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A bad beating for sure and a realisation of where we are in the pecking order. Offaly, a team who lost 4 of their 7 games in Division 3, tore us apart basically.

I would hope McNulty uses the TC to try and blood some new players. It is never a good sign to have a player like Timmons in such a crucial position, I get its more a reflection of the quality of alternatives rather than Timmons himself as is a great servant to the county but there needs to be some future planning in place.

Really need to be beating Offaly at home. Wouldn't fancy going to Westmeath needing the win to get to the final.

The extra game against Carlow is welcome and there should be an air of optimism heading into the the Offaly game.

I would have thought Offaly will be hot favourites to beat us based on the league where they played Waterford, Wexford, Clare, Kilkenny & Cork. Apart from the Cork game Offaly were reasonably competitive against top tier opponents including both finalists Kilkenny and Clare. All the while Laois play the likes of Carlow, Kildare & Meath.

If you were a betting man you would have to go for Offaly all day long.

Any potentially good senior players in the making from either u-20s or minor panels?

No point getting too excited, Laois won first few games last year also, but it does seem like there is a proper buy in from all to what new management team want from them and a plan in place.
Get promoted, beat Offaly, give the Dubs a reasonable rattle and get to Taitleann cup final seems like goals that are within reach this year. 

1st goal done with the bonus of a trophy. Based on what we have seen in the league Offaly will be a tough task but if we play to our best we can win. After that its a freehit against the Dubs, but no doubt McNulty will have a game plan if we get there and (bar a miracle) then give it all for the Tailteann Cup.

Full game

Great to look forward to the championship with some positivity. Offaly will rightly be slight favourites but we are well able for them if we are at 100%.

Get through that and it bonus territory

Looks like some talent coming through the schools system which is nice to See, Knockbeg, Portlaoise CBS and Mountmellick did well this year.

I would say its a positive improvement but the reality is that Portlaoise CBS with the attachment area and numbers available to them should be able to do what Naas are now achieving. Obviously it would take a lot of time, dedication and effort and plenty of support from Laois GAA to get Portlaoise CBS to that standard as they have fallen back massively in the last decade. . 

Knockbeg are a strong Leinster A standard side without ever getting making a final. They are always just that rung below the team that eventually wins it (Naas CBS for the last 5-6 years). I think it was 2007 and the team of Donie Kingston that they last appeared in a final.

In the last ten years, three different Westmeath schools, two Offaly schools and two Wexford schools have all managed to make finals. Laois GAA should really start putting more work into supporting our GAA schools-it is having a very positive impact in both Westmeath and Offaly at underage level and now at senior level as well (U20 All-Ireland success for Offaly and a very good Leinster championship run in 2023 and Westmeath making very good progress over the last couple of years with Tailteann Cup success, excellent league campaigns and were hugely competitive in last year's All-Ireland series). Players are filtering through the system with a confidence and a winning mentality and doing well at schools level all plays an important part in this. 

Wexford is a different case in that many of those players who lead the schools team are hurling first and football second players. However, there is talent in Wexford if they can get the buy in. With a little more luck (Leitrim game) they would be well in the running to join Laois in promotion from division 4 this year.
 

Good post LR. I agree its an obvious place to out resources into as you can get a team for schools training and playing to a high standard which should in turn help raise standards of club championships when those players play. So instead of sending coaches to all the clubs, help all the schools.

I remember Laois minors winning their All Ireland's in the 90s and schools such as Portlaoise, Knockbeg and Ballyfin were all very competitive. Both feed each other.

Looks like some talent coming through the schools system which is nice to See, Knockbeg, Portlaoise CBS and Mountmellick did well this year.

Has the team been named?

Laois team for the weekend

No point getting too excited, Laois won first few games last year also, but it does seem like there is a proper buy in from all to what new management team want from them and a plan in place.
Get promoted, beat Offaly, give the Dubs a reasonable rattle and get to Taitleann cup final seems like goals that are within reach this year. 

Justy stood bye Laois and Laois need to stand by Justy. Fall in line boys

Oh I am all in favour of JM, he has clearly got the squad motivated and we have instant improvement over the chaos of last 2 years. I just think this could have easily avoided that is all and might end up in a situation where he has has to give up the Laois role. If he attended Stormont for the entire session and Ross took the reigns for the Wexford match there would have been nothing about it.

I think it was a very foolish move on his part, and not surprised he was suspended by his party. Stormont has not been active for 2 years and in its first day back he could not be bothered to stay for the full session, instead headed off to the other end of Ireland for a Div 4 football match. If I was someone who voted for him I would not be impressed, he was happy to have his £46k salary and £120k expenses for the last year, so feels disrespectful.
Surely between himself, his backroom team and county board they could have come to an understanding to allow Ross or someone lead the line for one game. All they have done now is making a mountain out of a molehill and I don't see it ending well.

How would we feel if Laois got to the Leinster final and there was some menial party meeting he deceided to attend instead, it would feel like he was not fully committed (not a great analogy as we would be over the moon to be in a Leinster final    but you get my point)

His expenses are there for all to see so Im sure voters will not be happy.
http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/your-mlas/members-salaries-and-expenses/members-expenditure-2022---2023-april-2022---march-2023/members-salary-information-2022-2023/

The McNulty situation is not going to end well, he is now suspended by his party
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-68196052

Surely this could have been avoided, Stormont was back after a long absence and Laois had a match in Wexford that same day. Could it not have been possible to allow Munelley to take the reins for one game?

Do Irish people really make good soccer players. We rarely produce a player at international level standard that can leave a player dead with skill. Liam Brady and Damien Duff are the only two that come to mind, and Georgie Best who was on another level. A Roy Keane was a great player but very limited skill wise. When it comes to nimbleness and skill, as a race we are great at the fiddle, tin whistle, bodhrán, Uileann pipe, guitar, boxing, plastering and the pen. We seem to have been overly blessed with movement in the elbow, fists and fingers, but useless with the feet. Even Irish dancers look very stiff compared to the Latins and the few lads who venture out onto the floorboards and get too ambitious are in danger of tripping over themselves. Our best chance is immigrants adding to our gene pool. We are seeing that in Athletics and the beginnings of that in soccer. There's hope yet.

Roy Keane may not have done many step overs but he was one of the all time great PL footballers, you don't get to that level without being extremely skillful.

I put in 1-10% usage but its very much towards the 1% end of the scale. Cash obviously has its benefits but once you get used to using contactless payments it seems odd using cash in all honesty. Most things accept contactless payments now also.

Id imagine the majority of businesses/individuals who prefer cash are either ones who launder cash, i.e criminals, or ones who don't want to declare all their earnings for tax purposes.