would be promoted to senior when they are good enough however when they are not at that level their best players can stay with home club and join with other designated clubs to challenge Portlaoise, Portarlington etc. for senior championships. This would increase the quality of the championship and deepen the talent pool for our county panel.

If Kerry didnt have area teams where would David Clifford be now?
1. Playing for Kerry but Not playing with Fossa (his home club)
or
2. Playing for Fossa but frustrated and nowhere near his potential
or
3. Not playing at all?

Why are we so afraid of change?

[Pugwash]

The Laois county board need to shift the focus from League to Championship long term for starters. Would I be right in saying that any side playing Division 1 football would have played 10+ (if not more) league games this year?

Surely by removing an unhealthy amount of league games and giving players more championship games, it would be a good starting point for one.

I would echo the above statements regarding the state of the Senior Championship, half of the sides in it are cannon fodder and are only senior teams in name.

I wouldn't necessarily lay much blame at the feet of these clubs because many are small rural villages/parish teams who are merely year on year making up the numbers.

We've all lost count at how times this has been said on here by posters, that mirroring the Kerry Championship is the way to go. Until we follow suit, we will continue to have a poor product (Laois Senior Championship) that impacts the Intermediate Championship, Junior Championship and most importantly the Laois inter county team.

Lets take Paul Kingston and Evan O'Carroll, two expectational players in my opinion. No disrespect to Killeen or Crettyard but could you imagine the level of player for the most part that they're not only playing alongside but training against when the inter county season is over within their club?

Hypothetically speaking, if Killeen joined with Barrowhouse and Kilcruise to play in the Laois Senior Championship with a squad of the best 20-25 players picked. Not only would Paul be getting tested more in training but you would see his true potential a lot more on the field at club level. The same would apply to Evan if Crettyard joined with Killeshin or Ballylinan.

Again, in order to ensure clubs like Killeen, Kilcruise, Barrowhouse never die you would incorporate these clubs as separate entities in an Intermediate or Junior Championship. But allow the amalgamated sides to play in a Senior Championship under the same name they would use at Juvenile level.

Then your traditional big clubs like Portlaoise, Port, Graigue, St Josephs, Stradbally etc who are all strong enough to go solo would play in a separate Senior Championship with no amalgamations allowed. You would of course then have your big hitters playing in another Senior Championship against your amalgamations also.

1) 8 Team Laois Senior Championship (2 Groups of 4 teams) The winner represents Laois in Leinster as no amalgamated sides would be allowed.
2) 12 Team Laois Senior Championship (3 groups of 4 teams) with 4 amalgamated sides allowed. In theory you would have the 8 sides above + 4 new teams. Lowest finishing sole senior side gets relegated to intermediate.

Nah. We're not Kerry. Small county; no need for area teams.

Why don't we encourage clubs to follow likes of park, cortwood, ballyroan, clonaslee and rosneallis.invest in juvenile set-ups, build up gradually and when the time is right you'll go up.
Some of those clubs have enjoyed mutually beneficial juv arrangements that served all parties. More of that, less bed-hopping.


Divisions of 8-12 with 2xgroups of 4-6.
Do it over one year. Too many clubs will object though so need a co board to just drill it through. Maybe then when some clubs find themselves inter or even junior they'll think about parish teams and amalgamations.

The highlighted sentence is the one I have most issue with.
We have a small county but about half the county has no access to senior club football. Its even more crucial in a county like Laois to maximise all resources and have a pathway to senior club football available.

Your argument that 'park, cortwood, ballyroan, clonaslee and rosneallis.(should) invest in juvenile set-ups' is laughable as these are clubs who actually do this already. Effort is not the issue. The problem is that these clubs reach senior every couple of generations. The rest of the time their effort is the same but the population/numbers/talent is not present to sustain senior football. This is where the regional senior teams would benefit the clubs we have without forcing clubs into amalgamations.

GAA clubs have more than one aim. They are about more than just having a senior team. Of course they want to play at the highest level but very few will sacrifice their identity and social focal point for this. In a regional set-up these clubs would be promoted to senior when they are good enough however when they are not at that level their best players can stay with home club and join with other designated clubs to challenge Portlaoise, Portarlington etc. for senior championships. This would increase the quality of the championship and deepen the talent pool for our county panel.

If Kerry didnt have area teams where would David Clifford be now?
1. Playing for Kerry but Not playing with Fossa (his home club)
or
2. Playing for Fossa but frustrated and nowhere near his potential
or
3. Not playing at all?

Why are we so afraid of change?

Fantastic post.

[High Fielder]

Absolutely nailed on Speculative Effort

[Robbo]

Messed up the quote but you said:
Your argument that 'park, cortwood, ballyroan, clonaslee and rosneallis.(should) invest in juvenile set-ups' is laughable as these are clubs who actually do this already.


Read it again please. Laughable that you thought I was slagging these clubs off. There the exact clubs I think would be punished by area teams.

In Laois if clubs put their heads down and get structures right they'll be senior within 10-15 years. Courtwood did it by good structures with emo in St Pauls. Rosenallis did it in both codes. Park have done it. Go back years, Castletown went fron junior to nearly leinster champions in hurling. Ballacolla from inter to senior champs in 10.

Look, I'm actually not disagreeing with a lot of what your saying. We want teams competing at a level that.encourages them to put best structures in place at juvenile and adult level.

I just think area teams are potentially a cop-out and clubs who are currently getting away with doing the minimum will continue to do so as there good lads will be sorted by area teams. I think if we cut the teams competing at senior then some teams will need to have a hard look at themselves.

My other issue with area teams is that smallish clubs who do the right things will have there chances of winning senior taken away forever. Ballyfin were in a semi a couple of years ago, last 4 in laois. Would that have been possible if they had ran into an Arles Gaels or St Pauls amalgam?

You want area teams so the best players get exposure to senior. Fair enough.
I want less teams at senior grades and clubs are forced to comit to developing higher quality players. Clubs that do wil achieve success, those that don't will need to have a look at themselves and see how sustainable they are.

[Robbo]

In the interests of fairness, the David Clifford argument is compelling.

[High Fielder]

These smaller teams going Senior is great, but as a county, we get very little from them. In fact, I think it says more about the overall poor standard to see smaller teams punching above their weight. It's a false picture.

No disrespect to any team out there, but I'd like the Laois champions to be as strong as Port were last year and Portlaoise were in previous years. I want to see the standards raised, not lowered to accommodate smaller clubs. That's the cycle we're in at the moment and yes, 10-15 years good work might get you up to Senior in Laois. It doesn't mean, and it hasn't meant, that these players are good enough to play for the County.