All-Ireland Football Qualifiers 2016

[Tony]

They are not performing, Dublin pulled up against us.

Love it. When we have a good 2nd half against Dublin, they were pulling up. When Armagh have a good 2nd half against us, we're just an awful team 

I think this was a great win. Armagh aren't as bad as we make out. Sure they're not Armagh of 2002 but they're well organised, managed by one of the top tacticians in the game, imo. Championship Armagh are never easy to beat. They really, really wanted to win this, but we won - twice.

We won ugly, twice - we adapted to play and beat a highly defensive Armagh team. I know we're not world beaters but Clare will be our 5th Championship game this summer. We're building momentum - I can't stress enough how much Cunningham has made a difference to this setup. We're lucky to have him. The difference he's made is clear for all to see, especially considering we were going back 15 - 20 years with our league tactics and set up. We likely would have exited the championship by now had it not been for him. Really hoping the county board is smart enough to also see that.

Clare is 50/50 but if we win, we'll still be in championship in late July/August and who knows from there as there's no denying we are building momentum.

[south Laois]

Is the Clare game on Saturday or Sunday?

[Tony]

It's on Saturday, 7pm.

[Giovanni]

Armagh had a good first half against us too. We gave them well over a dozen scoreable chances in the first half and thankfully their shooting was as bad as I've ever seen from a county team.

I think we have a decent complement of good players but I don't think we're well prepared either physically or tactically. The tactic of playing Donie Kingston in the middle third is really baffling to me. He doesn't tackle, doesn't track players and is very often turned over because he takes too much out of the ball. He can however  do damage at full forward and was doing damage there for most of the league.

Having players behind the ball is only helpful if they're doing something and I'm afraid too many of them weren't doing very much yesterday.

This is not an argument about whether we're a good team or a bad team. It's about the tam reaching its potential. I believe we have much more than we showed yesterday. I certainly hope so

[BallyroanAbu]

Deluded

[ILikeStrawberryJam]

Its was a very mixed bag on Saturday ..
Defensively we have improved to be fair but we dont have a cohesive attacking plan.
Agree about Donie, ok he is often double marked but his comes across as unfit
He need to be kept inside the 45. Its a pity G Walsh went for glory at the end, if
he'd slipped it to Donie it was a certain goal. Might have got Donie motoring again.
WE we decent in the first half and were definitely the better team. WE thought
we had it won at half time and Armagh came out and threw caution to the wind.
The got a couple of quick points and started to push up on our kick outs while
we continued to concede their kickouts .. this gave them serious momentum.

WE looked done for when we went 2 down .. but the the best laois footballer of
recent times came off the bench to save the day. Ross has been doing it for
13 years and can still do it.  Also Fair play to walsh he nailed that
45 in style ..

I agree we looked unfit coming into the last 10 minutes .. and we were badly
struggling to track runners ..

merdith, JOL, cahillane, donie, strong were out on their feet in those closing minutes.

Nowadays benches oftern win matches and to be fair our bench won it for us in
those last 10 minutes .. the easy thing would have been to fold ..

I thought Timmons was superb AGAIN ..
corner backs were decent ..
Lillis was decent
Quigley was really good, JOL mixed the good with the bad
Thought cahillane was poor, he gets on so much ball out on
the 45 but not much comes from it .. its not from lack of trying to be fair ..
D conway was excellent in the first half, meredith really good before running out of steam
Begely was quite as was Donie..

It was a match to win regardless of how you won it ..
Often matches like that bring a team on a lot ..

Clare will be a huge test .. i really have no idea how it will go but unless
Donie can find some form and we can get decent ball to him its hard to
see us progressing ..

[High Fielder]

We have to accept what we have and our limitations. We don't have strength in depth and we need our core group to perform every day, which can't happen. Donie gets put in full forward and long balls are pumped into him. That is not his strength. Never was and never will be. He is at his best when the ball is played into space, which doesn't exist against the likes of Armagh, at least in that area of the field. You'd be better bringing all of them out and going in with the ball, because average teams will foul you every time.

