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Being relegated to intermediate last year might have proved a blessing in disguise for Ballylinan. Real positivity around the club again after win at the weekend and a number of young players brought through as well. I hope they give Leinster a crack this year. Sometimes you need to take one step back to take two steps forward. 

You'd swear by this forum that the appointment of a county manager is an easy business. The county board could make a quick appointment as we know certain names who would be keen to take the job. However, are they of a calibre that will improve things at present. Their track records would suggest not.

Unfortunately, the Laois job is not overly enticing at this present time. Those working on selecting a manager I'm sure behind the scenes are liaising with potential candidates and trying to provide a package that will entice someone of calibre to give the job a crack. I would rather they take the time to find someone right than make a quick appointment simply to have it done.

I would also suggest that Mickey Harte making the surprise decision to step away from Louth may have inadvertently impacted on Laois' recruitment plan.       

Portarlington had a couple of poop performances last year as well and good fortune got them over the line on more than one occasion. This Portarlington team peaked two years ago and it was inevitable that they would be beaten sooner rather than later. Had Martin Murphy been there I'm not sure whether it would have made a huge difference. Joseph's have been building with Dempsey the last couple of years. They had a nice blend of youth and experience which every team needs.

The in house club manager versus the outside manager debate is an interesting one. One year my club selected one of our former players as manager for the year. One of the first training sessions outlined to the players where things had gone wrong the previous year. Couple of players took umbrage with what was said and a row broke out. The year was already over and a write off after that and it only January. Had an outside manager said the same things it might have been accepted more.

If you are going in house needs to be someone of very high stature within the club who is completely respected by the players.       

The partnership between Ballyroan and Abbeyleix over the last number of year has served both clubs well and starting to pay rich dividends at senior level. By having lads from Abbeyleix playing football with Ballyroan and lads from Ballyroan having the option of hurling with Abbeyleix its has resulted in clubs having big numbers and competitive teams coming up through the juvenile ranks, created bonds between players who have had a taste for success and now a desire to bring that to senior level.

Some of the lads coming through with Abbeyleix have been involved in excellent underage set ups for both football and hurling. I think this model also shows the benefits of having kids regularly in the field (be it football or hurling) creating strong bonds and forging friendships. These bonds will carry through to the senior team and you have no doubt that Abbeyleix players will give it their all for one another on the field of play. Lads like Ciaran Byrne, Lawson Obulor, Shaun Fitzpatrick and two or three others have won U20 titles together in both football and hurling. They may fall short against Camross but this does not feel like a flash in the pan for this Abbeyleix side. They are also a youthful side who can only improve over next couple of years.

Surely this model that Abbeyleix and Ballyroan could be replicated by other clubs. The benefits are there for all to see. I'm thinking a club like Ballinakill who do at times struggle numbers wise would benefit from forging a similar type partnership with a strong football only club and give it the time to develop. Both clubs would benefit from the influx of players. The players would benefit from having the higher numbers which would improve the standard of training. The extra coaching in both football and hurling would benefit the development of the children's skillsets etc.   I remember Ballinakill and Crettyard amalgamating at underage level once upon a time under some Gaels name and winning a few underage football titles before it fell apart. In hindsight they should have remained separate entities but worked in partnership over a number of years to introduce kids from Crettyard to playing hurling and playing with Ballinakill while the Ballinakill kids playing football with Crettyard. It would take a little hard work and organisation but it could have benefitted both clubs hugely. Imagine having Evan O'Carroll as a hurler and Ciaran Burke lining out for Ballinakill instead of The Harps.

   

Sbloom could struggle to stay intermediate next year.

I just put them in at the end out of devilment tbh. Also, there is no way clubs would support the reduction to 6 teams at senior or premier intermediate. The Kilkenny system has merits too. At present the current system is not working as well as it could and for that reason would like to see something new trialled. 

How about you go the other way and turn the Laois senior championship in a 6 team championship and the Intermediate into a 6 Team championship. If you want evenly matched and competitive games this might be the way forward. Play the 6 team championships using a league format with top team straight through to the final and 2nd v 3rd in a semi final. I would have the bottom 2 teams meet in a relegation decider. That way it would keep every game competitive. You would have a senior championship of Camross, Castletown, Abbeyleix, Clough-Ballacolla, Rathdowney-Errill, Rosenallis and an intermediate championship of The Harps, Borris-Kilcotton, Ballinakill, Ballyfin, Portlaoise and Slieve Bloom. I think both those championships should provide some evenly contested and competitive games. Upping the number of senior teams to just make intermediate championship more competitive makes little sense to me.

