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Round three was fairly underwhelming. Good win for Emo in dreadful conditions. Graigue surprised me. They were very good and have a great chance to get to the semi final now.
Portlaoise still look to have another gear to reach but didn't need to find it against Killeen. Ballyroan Abbey have only themselves to blame. Didn't score for the last 20 minutes and caught with a sucker punch.

I was in Stradbally last night. Very entertaining game which Crettyard just about deserved to win. Burke was good for them in midfield.
Timahoe played very well and should be safe from relegation as O'Dempseys looked very weak on Friday night in Ratheniska. Mountmellick absolutely blew them away in the second half. Very impressed with Eoin George.
Conor Fitzpatrick last night for Timahoe was the most exciting player I saw all weekend. Always want to take on players and go forward instead of taking the safe option.

I'd love to see Graigue win a senior championship. They've been close a few times without getting over the line.
But after last night, it's really hard to see them ending that famine. That was a poor game and it didn't take much for O'Dempseys to win it. A very depleted O'Dempseys team it should be said.
They've now been beaten by Emo, Courtwood and O'Dempseys in successive years - three teams they should be beating.
They'll possibly still wind up in a quarter-final or even a semi-final but hard to see them turn the year around.
Fair play to O'Dempseys. Plugged away with a good few new faces and will be looking forward to round 2 with confidence.

With the leagues done and dusted, it's less than three weeks now to start of championship. Here's a bit of guesswork.

Ballyfin v Portarlington. Port could win this by more than 10 points. Ballyfin looked very average on Saturday while Port are just timing it nicely for championship.

Ballyroan-Abbey v Park-Ratheniska. Can't see BA being troubled and they should win well. Sugrue is a wily fox however so I expect it to be closer than many might think and am going for a 4 point win for BA.

Stradbally v Courtwood. First hard one to call. Strad were in a higher league and survived and they just might have the edge by a point or 2 though Courtwood had a fine campaign last year.

The Heath v Killeshin. Also could be a close affair but I expect Killeshin to maybe sneak a 2 or 3 point win. A win for The Heath wouldn't be much of a shock though.

Portlaoise v St Joseph's. Good league for Joseph's but a full strength Portlaoise might be winners here by around 3. Both teams should eventually wind up in the semi finals.

O'Dempsey's v Graiguecullen. Both missing some players from last year. Graigue had a slightly better league but I can't get last year's collapse against Courtwood out of my head and am going for an O'D's win by 3.

Arles-Killeen v Clonaslee St Manman's. Killeen keep defying the odds and surviving is their main aim. Clonaslee seem to have injury problems and could be vulnerable to a shock here. Killeen by 1.

Emo v Rosenallis. Emo will be favourites but Rosenallis are not as bad as league results suggest. If they get JOL back, they might spring a shock but the probability is an Emo win by 4 or 5.

Have to agree on the difference in standard between the two finals last night. Huge difference in the level of physicality and fitness in particular.
Port fully deserved it. Rioghan Murphy is a great bit of stuff and has to be got on board with Laois seniors. Hard to see them being beaten in the championship again this year. Joseph's were OK but they lack a couple of killer forwards.
Thought Ballyfin were very ordinary in the other game. Moore obviously was a big loss to them. Courtwood far more clinical at one end and didn't mind being cynical at the other end once or twice too. Hogan in midfield was by far the best player on the field.

I'm hearing Leinster Council are possibly considering not allowing those county colleges teams to be entered next school year. But if it is allowed, it would be a good idea for Laois to pursue.

Nice to Kilcavan winning silverware. Some grand young players coming through.
Think it's Mountmellick v Killeen or Joseph's in Division 3 final. 

Port and Joseph's into Division 1 final. Very impressive by Port to reach final playing most of their games without 5 county players on top of missing Adam Ryan, Sean Byrne and Squirty Murphy from last year's team.
O'Dempseys down with Killeshin. O'D's were down far too many players throughout the league but are starting to get them back little by little.
Ballyfin did well to top Division 2 and probably weren't at full tilt last night allowing Courtwood to join them in the final. Kinda surprised The Heath didn't do the business in this division. They're normally a good league team.
Ballylinan and Clonaslee down. Think Ballylinan will win intermediate though.

Very optimistic SCFC. If we are within 6 points of Down by the final whistle I would be very surprised. Down are really motoring at the minute. I cannot see our luck extending to a 4th game in a row. Hopefully they players can defy expectation and pull off a shock victory.

Ah look, you're right. I do expect us to lose. But hope springs eternal and all that.
You'd be just hoping Down have an off day and that we can be in the running going into the last quarter.

 First 15/20 minutes on Sunday are vital. Don't concede early goals and don't get any red or black cards.
If we can get to half time ahead, level or narrowly behind, I think we have a decent bench and maybe should use some of them a bit earlier in the game.

Ballyfin into Division 2 final and promoted. Any of the other three still have a chance of joining them.
Rosenallis safe and again any of the other three can avoid the drop depending on results.
Been a good league as has Division 1.
OK, mostly played with understrength teams but well structured and virtually no walkovers.

Playing Paddy O'Sullivan in his proper position has been the one biggest factor in turning it around to some extent.

https://laoisgaa.ie/shane-keegan-appointed-head-of-games-development-at-clg-laois/

The guy seems to be vey highly qualified. If he gets a few years in the post, you'd be hopeful he could get things moving in the right direction.

Think it'll break 10,000 for the semi-final double header. There was 16,000 odd at last year's semi-finals.

I think Heath and Ballyfin will go up from Division 2. Park-Ratheniska aren't quite good enough and Courtwood's squad is too small.
Think Emo and possibly Rosenallis will stay up sending Ballylinan and Clonaslee into Division 3.