Laois SFC 2017

[town1980]

portlaoise were full value for there win but i will say graiguecullen never gave up,,they will be disapointed by there first half display they were transformed in the second half but left too much to do,the new lads portlaoise have are doing a great job i have to say and im delighted mal has trusted them yes i would have gave out about mal but i think he has them very focused this year,ballylinan v port for me was just a turkey shoot but ballylinan wont care 4-7 i thinks there forwards scored so portlaoise will have to watch that too they have quality forwards,congrats to both teams on reaching the final

[Laoiseabu]

Always admire the way Ballylinan try and play a big physical mobile side. From midfield up they are more than good enough. Give me two more good backs to slot into the back line and I would have them county champs but they don't seem to have them which is a pity.

[redsetanta]

I see where Ross Munnelly will be top scorer in championship this year. Cormac Murphy of Port is top scorer from play. How many times has Ross been top scorer? A few times at least. Anyone got the stats?

[the sash]

Yea the two murphy brothers are the top scorers from play in the championship with 23 each. Quite an achievement. Still the same family names doing the rounds on the portarlington teams throughout the years. Murphys, ryans, fosters, bennetts and more coming through. We never seem to do well in the transfer market😂

[redsetanta]

A decent team there though and should look to build on this years achievement. It will only be of benefit to Laois to have Port challenging for county titles. 

[Laoisguy]

Don't envy Sugrues task after those semi finals, not a huge amount of intercounty talent on view

Graigue showed far to much respect to the town at the outset which surprised me...not enough threat up forward

Ballylinan v Portlaoise to me is not the foregone conclusion just yet...Ballylinan very strong down the middle
                                                                                                                                       

[The Monument Road]

Congratulations to Ballylinan and Portlaoise on reaching the final. Ballylinan are in a position a lot of us would give their right arm to be in. I passed through the village this morning and the place is "Green & Gold". I think they have a good chance and are full of good players with loads of experience with a great mix of young and old. The Farrell brothers, Gary Walsh, cathal Dunne and Ritchie Ryan are all immense players. They will miss young Kevin Byrne immensely and i cannot understand how he was over looked at minor level. The chap is the best young corner back i've seen in a long time. Awful pity he is going to miss his day out with his club.
All in all its an intriguing final. Portlaoise will be eager to make amends for last year. They also have a few new lads on board who none of us know much about. Looking forward to it.

[portlaoisekid]

I was hugely impressed with Ballylynan in the semi final, I thought Port would beat them but in reality Ballylynan were head in shoulders ahead of Port despite the score line.

Portlaoise looked ruthlessly efficient all year and the newer players were excellent again. Brian Smith is a huge addition for Portlaoise, a super sub to have to come on.  Portlaoise look on a mission and with few more players available to them before the final I have to go for Portlaoise to win but Ballylynan will run them damn close .

[The Monument Road]

I was hugely impressed with Ballylynan in the semi final, I thought Port would beat them but in reality Ballylynan were head in shoulders ahead of Port despite the score line.

Portlaoise looked ruthlessly efficient all year and the newer players were excellent again. Brian Smith is a huge addition for Portlaoise, a super sub to have to come on.  Portlaoise look on a mission and with few more players available to them before the final I have to go for Portlaoise to win but Ballylynan will run them damn close .

Is Zach available

[redsetanta]

1987 was a disaster of a day for BAllylynan against Portlaoise.

I would assume Portlaoise were hot favourites that day. They had some serious footballers at the time. The 21 point defeat was a tough pill to swallow.

[High Fielder]

The bookies odds say it all. This should be one way traffic. I don't know how anyone could be positive about Ballylynan having watched them get torn apart last week. It was a contest within a contest as most Laois matches are, but in an overall context Portlaoise are the only decent club team in Laois. They don't have enough either to win a Leinster but at least they have their focus back. Aside from having satisfaction at seeing different clubs emerging, I'm afraid to say this Championship has done nothing but confirm how far off the pace we have become.

[the sash]

Yea maybe on a quality side of things yea the championship has been a bit below par, but most games involving port and ballylinan were very open and entertaining at least. Portlaoise are like george grahams arsenal, focused and difficult to beat but boring as hell. They play very defensive but because of their fitness levels and having physical mobile men between the two fiftys they can move the ball very quickly to their inside forward line. They are very tactically aware, the amount of possession they had in the first half of the odempsey game was unbelievable. They recycle the ball very well and only shoot when they are nearly certain of a score but  having said all that if ballylinan can get to bruno n cahilanne then we might be in for a right good game

[High Fielder]

It doesn't pay to be this optimistic Sash. The standard is woeful. There have been horror stories in recent weeks of teams going outside of Laois for challenge matches and getting murdered. Your own club had a decent year but the way ye defended last week was comical. And Ballylynan weren't much better. John Sugrue will struggle badly to put a full back line together. They're just not there

[Don Draper]

Lads who were all these senior team that's we had contesting in Leinster years ago? I must be suffering memory loss

[Junior Ex Laoistalk]

Lads who were all these senior team that's we had contesting in Leinster years ago? I must be suffering memory loss

I think you're suffering more than memory loss ...??