Laois 2017 - NHL and Leinster SHC

[Uisce]

So the football is at 3 in Portlaoise and the hurling is at 7 in Parnell Park. Makes it very difficult for anyone who wants to make both. Not sure what number of people would be going to both but still think it's unfair to make people decide which they would prefer to go to! Any more casual supporters are definitely more likely to see the football purely for handiness sake!

[redsetanta]

So Picky has done his cruciate and will miss club championship.

Heading to Dublin without Picky, Willie Dunphy, Cha, Ross King. That's 4 guaranteed starters if fit. All forwards too. Add in the other injured panel/team members( Ben Conroy, Paddy Whelan, John Lennon etc) and it's not the ideal way to be heading to Parnell Park. The young lads are getting plenty of experience and hopefully they stay around for next year as they can only get better if they stick together. I think it will be a tough evening on Saturday.

[blueandwhite1]

So Picky has done his cruciate and will miss club championship.

Heading to Dublin without Picky, Willie Dunphy, Cha, Ross King. That's 4 guaranteed starters if fit. All forwards too. Add in the other injured panel/team members( Ben Conroy, Paddy Whelan, John Lennon etc) and it's not the ideal way to be heading to Parnell Park. The young lads are getting plenty of experience and hopefully they stay around for next year as they can only get better if they stick together. I think it will be a tough evening on Saturday.

ANY county would struggle without 4/5 of their normal starting forwards - this is the worst I have ever seen.

Likely forwards: Sean Downey, Jack Kelly / Cahir, Aiden Corby, Mark Kavanagh, Neil Foyle, Aiden Dunphy with Cahir or Jack Kelly going to midfield alongside Paddy Purcell.

Backs: Rowland, Cleere, Bergin, Palmer, Killeen, Whelan, Collier.

Is Ryan Mullaney still injured? He featured for U21s so not sure why he is not involved.

Any chance Zane would help the cause in our hour of need??

[burdizzo]

Mullaney was listed on the programme last day, so can't be too far off fit.

[redsetanta]

The extent of our injury crisis. I feel sorry for Picky who was having a decent game when he got injured and would have been a ket man against Dublin.

Kelly set t ostay on for another year which is good for continuity.


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[G@@]

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Dublin without Gough.

[redsetanta]

LAOIS: Enda Rowland; Dwane Palmer, Leigh Bergin, Lee Cleere; Eric Killeen, Matthew Whelan, Ciaran Collier; Jack Kelly, Paddy Purcell; Ryan Mullaney, Cahir Healy, Sean Downey; Mark Kavanagh, Neil Foyle, Aaron Dunphy

Hopefully the lads give a good account of themselves today. Mullaney doesn't have the pace but he can catch a ball so I can see puckouts heading his way. We are threadbare at this stage but they will give it 100% like they have in every gave this year. Physically we are too light all over the field but that will come in time with some of these young lads.

I'd be happy to leave Parnell Park if they do that and better still if they can keep with Dublin although it could be a very tough evening.

Best of luck to them all.

[County Man]

Best of luck to Laois.

An extremely young team, we showed great character to fight back with 14 men and nick the win against Carlow.

Dublin are overwhelming favourites for this one.

All that can be asked is that players battle to the end and give it their all.

We are decimated with injuries.

[Joeythelips]

Best of luck to the hurlers, they will really be up against it today but if they can withstand the initial storm (as the Dubs will look to put this one to bed early) and play with the same heart and determination they did when down a man v Carlow then we have to be happy with that. It could get ugly.

[G@@]

Listened in on MR103 - Pity about the second half fade out, we seemed to give the first half and 10 minutes of the second half a right go of it. We didn't take our goal chances and when we conceded a goal ourselves the heads dropped.

Overall, a decent enough season considering the cards we were dealt - injuries and red cards. The lads seem to have bonded well and hopefully they'll stick at it for the long haul. I wouldn't object to giving Eamon Kelly another term. I think he has done well with a young and developing team.

