Experimental team Wednesday night by all accounts. Interesting to see how McNultys tactics have changed since his last stint with us .
Whats the team Les Antiques?
LAOIS: Killian Roche (Killeshin); Ben Dempsey (Portlaoise), Seamus Lacey (Ballylinan), Liam Knowles (Stradbally); Sean O'Flynn (Courtwood), Mark Timmons (Graiguecullen), Simon Fingleton (Park-Ratheniska); Kevin Swayne (Portlaoise), Damon Larkin (Portlaoise); Cormac Murphy (St Joseph's), Niall Corbet (Clonaslee-St Manman's), Fionn Holland (O'Dempsey's); Mark Barry (O'Dempsey's), Brian Daly (St Joseph's), Brian Byrne (Graiguecullen)
SUBS: Aaron Cooney (St Joseph's), Micheal Downey (Ballylinan), Jack Lacey (St Joseph's), Dylan Kavanagh (The Heath), Eoin Buggie (Stradbally), Mikey Dempsey (St Joseph's), Ciaran Burke (Crettyard), Danny O'Reilly (Graiguecullen), Paul Kingston (Arles-Killeen), Cathal Doyle (Ballyroan-Abbey), Evan O'Carroll (Crettyard)
Any of ye at the game last night?
Any opinions on the new regime?
Glorified challenge match. 9 changes at half time. Saying that McNultys style is evident and the organisational level is growing.
Hard to judge the newcomers with so many changes and conditions.
Quietly optimistic though.
Very experimental team v Wicklow today. 6 or 7 debuts.
Any word on the game last night v Clare?
Heard they won . Fiesty affair by all accounts.
Quote from: Junior Ex Laoistalk on January 14, 2024, 05:28:29 PMAny word on the game last night v Clare?
Laois won comfortably enough. Team for first league game will probably resemble last night's team with maybe Daly and Rioghan Murphy from the Wicklow game to be in contention too.
What was the team?
I feel for the lads playing against Wicklow with no leaders/regulars to help them. Putting the hand up to play for Laois isn't as attractive as it once was and they were always going to get a beating against Wicklow who are a division 3 team on merit with a weakened team out. Then the keyboard warriors have a pop at them too. Strange to have 2 matches on the one day or not mixing up the teams.
Keyboard warriors who probably never go to a match. Fair play to the lads that played again wicklow if 1 or 2 of them make the panel it's a positive for laois football.
Quote from: SCFC on January 14, 2024, 10:00:46 PMQuote from: Junior Ex Laoistalk on January 14, 2024, 05:28:29 PMAny word on the game last night v Clare?
Laois won comfortably enough. Team for first league game will probably resemble last night's team with maybe Daly and Rioghan Murphy from the Wicklow game to be in contention too.
Thanks for that SCFC, that's good to hear. Fair play to all who turned out for the Wicklow game, especially the guys who weren't even part of the panel. Anyone who would do that on a cold morning deserves to be complimented..
Quote from: Butch Cassidy on January 14, 2024, 11:14:22 PMWhat was the team?
Couldn't tell you the exact team but names I heard were involved were Roche in goals, Lacey, Buggie, Ben Dempsey, Swayne, Simon Fingleton, Corbet, Niall Dunne, Damon Larkin, Mark Barry, Lowry. O'Flynn came on at half time.
Killian Roche (Killeshin);
Ben Dempsey (Portlaoise), Seamus Lacey (Ballylinan), James Kelly (St Josephs);
Eoin Buggie (Stradbally), Mark Timmons (Graiguecullen), Brian Byrne (Graiguecullen);
Conor Heffernan (Killeshin), Damon Larkin (Portlaoise);
Kevin Swayne (Portlaoise), Niall Dunne (Courtwood), Shaun Fitzpatrick (Ballyroan);
Mark Barry (O'Dempsey's), Evan O'Carroll (Crettyard), Niall Corbet (Clonaslee St Manman's)
Very good win today, that's a good Longford team. Great start for Justin and all the new additions. Ross really getting involved on the sideline, great to see.
Have to give credit where it's due and say that was a very solid performance last night. We were easily 7/8 points a better team. Their goal at the end was sloppy/fortunate and we could have had a couple more goals (James Kellys chance and the disallowed goal from Seamus Lacey being two). Obviously Killian Roche is going to get a lot of the plaudits following on from kicking 5pts but Damon Larkin had a massive game in midfield. He's powerful and more mobile than I'd previously thought. Shaun Fitz went thru a tonne of ball and used it well too. The thing that pleased the most was our willingness to be direct when facing a massed Longford defence (how do teams still put 15 behind the ball when losing by 7pts!!!???). We didn't do the whole forward and backward bullshit around midfield and there was great effort put into supporting the man on the ball. Really pleased with what I saw.. definite green shoots.
Good solid win .Scoreline flattered Longford. They weren't up to much and we were much the better side all over the pitch .
I like the look of our full back line . Dempsey,Lacey and Kelly all tigerish markers and decent at breaking forward.
Also noticeable how physical we have become on the ball and in the tackle .
There's a plan in place and it's evident in how we keep the ball more comfortably in possession .
Early days but lots of reasons to be positive.
good to get the win, first of the tougher games in the division to be out of the way. It looks like its going to be a very even division in terms of quality with everybody bar Waterford feeling they have a chance. Certainly the type of football played was alien to the Dublin / Monaghan game on tele later but we are where we are. we were far better than Longford who I was surprised were a bit flat but we gave them a small bit of hope with concession of two soft goals. There is an obvious change in style with less emphasis on direct goal to the full forward line and more through the hands which suits a few of our newer players. At times it was hard to figure out the shape of the team and players were constantly finding themselves in strange positions. Going forward we will probably have to modify things a bit, I can't see Roche been given such leeway again by other teams and we will need a better scoring return from the inside forwards. In fairness, we didn't really have an inside line for a lot of the times so an out ball wasn't really an option. interesting to see where Wexford are at today with their game in London before we travel their next week.