I was annoyed at the treatment of Kevin Meaney. Fair enough Johnno is a class act but Meaney was good against Dublin and Armagh. It would have done no harm at all to let him start, and it would have brought a bit of continuity to the thing. Giving lads automatic starting slots is not a good idea

[Unlaoised]

Donie was treble marked for most of the game and the Full back kept running forward to try and take Donie out of position which worked but the big man put in a lot of effort and can be commended for that...

I can't understand why he wasn't taken them frees in the first half from 35-45 yards out he is well capable of knocking them over out of his hands.

Over all it wasn't the best standard of game but I still think its not easy to beat the same team twice and Armagh despite there poor form are no mugs.

My ratings

Brody 7 -Good accurate kickouts  finding Darren Strong and Paul Cahilane with clever change of direction won't be overaly happy with the mix up for the goal but not entirely his fault.

Attride 7 Having a great season so far great defender and great pace going forward he can be happy with his display

Timmons 7 Would been a contender for man of the match but for the goal which was unlike the big man he is a class act and a joy to watch.

O'Connor 6 Was a little bit unlucky with the black card maybe his eagerness to get into the game was to blame for the third man tackle.

Strong 6 Not his usual bundle of energy kicked a lovely score which is nearly the norm now but faded in the second half which is unusual.Should have passed to Merdith when he had that goal chance in the first half.

Lillis 8 I thought Kieran had a great game he won back countless balls and is an example to the rest in the way he tackles set up the Laois goal as well.

Hanrahan 7 Didn't do much wrong has a presence about him and is calm on the ball.Needs to work on his tackling one and one but showed well in defence.

O'Loughlin 6 Looked a little off the pace but still managed two points one of which was vital. I wonder what he would be like closer to the goals maybe it could be food for thought .

Quigley 9 Another outstanding shift by the big man in the middle he was superb anyone who has doubts about him should really go to more matches he rarely has a bad game.His work rate going forward and back is priceless.

Donoher 6 Again like Strong not his usual busy self he tried hard to get into the game and was on a lot of ball in the first half.Kicked a superb point in the early minutes.

Cahilanne 6 probably was on the ball more than any Laois player but it never really happened for him.He kicked away some ball in the first half along with at least two bad wides.He showed great courage in getting on the ball and on another day things will go better for him.

Begley 6 Was quite in fact very quiet for his usual standards didn't look 100% fit and seemed to be carrying a leg he did work hard and was strong on the ball he rarely gives it away which is a bonus at this level.

Meredith 8 Was on his way to being up there for man of the match broke the defensive line so well on solo runs was always available for the ball and scored a great goal he is having a good season.

Kingston 6 As usual he was marked by at least two I think he should stay in near the goals more and let someone else track one of his man markers when the burst forward.He could have had a goal if walsh had passed the ball near the end.

Conway 8 Laois's best forward in the first half and was a danger throughout surprised he was taken off but he did get a dead leg early in proceedings .He has added a real spark to the full forward line.

Subs
Farrell 8 I thought he was superb three great interceptions and added real legs to the defense

Meaney 7 was very unlucky not to start Him and Quigley is our best midfield two and play much better together.

Munnelly 8 hard to beat class and Ross has it superb 15 minutes for the Laois Legend a great luxury to bring of the bench

Dillion 6 Didn't get on a lot of ball but did track Cambell well used his pace to get into good defensive positions

Walsh 7 added real bite to the attack how he wasn't on earlier is a mystery he must been left for 8 minutes standing waiting to come on.Great 45 has to be in contention to start the next day as we are struggling with long range frees.

Campion -Not on long enought to rate.


Overall I was thrilled with the win and I hope the game will bring us on even more.

Clare will be a tough nut to crack in Ennis and they are a team on the up but I think we have the quality and hunger to beat them.

I can't wait for the trip to Ennis I hope Laois travel in numbers next weekend as these lads deserve support.

It was refreshing to see such numbers there on Saturday and what was there made plenty of noise.