Div1a status the one to maintain again next year, with Kerry gone down and Antrim replacing them it won't be easy considering the venues: 

The fixtures should be:
V Antrim - Away (2015 Relegation Final in Portlaoise)
V Dublin - Home (2005 in Parnell Park)
V Galway - Home (2017 in Salthill)
V Limerick - Away (2017 in Portlaoise)
V Offaly - Away (2017 in Portlaoise)

We'd be targeting points from the Offaly and Antrim games, both away might be a tough task.

[blueandwhite1]

I know it looked like a right hammering on the scoreboard but I was really impressed by this team and very proud on Saturday. They were every bit as good as Dublin in the first half and the blocking, tackling and first touch was first class. They never gave up on a ball and took some super scores. Considering we were missing so many it was incredible. in the second half, they really did look jaded. Paddy Purcell and Sean Downey went out of the game and the Dublin half backs won every ball that was pucked out. It was a ridiculous situation where a pattern developed in that every ball was pucked out, usually caught by one of the Dublin half backs, passed out to the wing, popped over the bar and repeat. We never broke the pattern and couldn't win a ball.

There were many highlights this year but for me it is the emergence of so many lads who look like they have what it takes to step up to inter county level and compete. In particular, our full back line with Lee Cleere and Leigh Bergin really having to step up. Ciarán Collier, Ryan Mullaney, Sean Downey, Cian Taylor, Mark Kavanagh should all feature well into the future.

One other comment - Cahir Healy was outstanding. His energy, skill, passion and reading of the game for the full 70+ was a joy to watch. He has some engine. I hope he sticks with it for another few years. Especially good to see him with a free role around the middle.

[Andy06]

I want to second what blueandwhite says above.
For the 40-45 mins the players were fantastic but then Dublin got the run of them. If they had a bit of experience they could have been able to mix up the puckouts  or at least slow down the game a bit when Dublin were going through their purple patch, this bit of know-how will come in time though.

When you consider the retirements over the last few years and the crazy injury list we have been faced with, this entire year could (perhaps should) have been an absolute shocker. Its testament to these group that we finish off the year already looking forward to next years campaign and possibly pushing on further.

[redsetanta]

Would agree with the last two posters.

A great first half performance from Laois and had we not hit a few bad wides we could have gone in at the break in front. I had said if we came out of Parnell PArk after losing by 7 or 8 points I'd be happy enough. We were beaten by more but I was happy with the effort that the team put in. Young Killeen was very good in the first half and caught some ball and the full back line have been under severe pressure and come out fairly well.

Cahir was immense on Saturday and if we had 14 more Healys........

PAddy Purcell scored a couple of great points but the one criticism I would have is that there are times when he could pass instead of taking on shots that are not really on.

Physically we are not strong enough in a few positions but with lads only a year or two out of minor that's always going to be the case. Mullaney also got on a lot of ball in the first half and although he lacks pace he has plenty of skill and can give and take the hits.

As a Laois supporter you'd have to be happy with how the year went. Hopefully they do all stay together and we get some of the long term injured back and we give it a right go again next year.

[redsetanta]

With all the discussion on Creedon and the footballers I was just wondering what the general feelings with regard to Eamon Kelly.

Are supporters happy with his years work? Has he done a good job in trying circumstances with injuries etc

Was he tactically aware during games?

Is there any reason for him not staying on with the hurlers?

Personally I think it was a good job for the year and with a full panel to pick from it will be in the second year that we really see what he's made of. Very hard to judge progress this year with all the changes etc but next years league and championship should give us a clearer picture. I would like to see more put into the U21 grade as we've been very poor in this grade in recent times.

[Keyser Söze]

I think there were a number of occasions when he was tactically quite poor. (Versus Offaly, Versus Wexford in the championship, and our general defensive set up- we conceded huge scores)

However, overall the year has gone quite well. Won practically all of the winnable games and put up a decent showing in patches v Wexford and Dublin.

There is no reason not the keep him on.
There is also no reason not to give him the U21 job too. Huge crossover of players and in reality the U21s are ploughing their own furrow with substandard players due to the numbers involved with the seniors.