A thoroughly deserved win against Longford. A lot of twists and turns lie ahead though in a very competitive division four with 4 or 5 teams chomping at the bit to get out. We started last year with a fantastic win away against Sligo. It will be a tough assignment next Saturday evening in Wexford.
It was a game that we controlled for the most part, the only real worrying moment was when Longford scored their penalty to bring the margin back to 1. We responded brilliantly though with 1-2 without reply started by an excellent team goal superbly finished by Damon Larkin who also got 2 points in the first half and was immense. A mention to for his midfield partner Conor Heffernan who also put in a good shift.
Killian Roche was unreal scoring 5 points, 3 from play. His kickouts were also good and he pulled off a fine save late in the first half. Great to see James Kelly back he has really matured and got on a lot of ball especially in the first half. Ben Dempsey made a super interception in the first half and great to have Seamus Lacey back from injury.
The half back line were solid. Great to have Brian Byrne back from long term injury, the return of Eoin Buggie and Timmo plugging away again for another season! We may have a number of lads missing from last year but great to see some returnees. Dannny O'Reilly came on late in the second half.
Our captain Evan O'Carroll was constantly dangerous and got a beaufiful score in the first half. He was backed up well by Mark Barry and Niall Corbett. Our half forward line ran all day and are pacy.
We have good options on the bench and I also hear that Paul Kingston, Kieran Lillis and Padraig Kirwan are involved but out injured at the moment.
Fitness levels looked decent and there was a lot of running and support play. A good crowd was in O'Moore park last night, certainly up on previous years.
Great to see Justin back in charge and Ross Munnelly there beside him.
Well done to all involved.
big diff was a bit of class on the line none o the shite we had ta listen to last year. good night out, good start. no negative shitw.
Good to see a decent crowd out. The team looked like there was a structure to them and knew their roles. I thought the first half was a difficult watch to be honest with a lot of basic errors but to be expected for the first serious day out. Second half I was impressed by the way they handled being pegged back to one point. A comfortable win to be honest. Great start to the campaign
Great to get the win but we need to keep the momentum going. Last year we had a very good opening win away to Sligo but our season petered out. .
Fair play to Timmons who gave the 'assist' for our goal. There's a lad that should inspire the younger players with his committment and desire.
The signs are good and lets see where we are after game 3 or 4.
Interesting to see Laois GAA getting a mention on a Northern Ireland politics programme but it seem our Football Manager has a decision to make with regard to his future commitment to either Laois or Stormont!
The business in Stormont starts around lunchtime on Saturday. Assuming Justin attends he would need a helicopter to get down to Wexford for 6pm. Here's hoping that he sticks with us anyway.
Great start last weekend, let's hope we can back it up this evening. The McNulty political situation is going to be interesting going forward.
Great to see our new players & inexperienced players playing so well vs Longford - optimistic for 2024, hopefully promotion & being towards business end of tailteann Cup for me. Glad our experienced lads still on the panel bedding our new players in.
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 (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?
Good convincing win down in Wexford.
The difference to the last couple of years was very evident last night.
There is a plan in place and strategy that all the players are following.
Defensively we look so much more sound and the players are instructed to play to there individual strengths.
I thought all the subs made an impact . Murphy , Fingleton and O'Reilly all were all introduced at appropriate times .
I expected more from Wexford tbh.
Carlow in a few weeks will be interesting. Not sure where they are in development etc . Beat an under strength Tipp team and a poor Waterford outfit last night .
We never get too worried about Carlow .
Very comfortable win in Wexford in front of a huge crowd. Certainly didn't expect it to be so easy.
Great to see a lot of different scorers for us during the game. Shaun Fitzpatrick had a fantastic game with 1-2. Evan O'Carroll is really playing a captain's part with super scores, great workrate and even a bit of great defensive work to snubb out a Wexford goal chance.
Workrate is key this year. Fitness levels are high and players are working hard for each other and supporting each other. Very pleasing to see. Most of the scores for Wexford were hard earned.
Killian Roche was superb again with 5 frees, the best one being the last one way out near the sideline. Seamus Lacey was powerful in defense. Damon Larkin had to go off injured at half time and we really missed him in the 2nd half. He is becoming a huge player for us.
We had a couple of missed goal chances as well so we were full value for the 10 point win. Excellent performace all round.
Carlow up next at home in round 3.
It was a very open game in Wexford, the conditions and the pitch were good and that dreaded wind that often ruins games down there wasn't present. Both teams didn't really employ any heavy defensive tactics so their were plenty of shooting chances on both sides, Laois were fair more economical. Really strong performance in the first half, team played a very high pace game, snappy passing and avoiding going into contact at all times. A few noticeable things was that team attacked mostly down the stand side where Brian Byrne and Kevin Swayne operated, Shaun Fitz had a roving role which suited him and Niall Dunne did a lot of running to show for ball, much of it appeared to be a game plan to make space.