[Tony]

We have to accept what we have and our limitations...

I dislike this type of comment - as if we're not aware of our limitations. In what year have we not had limitations, ever?

We have a lot of limitations, quite obviously, we're missing quite a lot in terms of overall strength. However, we're doing our best - something all supporters can agree on - it's something we can only ask of the lads - try their best.

For that reason, I'm really glad with the way the lads are coming along this season. We could easily have lost that match Saturday but we stood up and were counted when it mattered.

Of course we're not world beaters, but if we can get a run in the qualifiers, maybe 3rd or 4th round, it'd be very hard to argue with that.

For me, Walsh and Meaney have got to start next time. Walsh has paid his dues now for that unfortunate incident, surely. Conway playing very well, so is Conor, for me, either Donoher or Cahilane should somehow make way for Walsh with a possible swap around. Merideth doing very well in the corner and definately a danger man for us with speed and 2 goals in 2 games. Walsh deserves to be in surely.

Looking forward to Ennis on Saturday. Bookies have us very slight favourites. At least we know we'll give it 100%. Good to see we finally have a good setup this year. Better late than never. Saturday will be interesting. Laois abu.

[Faugheen]

Game now switched to 1pm on Sunday in Ennis... Another diabolical decision.

[Unlaoised]

Sunday suits me better....I hope the team go down the night before and are treated to a Hotel stay etc....Like Armagh were for the two games up here...

Travelling down there at 8/9 in the morning would spell trouble for them!As it did earlier in the season against Fermanagh

[blueandwhite1]

Extra day recovery for the players.

Only an hour and a half from Portlaoise to Ennis so not the most arduous journey for players or supporters.

[theoldvet]

I agree about Cahillane he getting on the ball a lot, but failing to get any scores
and missing the odd simple free as well.
Begely had 3 shots for points the first day and two more last sat 5 wides in all. [ bad return ]
As for Kingston [ he is doing my head in ]
if we could these 3 players to get a few scores,we would be well on our way
of beating Clare next weekend.


.,

[High Fielder]

We have to accept what we have and our limitations...

I dislike this type of comment - as if we're not aware of our limitations. In what year have we not had limitations, ever?

We have a lot of limitations, quite obviously, we're missing quite a lot in terms of overall strength. However, we're doing our best - something all supporters can agree on - it's something we can only ask of the lads - try their best.

For that reason, I'm really glad with the way the lads are coming along this season. We could easily have lost that match Saturday but we stood up and were counted when it mattered.

Of course we're not world beaters, but if we can get a run in the qualifiers, maybe 3rd or 4th round, it'd be very hard to argue with that.

For me, Walsh and Meaney have got to start next time. Walsh has paid his dues now for that unfortunate incident, surely. Conway playing very well, so is Conor, for me, either Donoher or Cahilane should somehow make way for Walsh with a possible swap around. Merideth doing very well in the corner and definately a danger man for us with speed and 2 goals in 2 games. Walsh deserves to be in surely.

Looking forward to Ennis on Saturday. Bookies have us very slight favourites. At least we know we'll give it 100%. Good to see we finally have a good setup this year. Better late than never. Saturday will be interesting. Laois abu.

Settle down there. The comment was aimed at a few here who seemed to be expecting more of individuals and the team. It has its limitations and we can't get to where we would like to be, but we're doing as well as you could expect and probably better based on the league. I'm delighted just to be winning a couple of games. I don't agree that Walsh deserves a spot. He doesn't contribute enough from open play at this level in my opinion. I don't think we've seen this best of him in a Laois shirt at all. Not by a long chalk. We would have some player the day that happens. He is miles ahead of anyone in his club/parish yet some are starting ahead of him

[The Monument Road]

Game now switched to 1pm on Sunday in Ennis... Another diabolical decision.

Clare hurlers are playing in Thurles saturday evening @7.The extra day will help our lads and as someone already said they should stay overnight.Maybe in Limerick and have an early warm up session somewhere close on sunday morning