Ideally, I would like to see a 6 team championship with two regional teams making up the 8. It would result in a very competitive senior championship with every hurler in the county worth their salt getting opportunity to play competitive senior championship games.

The only problem would be playing the intermediate, junior championships at separate times to the senior championship to allow players field for their regional team in the senior championship. Adding two extra clubs to the senior championship to make it a 10 club championship is ridiculous. It is only being proposed to add a safety net for middling senior clubs. The county board should hold firm on this. What you do not want is the hurling championship to turn into the Laois football championship-half the teams in it have absolutely no chance of winning the championship and it results in weeks on meaningless games to get to quarter finals.

Fair play Robbo for sitting on the bench calling the Graigue Stradbally game. You have predicted a draw, Stradbally are the better team and Graigue by 1 point. Lot of bases covered there. In all seriousness Graigue have given two very contrasting performances so hard to call how they will perform. Last few years they have played well in the early rounds of championship and then crashed out with an unexpectedly poor performance. They will be hoping that they have already got that poor performance out of the way and can kick on for rest of championship. Emo should have players capable of keeping tabs on Corbett. If they negate his influence you would expect that Emo should win convincingly enough. 

Seeing players in club championship football doesn't reveal a huge amount. A player can stand out at club level but you then you have to factor in the opposition and quality of marker on that player. Sure Laois today are doing a fine job of identifying players after each round of games in their team of the weeks!! I'd rather Laois take their time and get the best person available for the job than rush to have someone in by the quarter finals and make a poor appointment. While the hurlers season didn't quite go to plan in 2023 I think they made a good appointment in Maher and hopefully next year that prove that. It might take a little coaxing to get a manager of substance onboard but taking the time to do that is vital-Laois need someone of quality in there to get things forward moving for 2024. As Derry and Down have shown, with the right people you can turn things around quickly enough in the space of a few years.

It's a pity this championship did not have four additional teams from the senior championship involved. It would really add to the competitiveness and quality of the intermediate championship. Laois need to streamline senior, intermediate and junior into three championships of 12 teams. For the number of clubs in the county it makes the most sense.

I've been to a few of these games and defensive style set ups have definitely not been enforced by any of the teams which have made for very enjoyable games. Crettyard look good going forward but huge question marks regarding their defence. Had Timahoe been more ruthless and efficient with their chances they would be already gone. Arles have had Crettyard's number for a couple of years now. You would imagine a serious desire on the part of Crettyard to turn the tables on their near neighbours.

Ballyliaian remain favourites and have won their two games to date. However, their performances are no better than what they produced last year and the remaining teams in the championship will fancy their chances of turning them over.

   

Unfortunately the minor and U20 teams that have come through over the last few years have not contained those 2/3 special players that stand out head and shoulders over the rest of the team. These are the lads who will make a difference in improving a senior county team. Laois are producing plenty of decent underage players but these lads will not step up to improve a senior county team unfortunately.

Take our u20 this year. Very respectable showing in making a Leinster semi-final. However, outside of Shaun Fitzpatrick maybe I'm not too sure how many other players from that side will hugely improve the Laois team over the next few years. A lot of those players on a par with players from u20 sides of the last couple of years. We have an abundance of players who very capable of playing intercounty football (granted not at a high level). We just haven't seen those exceptional talents emerging from our underage teams since probably the days of the late 00s. Players that everyone in the county knew of as special talents from a very young age and excited to see progress to playing intercounty football.

I have definitely seen some green shoots with the standard of the minor championship and some of the performances on show in games. I also despair at the demise of Portlaoise as a force. For Portlaoise to be beaten in an underage game it should be as a result of a herculean effort on the part of the other team. They should not be canon fodder as they have proved in the games played this year.
   

Does Donie Brennan now become an option for the Laois County Board to consider as the next Senior Football boss following his ladies step down? Remarkable job done with the ladies

I'm not so sure it can be classed as a remarkable job. With the number of clubs and strength of Ladies football within the county it was shocking that Laois were barely even competing at intermediate level for the number of years with a lot of our better players opting not to commit to the Laois set up.