The second half was much more even, the little spurt of scores at the end tipped the second scoring in our favour. We did go flat for a period and a few of the players took some very sloppy options especially with poor shooting. I thought we got slightly leggy and should have made a few changes to freshen things up. There are a few issues to sort out which never is a bad thing, we still have issues with teams running at us through the centre, glen malone the wexford wing back clipped over three points nearly unopposed and Evan of all people ended up stopping a goal. There is a small lingering doubt that we might be vulnerable to pace up the centre. Roche got off some good short and medium kickouts but we were well beaten in terms of fielding high ball on both their and our own kickouts once we were high pressed, probably short a fielding centre fielder. The carlow game will be a different proposition and probably will be a tougher test.
fare play to justy. great committment and a great example to players to foolow. hes put neck on line for them n Laois.
I would say it was actually a pretty stupid thing for him to do. Is this what everyone involved has to do now, put their jobs at risk and put Laois over everything else in their lives? If a player finds himself in a difficult personal situation this year, is he expected to chose Laois over his work or family commitments? Will players be expected to put their jobs at risk to play or train? That is what the manager is basically telling them they should do.
Did he not trust the players to understand he couldn't make it on Saturday due to exceptional circumstances, but he would be available every weekend thereafter? Does he think that's a sign of weakness or something? I can't make sense of it. He's an elected representative in a nation with a world-record parliamentary impasse, and when it finally gets sorted out and they return to work he leaves early on the first day back? He shouldn't have been anywhere near Wexford imo.
With all due respect I would totally disagree with steven seagal's post above. As a keen follower of NI politics it's my opinion that the SDLP leader in the NI Assembly, Matthew O'Toole, should have stood up for Justin in this instance. The issue initially arose when Justin was appointed and resurfaced last week with the news of the NI Assembly recall. Ok, I accept the argument that his role with Laois impinges on his responsibilities as an MLA. This was not a big issue while the Assembly was not sitting. However the Assembly recall was at very short notice and it would not normally sit on a Saturday. Justin's early departure from Stormont did not make one whit of a difference and Matthew O'Toole would have been wiser to back him on this occasion. It's Justin's call as to where he goes from here and the best of luck to him whatever he chooses.
He will go as an Independent and that will free him up for Laois. His party are in a precarious position, so he holds all the aces, and they may yet be forced to cave in and let him do what he wants. He clearly wants to be a part of Laois, and I'm sure most Laois GAA followers will want that too.
The above is what is likely to happen in the short term. The most unlikely scenario is that he will vacate his MLA seat. Long term, who knows what political future he will have after this. Some will admire him and some will never forgive him. It won't matter to him anyway because he'll be writing his own cheques when we win Sam 8)
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 ;D 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/ (http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/your-mlas/members-salaries-and-expenses/members-expenditure-2022---2023-april-2022---march-2023/members-salary-information-2022-2023/)
Quote from: steven seagal on February 05, 2024, 08:53:21 PMI would say it was actually a pretty stupid thing for him to do. Is this what everyone involved has to do now, put their jobs at risk and put Laois over everything else in their lives? If a player finds himself in a difficult personal situation this year, is he expected to chose Laois over his work or family commitments? Will players be expected to put their jobs at risk to play or train? That is what the manager is basically telling them they should do.
Did he not trust the players to understand he couldn't make it on Saturday due to exceptional circumstances, but he would be available every weekend thereafter? Does he think that's a sign of weakness or something? I can't make sense of it. He's an elected representative in a nation with a world-record parliamentary impasse, and when it finally gets sorted out and they return to work he leaves early on the first day back? He shouldn't have been anywhere near Wexford imo.
A lot of valid points in this. He was a marked man regarding his politics. Silly thing to do.
On the bright side he has us looking like a football team again.
The SDLP will see the folly of suspending Justin. Instead of allowing this furore to arise they should have stood by their man and simply said that the issue would be addressed this week. As a result Justin McNulty is taking unjustified flak from all quarters. Of course the leadership of the SDLP, Colum Eastwood and Matthew O'Toole, would not lace the boots of their predecessors John Hume RIP and Seamus Mallon RIP.
It was reported that Justin was seeking legal advice. Was Justin even granter a hearing before his suspension ? I think his critics should hold their fire until we know the full facts.
I do hope that High Fielder is proved correct, that Justin remains as an independent MLA and continues to manage Laois footballers. He did a very good job (yes, he got things wrong at times) in his last stint and had made a good start this time around. He would be a huge loss to Laois were he to go.
Justy stood bye Laois and Laois need to stand by Justy. Fall in line boys
Another good win for the footballers.
Seems to be a world of difference between the set up this year and what went before it.
It would be great to be in the running in the latter stages of the league and get promotion. Carlow a big test but based on the last two games we are well placed to get the win.
I was a bit apprehensive with Justin's appointment but all it's going well.
Quote from: georgedoylesrightleg on February 06, 2024, 01:24:09 PMJusty stood bye Laois and Laois need to stand by Justy. Fall in line boys
Here here and the results compared to last year are already showing he is a worthy manager for us at this present time
Quote from: georgedoylesrightleg on February 06, 2024, 01:24:09 PMJusty 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.
We are spending too much time questioning McNultys decision to make the trip to wexford.
People who addressed his decision and described it as foolish and stupid etc clearly don't know the man .
This whole episode will be forgotten in a couple of weeks .
The improvement in organisation from the debacle of past couple of years is clearly evident. From what I hear and see the lads involved this year are loving the environment. Himself and Munnelly have brought a freshness to the set up.
Let him do what he has to do and his dedication to Laois is there to be seen. Time to get behind him and forget about the outside distractions.
I am pretty sure he has .
Laois Senior Football Panel 2024
Aaron Cooney (St Joseph's)
Brian Daly (St Joseph's)
Mikie Dempsey (St Joseph's)
James Kelly (St Joseph's)
Jack Lacey (St Joseph's)
Cormac Murphy (St Joseph's)
Kevin Swayne (Portlaoise)
Damon Larkin (Portlaoise)
Kieran Lillis (Portlaoise)
Ben Dempsey (Portlaoise)
Conor Brown (Portlaoise)
Conor Heffernan (Killeshin)
Eoin Lowry (Killeshin)
Killian Roche (Killeshin)
Brian Byrne (Graiguecullen)
Danny O'Reilly (Graiguecullen)
Mark Timmons (Graiguecullen)
Eoin Buggie (Stradbally)
Liam Knowles (Stradbally)
Mark Barry (O'Dempsey's)
Fionn Holland (O'Dempsey's)
Niall Dunne (Courtwood)
Sean O'Flynn (Courtwood)
Ciaran Burke (Crettyard)
Evan O'Carroll (Crettyard)
Shaun Fitzpatrick (Ballyroan-Abbey)
Aaron McEvoy (Ballyroan-Abbey)
Ryan Brady (Ballylinan)
Seamus Lacey (Ballylinan)
Simon Fingleton (Park-Ratheniska)
Niall Corbet (Clonaslee-St Manman's)
Dylan Kavanagh (The Heath)
Paul Kingston (Arles-Killeen)
Padraig Kirwan (Emo)
Rioghan Murphy (Portarlington)
We really must get out of Division 4.
It's a very poor standard of football and we need to be playing better teams. Carlow offered very little last night and yet it took us 25 minutes to score against them.
They handled Evan well but other lads like Dunne, Swayne and Larkin all stepped up well.
Probably our least impressive performance of the league so far .
Improved in the second half but Carlow are a poor outfit . We dominated their kickouts in the second half with Roche competing for the majority of them .
Swayne and Larkin the standout players and good to see Kingston and Lowry back in the mix .
Decent crowd in fairness .
Another fine win last night v Carlow in front of a sizeable crowd in O'Moore Park. Anytime you win by double digits is a good day out.
Conditions were poor with the rain and the town end side of the pitch in particular was in a bad state with a lot of players slipping and sloppy underfoot conditions. We were playing into the town end in the first half and it would have contributed to our slow start with a couple of poor shots and frees going astray.
We had a purple patch though in the last 10 minutes of the first half with some lovely scores to get 5 points in a row to pull level with Niall Dunne grabbing two of them which will do his confidence no harm at all. Carlow did deserve their lead at half time, 0-6 to 0-5 having started well and they kicked some good scores.
The second half was very impressive from us. A good range of scorers, Shaun Fitzpatrick stepping up again with 2 points, Kevin Swayne getting a good goal after a great ball by Eoin Lowry, a fine team move for Damon Larkin's goal, Mark Barry chipping in and of course Paul Kingston and Killian Roche. Brian Daly got a nice score near the end.
Good competition for places with the subs doing well. Fine defensive work again and good organisation with Carlow only adding 3 points in the 2nd half.
We are motoring well so far and go to Tipperary next Sunday.
Looking forward to Tipp next Sunday. We are where we are as regards Division 4 football and there's no point in lamenting the quality of opposition. It's not too long ago that Carlow gave us a bit to think about in a Leinster semifinal in Croke Park. I'd give the lads a lot of credit for sticking to the plan when we went 5-0 down, and to be very fair, it looks like there's a bit of a plan and structure in place. Yet again Shaun Fitz was excellent, he's getting on a tonne of ball in games and always looks like he can make something positive happen. We look pretty fit and mobile and there's a lot of honest hard graft being put in on all lines. And for the first time in many years there's a bit of size about the team. Damon Larkin was influential again, Kevin Swayne was a ball of energy and workrate, and I thin in Ben Dempsey we have a really good prospect. He's very mobile, always trying to get forward, and a solid defender. Getting Rioghan Murphy back will also improve the team. In all, there's nothing to be critical of, and plenty to be positive about. We have a young, fit and hungry team who look fully bought in. Looking forward to Thurles!
You can't ask anymore from the team than winning.
They have done as much as is possible and promotion should be all we are looing for right now.
If/when that's achieved they can then turn their attention to the Tailteann Cup.
Great to see the public getting behind the team and special mention to Laois Gaels for the efforts in making the match nights that bit more special for Laois juveniles.
I see only 5 players from the team that lined out last Saturday evening were on the starting 15 that played Down in the Tailteann Cup a fews months ago that's some turned aound of players,so fair play to management and players to 3 wins from 3 ,next Tipp win that and we are almost there.
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.
Quote from: Joeythelips on February 19, 2024, 09:19:10 PMGet promoted, beat Offaly, give the Dubs a reasonable rattle and get to Taitleann cup final seems like goals that are within reach this year.
Think that's spot on. Promotion is a must, would be nice to turn over Offaly, you'd be hoping if we got a shot at Dublin that McNulty would have us better organised than our last couple of meetings and would be nice to go well in Tailteann Cup.
At the moment it's not really clear who'll be the better teams in the Tailteann Cup but you could certainly wind up with teams like Kildare, Cork, Louth, Clare, Westmeath in there who are all very decent (by our standards).
Just back from Thurles very poor performance from Laois against extremely limited opponents the amount of times posession coughed up was alarming at times under very little pressure ref was hard on us only positive was the result
Got out of jail a bit today. Couple of missed goal chances for Tipp and a missed penalty.
Dug in well though. Sign of a team going well to win while not performing to their usual standards.