In fairness he got many of those players back onboard and things progressed from there and it was a happy camp for the last couple of years he was over them. However, they are at a level now that they should be at and the test of his ability as a manager would have been to see of he could take them another step or two up the ladder and properly compete with the likes of Mayo, Cork or a Meath.

To hand him the job of Laois senior football manager off the back barely beating Wexford in an intermediate final and staying in senior championship by defeating a woeful Cavan side this year wouldn't be my call.   

Pat Critchley summed it up perfectly in his book. When he went into Scoil Chriost Rí it didn't have a basketball tradition. He worked on establishing it and creating buy in from the pupils and the school. Built it up over the years and then over time you can look back and see that you have created a tradition and one that the school is proud of and wants to maintain. 

CBS Portlaoise should be able to compete at the highest level of Leinster Schools Football with the pick available to them. The backbone of Laois minor teams should be passing through that school. Sadly that is not or no where near the case. You see Naas CBS with probably a similar size in pupils dominating the Leinster Schools the last number of years-no coincidence that Kildare are also competing impressively at minor and U21 level. It is all connected. Granted you need teachers who are willing to commit to giving up lunch times and organising after school training and coaching to ensure teams are run properly-if the school doesn't have those teachers willing to do so then it is not going to happen. Portlaoise CBS winning the South Leinster Colleges Senior Football League 'B' Shield this year in a nonsense final should not be the standard that that school is at. It is 17 years since a Laois side were in a Leinster Schools Final. In that time, schools or combined schools from Wicklow, Louth, Longford, Offaly, a number of stand alone Westmeath and Wexford schools have reached finals along with Kildare, Meath and Dublin schools. It is further example of how football in the county and proper coaching/investment in football has been slipping over a long period of time that has left us pretty much at the bottom of the pile.

It was an inevitable outcome. On reflection, Billy took a job that no one else wanted. He didn't command an extortionate fee like some other outside managers might demand and treated the role like a full time job. He had a philosophy on how football should be played considering the players at our disposal and tried to incorporate that into the Laois team's style of playing. He had some successes-O'Byrne Cup finalists 2022 and championship wins over Wexford, Fermanagh and Limerick. His commitment could not be faulted or questioned.

Granted relegation from division 3 when there were sides weaker than us (on paper) in the division and failure again to gain promotion from division 4 was disappointing. Some horrendous championship performances to boot over the two years as well and his  side line behaviour left a lot to be desired at times.

I know Billy will hold onto his ambitions to manage at intercounty level- perhaps take the learnings of the last two years and return to club level management for 2024 and beyond. Climb the ladder again so to speak.

On separate note- my previous post wasn't against regional sides. My argument was that they would have to be very carefully drawn. If you had one regional team made up of predominantly hurling first clubs you could see how that might run into trouble. If incorporating regional sides and want to improve championship you need all of the regional sides to be strong and have realistic ambitions of competing.

I think the leagues have worked very well in how they were restructured. Now, it's time to tackle the championship structures.

I get the argument regarding a regional team allowing some talented hurlers have the opportunity to play football at the highest club level. However, I'm not sure how willing some of the clubs would be to have their players playing football for a regional entity one week and then turn around and play championship hurling a week later and back to football again the week after that. You are risking injury, fatigue and perhaps missing out of key training sessions to play for a side that isn't to the betterment of your "club". I know in Tipperary the Loughmore-Castleiney players found playing championship football one week and hurling the next great and playing and winning championship games week on week really drove them on. However, in that example they are playing for their own club and playing and training together as a collective and could tweak things in training etc. to meet the needs of the players and the club.

You saw a few years ago Ciaran Burke who hurls with Harps also went playing championship football with Crettyard. Both teams went deep into their championship seasons and he broke down with injury due to overplaying. Crettyard lost the intermediate final that year and Burke would have been a big player for them. I think he played the final injured but you couldn't imagine the bigger hurling clubs in Laois risking similar situations occurring.

I personal wouldn't like to see a regional team from the predominantly hurling area in the senior football championship if they were fielding weakened teams that only act as canon fodder and serve no purpose to a restructured Laois football championship. Careful thought would have to go into the composition of the regional teams if we were to go down that route.