Thought the subs made a huge difference. Lowry was brave, showing for ball, O'Flynn brought unbelievable pace and energy around the middle and Lillis steadied things and kicked a fine point.
Shaun Fitz, Evan and Brian Byrne were good throughout.
Won today but disappointed with our performance two many turn over giving away silly frees didn't moved the ball fast enough and our approach play offensively was quite poor our subs made a difference still lots to work to improve for the management team, London up next.
Good win on Sunday. Sometimes you just have to grind out a win and I heard only last night that we have never beaten Tipp in semple before. The performance was not good but signs of a well drilled team was that we got a result. Dempsey is a good corner back really aggressive and sticky.two half backs were ok but not really driving forward,but maybe that's what they're told to do Timmons good in tackle and really thundered into the last 15 mins. Midfield hadn't their best day out. Just looke a bit off the pace. Lillis made a noticeable difference when he came in with a bit of cuteness and calmness on the ball. I thought our half forward line all did well considering he workload they had as midfielders struggled. The two outside lads ran themselves in to the ground Swaine in particular was popping up everywhere in the first half and Dunne appears to be growing into his role and is always available for an out ball and used it well (bar one disaster which could have gotten Fitzpatrick killed)
Evan was very good.and Barry is probably playing a role not suited to him as he's popping up on the full back line defending rather than close to goal. Our subs did well with O Flynn really catching the eye. I think he had a hand in the last three scores. Overall it's a more positive result than negative. Great Laois crowd down there too which is great to see and I happened to be talking to a player since and he said that the players noticed it too
Poor stuff on Sunday, make no mistake about that. I know a win is a win but that was a hard watch for most of the game. On the positive side the 6 backs, and keeper obviously, look to be well settled and set up for the year. BD and MT were solid throughout. Our midfield had a quiet day but that's on the back of 3 really good performances previously, so no big problems there. Honestly thought two of the 6 forwards, who shall remain nameless, could have gone at half time though.. their contribution was minimal. Evan was good again and you could feel the energy leaving the team when he got the black card, the flip side of that I suppose is everyone got a big lift when he came back in, coupled with a few good subs at the same time. A worry is that we looked lethargic again in the first half, very similar to that bad 20 min spell vs Carlow. That needs sorting as we hopefully near a league final. Final point, this craic with Killian Roches crusades is exciting, and profitable. He's causing a real conundrum for opposing keepers on their kick-outs, and long may it continue. It actually makes sense what he's doing and we got massive joy from it particularly against Carlow and Longford in the 2nd halves, BUT...I'd like to see him stay put when we're a point up with 2mins left!! Tipp went for broke and had 3 vs 2 in our half and our keeper was STILL up contesting a kick-out. In general though, we're benefiting big time from this, and even if/when it goes wrong once we should persist with it. IT WORKS! Overall, great to stay winning, plenty to work on, and still looking like twice the team and setup of the last few years.
Quote from: Jd on February 27, 2024, 08:39:59 AMGood win on Sunday. Sometimes you just have to grind out a win and I heard only last night that we have never beaten Tipp in semple before. The performance was not good but signs of a well drilled team was that we got a result. Dempsey is a good corner back really aggressive and sticky.two half backs were ok but not really driving forward,but maybe that's what they're told to do Timmons good in tackle and really thundered into the last 15 mins. Midfield hadn't their best day out. Just looke a bit off the pace. Lillis made a noticeable difference when he came in with a bit of cuteness and calmness on the ball. I thought our half forward line all did well considering he workload they had as midfielders struggled. The two outside lads ran themselves in to the ground Swaine in particular was popping up everywhere in the first half and Dunne appears to be growing into his role and is always available for an out ball and used it well (bar one disaster which could have gotten Fitzpatrick killed)
Evan was very good.and Barry is probably playing a role not suited to him as he's popping up on the full back line defending rather than close to goal. Our subs did well with O Flynn really catching the eye. I think he had a hand in the last three scores. Overall it's a more positive result than negative. Great Laois crowd down there too which is great to see and I happened to be talking to a player since and he said that the players noticed it too
setle, we only played tip once befre in semple
Well there you go. Great answer
Have to say we were very fortunate to come away with the 2 points but we'll take it!
The strength of the panel is key. Eoin Lowry, Kieran Lillis and Sean O'Flynn made key impacts when they came on. It was pleasing that we found a way to win with those 3 late scores. Great team spirit.
Evan O'Carroll is massive for us. Our main man. We struggled for sure when he got the black card.
Shooting will have to improve the next day. A lot of scorable chances missed v Tipperary. We have to be more ruthless as the season goes on.
Still plenty of positives. 4 wins from 4, very much in the driving seat for promotion. Ben Dempsey, Brian Byrne and Shaun Fitzpatrick had good games again.
At this point, we have the next 2 games at home v London and Leitrim. Hopefully good support shows up again like against Carlow and Tipperary and we can continue our winning ways.
I see Cahir Healy named centre back for London. I'm sure the Laois people will give Cahir a great reception this evening, one of the most dedicated players we've ever produced.
Laois by 6
Laois came through the match as predicted. I take it Cahir got a good reception. He made the trip from London every other weekend for the county not so long ago.
Poor enough game. London offered very little in attack and once the first goal broke them open it was a foregone conclusion.
Good to see the starting team mixed up a bit. Of those getting a chance, O'Flynn did very well and Dicey was quite good too.
We look almost certain to go up now but it would be nice to win the league final too. I think Longford might win that dogfight for second.
Footballers yesterday very poor centre of defence wide opened midfield non existent Murphy and Dempsey must be brutal if Lillis is first option off bench could be a very short summer
Pitch in terrible state could no one tells Leitrim to warm up on terrace side as stand side was badly cut up only positive we are almost assured promotion don't think Offaly be shaking in there boots looking at that yesterday
Early season fitness and new management bounce is probably wearing off now. Promotion to division 3 achieved which is great but the rest of the year could be a hard watch... hope not.
We were very poor Saturday evening but Leitrim probably wanted it a bit more. You saw the reaction at the end they treated it like an all Against the wind I think our keeper struggled a bit and kept kicking the short ones to the wettest place on the pitch where lads were struggling to hold their feet. A good few turnovers came from that.that kick has to be on the chest. We looked a bit exposed when Leitrim just lorried the ball in long and they probably left a few goals behind them. A poor result but hopefully not too costly
kelly loss masive, flynn no cornerback. time to fire in bitta pace n youth now n stop bringin in tried trusted n failed from subs
We were poor Saturday and Leitrim and there followers were up for it. Lacked urgency throughout.
Paul Kingston is our most natural forward by far. The rest are hit and miss. O'Carroll for such a talented footballer gets involved in too much nonsense throughout and I don't think it helps in any way.
Niall Dunne and Kelly are definitely missed . Bringing on Lillis at midfield to gain some influence was a strange one . Doesn't have the stamina anymore for that position even for 15/20 mins. More of a nuisance in the full forward line if anything.
We will be in Division 3 next year but the Offaly game in a few weeks in OMP will tell a lot about this team.
Bar the Leitrim game it has been a solid league campaign. With promotion pretty much in the bag I wonder were the squad put through a hard training week prior the Leitrim game. It might explain the performance, especially the last 15-20minutes where Leitrim were the far more energetic and lively team by the end. The test of this team will be the Offaly game and ensuring that they reach the latter stages of the Tailteann Cup where we show competitiveness against whoever we may face.
Quote from: Laois Rising on March 23, 2024, 02:39:21 PMBar the Leitrim game it has been a solid league campaign. With promotion pretty much in the bag I wonder were the squad put through a hard training week prior the Leitrim game. It might explain the performance, especially the last 15-20minutes where Leitrim were the far more energetic and lively team by the end. The test of this team will be the Offaly game and ensuring that they reach the latter stages of the Tailteann Cup where we show competitiveness against whoever we may face.
A hard training week 🤦🏻�♂️. Who would do that. It's like something from 20 years ago. That would increase injury risk. They lost. Not good enough on the day. It's more likely that we were fitter that most early in the season and things are levelling out now.
Great to see us hitting 5 goals today in a game we were always going to win. The most important thing is that we kept going strong when we had a big lead, Laois teams in the past had a tendency to sit on a lead and more times than not got caught out when the opponent fought back.
On to Croker next Saturday and a great experience lying ahead for some of the squad who haven't played there before, that kind of thing is invaluable to young players. Let's hope we play to our best and give ourselves a great boost for the up and coming championship.
Well done all concerned...
Congratulations to our footballers on promotion to division 3.
Fermanagh, Kildare, Clare, Sligo, Antrim, Offaly, Laois and Leitrim will make up division 3 next year.
Didn't make it to today's game but 5-19 is some scoring!
Our full forward line of Mark Barry, Evan O'Carroll and Paul Kingston are very strong. They were excellent against Leitrim last week also with some fantastic scores especially in the first half.
My take on last weeks game was that Leitrim were ravenous, it was a championship game for them. We had the safety net of today's game and still could have got a draw with Mark Barry's free striking the post.
Ryan O'Rourke was brilliant for Leitrim last week so he will take watching in the division 4 final. Hopefully we will bring a crowd to Croke park because Leitrim certainly will! Back in 2019, they brought a massive crowd to their division 4 final v Derry. I'd be very confident that we will win next Saturday.
Looking ahead to championship, we have Offaly on April 13th. That should be a cracking local derby and a really good test. The aim would be to win that, try to give a good account of ourselves v Dublin and then have a good run in the Tailteann cup in May/June.
Credit where it's due. Promotion in his first campaign and back to Div 3.
Hopefully we have a decent run in the Tailteann Cup this year.
Hope we get the win on Saturday and bring home a trophy. Living over here in Mayo and as Jimmy Sloyan would put it, I couldn't stand another loss to a team picked by Andy F*cking Moran! Twice in two years is enough.
A division 4 title is as it gets for the time being, we are still a good way from a division 3 or a Tailteann cup.
In da final tomorro n not a peep, if we're not miserable n moanin we're not talkin. besta luck to lads tomorrow, National final in croker, tis wha tis about. hope plenty o young lads get run out, this is there chance now n gettin time in them is almost as important as anything else.
Best of luck lads today . Great to get promotion and I think we will do Leitrim today. I think the conditions will suit us better and there's definitely another kick in this Laois team .
Good luck to the lads in a little under two hours now.
Think the new players, Fitzpatrick, Dempsey, Heffernan have added a lot.
Hope the likes of Dunne, Fingleton and Murphy get some game time in Croker.
Great win Laois. Any time a Laois team lifts a cup in Croke Park is a great day. Should be a big boost to the confidence. This win is much more important than doing well in the upcoming Leinster championship. Lets see now how we do in the Tailtean Cup.
Good performance. Could easily have won by 20 points plus if we'd been more accurate with point chances and clinical with goal chances.
Offaly will be a huge step up from any of the Division 4 teams we've played.
Well done to all involved. We seem to have some decent strength in depth with the likes of O'Flynn, Daly, Corbet not even used today and Kirwan and Burke hopefully to return from injury.
Br great if the hurlers could make it a double tomorrow!
Good day for Laois football and well done to all involved. Nice bit of strength and depth on the panel.
Evan O'Carroll was excellent throughout, kept his composure and led the line like a true captain.
I thought Dempsey and Kelly were tigerish throughout and gave little away in defence.
We were wasteful at times and some of the shooting was erratic but in fairness we kept at it.
Offaly next which will be a much tougher test . Mcnulty alluded to it afterwards that championship will always be where the judgement lies.
Good to get a win in Croke Park after that very poor performance against Down last year,the things that impress me about the team is there pace and the way they used the width of croke Park and the work rate of all the players,so well done to all the management team and now looking forward to the big championship game against Offaly
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
Dominant performance and blew Leitrim away in the second half. You'd have got good odds on Dempsey scoring the first goal. The change from last year is immeasurable. Totally different.
In saying that they won't get the same space against Offaly or other teams in the championship.
A great weekend for Laois gaa. Be great to do the double over Offaly.
Quote from: Joeythelips on February 19, 2024, 09:19:10 PMNo 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.
25euro for one game sat night then they wonder why there's small crowds at games.
25e to go ta game in the road aginst the biffos. fcuk it if you cant pay dat.
15 for the terrace as good as view.
This laois team need our support, very few supporters came to our league games so I hope we get a good crowd tomorrow evening, Offaly always bring a big support when it a big local Derby game.
Not broadcast anywhere for those out of the country?
Writing on the wall when Lillis is a starter subs must be terrible where from here I don't know lots of the players have not the basic skill
Terrible.
That's a very poor Offaly team so leaves us miles off the level needed for Division 3/Tailteann Cup.
Obviously the sending off cost us but an awful lot of the scores including the two goals we conceded were self inflicted.
Very few positives to take from tonight. Fitzpatrick possibly our best player. Evan starved of ball. The other 4 forwards were terrible.
I think one of our greatest ever players Mark Timmons is almost done.
This years division 4 was very poor. Today proved that. Has Justin McNulty ever won a Leinster Championship match?
We were lucky that we weren't beaten by more today because if Offaly won by 10-15 points it wouldn't of flattered them at all . They easily could of had at least 5 goals pulling up too .
That's a very average Offaly team and you could say they were missing arguably their entire first choice full forward line in Cian Farrell , Anton Sullivan and Nigel Dunne today due to injury/suspension .
In a way it could be a blessing in disguise that we don't have to face into playing Dublin in the wide open spaces of croke park . We could honestly be hit for 10 goals if Dublin really wanted to
Incredibly flat performance. Lucky in some ways not to lose by more but from where I was standing Kelly's red card looked harsh. Hyland dropping like a stone didn't help him.
Coughing up the two goals like we did was infuriating.
Thought we might have gone to the bench sooner.
The lads will probably benefit from a week or two back with their clubs before regrouping for the Tailteann Cup.
Offaly the better team by far. Positives for Laois; we are not playing Dublin in Croke Park, opportunity for everyone to rest for a week or two begore giving the Tailtean Cup a go. Playing eight games in the league (in awful weather conditions), these lads have had no break since January.
Its a crazy system, whereby teams who have been successful in the league go straight into the championship with little or no break.
No disrespect to the older players, but lets see a couple of newer faces in the Tailtean Cup. Its time to bring in the likes of Fingleton, Burke, Dunne and Murphy.
Lets see a fresher team in the Tailtean Cup.
Good luck to Offaly against Dublin. They will play them with no fear.
Really poor performance and were on the back foot from the start. Offaly brought a bit more in terms of pace and intensity that we have been used to and exposed our weaknesses. Damon Larkin's injury robbed us of our only mobile, pacey option and then the sending off allowed them the space to carry hard up the sides as we had retreated back to try limit the damage. We never really got a handle on Egan or Pearson carrying forward. Did well to get level but then gifted them two terrible goals, can't understand why we went short on the kick out as they high pressing and also when a pod of four players had started to position themselves near the stand to receive. At times we were terribly unstructured and the substitutes didn't offer much though you would have to wonder what Murphy is doing wrong looking at some of our forwards. Mcnultys dreadful record in the Leinster Championship continues .
Quote from: Saint88 on April 13, 2024, 10:57:59 PMHas Justin McNulty ever won a Leinster Championship match?
One out of five after last night.
Should be a good few changes for first game in T Cup. The likes of Daly, O'Flynn and Rioghan Murphy must be wondering what they have to do to get a run. Looks like Dempsey, possibly Byrne and Larkin will be injury concerns for next game.
Truth be told, the game was effectively over as a contest once the red was dished out so early on. Once Offaly learned to push up on the Laois kick-out with the benefit of the extra man, they forced the errors and reaped the rewards.
I wouldn't be too critical of anyone involved given we played over 50 mins a man short, but some of our forwards do have a tendency to drift in and out of games in a worrying fashion. Personally, touching on what some other commenters have alluded to, I think Rioghan in particular and Niall Dunne should be in from the start the next day along with Shaun Fitz in the half forward line. I don't think we'd necessarily lose much defensively with that combination either, but you'd have three forwards well capable of scoring who are also used to doing the grunt work. Kevin Swayne could potentially then drop back to midfield with Conor Heffernan or Damon if back fit. Just a hypothesis but something I'd like to see given a chance. We also have Sean O'Flynn not getting minutes which is odd because he's always flying in the club championships and can double as a sticky man marker as well a lad who carries ball mightily well.
In reality, there's no real harm done from losing this so I wouldn't be sounding the panic button or being snide towards any of the players involved. It was a bad day, we take our licks and move on. Offaly will go to Croke Park and ship a 20 point beating from the Dubs. To be honest, given our performance against them last year I think we're doing well avoiding any more psychological damage a beating like that could do to us.
Surely there's more psychological damage in getting a hiding from Offaly at home than getting expectedly beaten by Dublin.
We got a reality check yesterday. You can't expect a manager to come in and miraculously lift a county that has mismanaged its development of players of the last 20years. It's impossible. In the Tailteann Cup we will beat most division 4 teams and maybe some division 3 teams but as soon as we meet quality we're gone.
Quote from: Saint88 on April 14, 2024, 06:57:28 PMSurely there's more psychological damage in getting a hiding from Offaly at home than getting expectedly beaten by Dublin.
We got a reality check yesterday. You can't expect a manager to come in and miraculously lift a county that has mismanaged its development of players of the last 20years. It's impossible. In the Tailteann Cup we will beat most division 4 teams and maybe some division 3 teams but as soon as we meet quality we're gone.
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.
Team I'd like to see next day (assuming those injuries and Kelly suspended).
Roche
J Lacey, S Lacey, Fingleton
Buggie, O'Flynn, Shaun Fitz
Heffernan, Swayne
Dunne, Lowry, R Murphy
Barry, Evan, Paul K.
Hopefully Kelly's suspension could be overturned.
Plenty of time to regroup and focus on the Tailteann Cup. Priority for the year was league promotion and progressing and challenging in the latter stages of the Tailteann Cup. Saturday was poor but ultimately the Leinster championship was not a priority this year. Losing to Offaly doesn't hurt as bad as it would have 20 years ago knowing that they will probably suffer a right hiding against Dublin next day out. In fact, we probably did ourselves a favour losing on Saturday.
Looking back on the game v Offaly, we can have no complaints with the result, they throughly deserved their win.
In the opening 20 minutes we were hesitant and not tuned in. Offaly went 0-7 to 0-2 up. We were unlucky with Damon Larkin having to go off and the sending off of James Kelly which looked harsh to me, a yellow card would have been enough. We did extremely well to get level by half time, good character shown there.
Overall the gap between Division 3 and 4 showed amd in fairness, Offaly have some fantastic players. Next year for year 2 of Justin McNulty's reign, it will be vital that we stay in division 3.
As for the remainder of this season, lets try have a good run in the Tailteann Cup. I believe the draw for it is in 2 weeks with the first of the 3 group games on May 11/12th. There is plenty to play for yet.
In a group with Fermanagh, Wicklow and Carlow. Decent draw but can take nothing for granted.
Looking forward to the Tailteann Cup and hopefully, like last year we can have a good run at it.
We'll have Carlow at home to start, a team that have not beaten us in league or championship since 1988. We played them in the league back in February and had 11 points to spare.
A week later, we go to Aughrim to face Wicklow. They will be going for 3 competitive wins in a row against us having beaten Laois in last year's division 4 and in the Leinster championship of 2022.
Round 3 will take place in the first weekend of June. We will face Fermanagh in a neutral venue. We got the better of them last year in the Tailteann Cup in Enniskillen so it should be a good battle again.
If we manage to top the group we would have a home quater final. Second place would gain us a home preliminary quater final.
Laois did get a huge slice of luck with Fermanagh's best player getting red carded early in the game last year. Had it been 15 on 15 for the entire game I'm not sure we would have won out in the end. Wicklow game is a 50/50 game and Carlow are not at the races this year so we should pick up a victory there.
Losing to Offaly in the manner that we did was a good reality check for the players-after the Leitrim win we definitely had an inflated sense of where we were at. Sligo's dismantling of Leitrim in Connaught really showed how weak Division 4 was this year and how far off the rest the country teams like Laois and other Division 4 counties are. Laois have a big gap to bridge next year if they are compete for promotion from division 3 with the likes of Sligo and Kildare in 2025.
Laois are very capable of making the Tailteann Cup quarter finals. McNulty will have the team well prepared and hopefully we will be competitive against whoever we face. I still don't think we have enough players with real pace which will be a problem later down the tracks if we get to Croke Park and have to face a side like Sligo or Down.
Not sure if there's much evidence that McNulty is a good coach. His teams are physically fit & strong. If he's playing against a superior team he puts bodies behind the ball. But outside of that he it limited. We're lucky Carlow are in our group and going so bad but Fermanagh & Wicklow are playing better football. We should get through because 3 qualify. Next year we need a good football coach in the setup or we will struggle.
Fixtures and Dates for the Tailteann Cup 2024
Group 1:
May 11/12
Kildare v Longford, Leitrim v Waterford;
May 18/19
Waterford v Kildare; Longford v Leitrim;
June 1/2 (neutral venues):
Kildare v Leitrim, Longford v Waterford.
Group 2:
May 11/12
Sligo v Wexford, Antrim v Tipperary;
May 18/19
Tipperary v Sligo, Wexford v Antrim;
June 1/2 (neutral venues):
Sligo v Antrim; Wexford v Tipperary.
Group 3:
May 11/12
Fermanagh v Wicklow, Laois v Carlow;
May 18/19
Carlow v Fermanagh; Wicklow v Laois;
June 1/2 (neutral venues):
Fermanagh v Laois; Wicklow v Carlow.
Group 4:
May 11/12
Down v Limerick; Offaly v London;
May 18/19
London v Down; Limerick v Offaly;
June 1/2 (neutral venues):
Down v Offaly; Limerick v London