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In a county as small as Laois every player should have an avenue to play senior football. The standard would be much higher.

At the moment we have some lads in senior clubs who couldn't give a toss but a few players are keeping them up
and we have some really committed players at junior and intermediate level who don't have enough talented players with them to bring them to senior level.

There should be no replays in any championship game. It messes up lots of other championships especially where dual clubs are involved. Play extra time then next score wins if its still level.

Stupid post.  "85% of the country feels like losers because of where they were born."?!?! Where did you get that statistic? YourArse.com.

Almost everyone I know is proud of where they came from.

I gave my opinion. I didn't try to rubbish yours. Most people are proud of where the come from but I know a huge number of people who feel they have to win something to honour their place. However, the odds are stacked heavily against about 26 counties in both codes who will live under a consistent cloud of failure with a few much bigger and better resourced counties carving up the spoils between them and accepting the plaudits. It's a crazy system. If we were starting the GAA from scratch in 2015 we would NEVER come up with the current county system.

It could be professional if there were only 12 teams. The unbalanced archaic county system must come crumbling down eventually.  Imagine, we put Leitrim with 25,000 people up against Dublin with 1.5million and tell the people in Leitrim to be proud of the jersey and that's enough for ye. We all should be proud of where we come from but 85% of the country feels like losers because of where they were born. There's people born with talent and a winning mentality in every club in Ireland but our system makes sure only the ones from the counties with the most resources get to taste success. The rest can dream but can be guaranteed they will never make it without transferring.

On the Cahir Healy topic, how long has he been commuting to and from England for? I know he is a teacher for at least 2-3 years.
How has he not been appointed somewhere at home? Imagine the player he could be if he didn't spend every free minute he has in airports.
Every sports scientist these days talks about rest and recovery and how your average GAA player doesn't get enough of it.
Surely Cahir doesn't even get a fraction of what is required?

I think it could be Sheeran   

I hope it's Ed Sheeran but ya'd have to be drunk to think that he has Laois' best interest in his bloodstream. Then again if he could get our A team out on the field anything is possible. Anyway that's just me thinking out loud.

[What a bitter f**ker you truly are. It's funny with Tyrone and Monaghan playing on Saturday I can't decide who I dislike less. If you think Diarmuid Connolly was created my money you truly are a gobshite of the highest order. He was banging balls off our gable wall with both feet as a five year old. Money creates nothing- hard work does. Maybe if you applied yourself a bit more in Tyrone you might be able to count your senior all-irelands on two hands instead of one.]

What a bitter f**ker you truly are. It's funny with Tyrone and Monaghan playing on Saturday I can't decide who I dislike less.

If you think Diarmuid Connolly was created my money you truly are a gobshite of the highest order. He was banging balls off our gable wall with both feet  as a five year old. Money creates nothing- hard work does.

Maybe if you applied yourself a bit more in Tyrone you might be able to count your senior all-irelands on two hands instead of one.
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Yes hard work helps create players like Connolly but you also need the talent. If you have 1,500,000 people you are more likely to have more players with Connolly's talent. If you  have infrastructure (created by money) and success you are much more likely to keep them interested and motivated.
Dublin with 1,500,000 population + money from sponsorship etc + good structures= talented players seeing the fruits and putting in the effort leading to more players doing same and competition helps standards rise.
Any number of counties with 50,000-120,000 population + feck all money + poor structures= players seeing no success and being hammered out the gate leading to talent drain. Players putting time into other pursuits. Younger players having fewer role models and standards continuing to fall.

This is how the gap widens.

So Kerry who are not renowned for underage success have picked up 25 titles in 6 years while Cork, who used to dominate at underage, have 2. The point DOG is making is that they are not producing hurlers. Kerry don't target underage success yet pick up their fair share of titles as they are producing players at various levels. Cork are producing very little. With the resources they have and any kind of decent organisation they'd be picking up titles here and there just like Kerry in football.

Cork have 18 All-Ireland minor titles. Its 14 years since they won it. They are joint top with 11 All Irelands at u21. Last being in 1998 - a team that breathed new life into Cork hurling. Cork hurling is not Kerry football. They generally thrive on underage success. From the 1960's on Cork averaged 4/5 Munster minor titles a decade. Now none since 2008. In 17 years only one team has delivered an underage All-Ireland to Cork. You just cant ignore that in a county like Cork.

His stats mean little but look so damming. If he were to put up stats for the Kerry football underage success it would mirror Cork hurling stats. Yet Kerry are without question still the king pins of football.
Simplistic. Vindictive. Bitter.

Presumptuous. Unresearched. Incorrect.
Using exact same criteria as TheSunday Game graphic.
2009-2015
Munster minor 4
AI minor 1
Mun u21 0
AI u21 0
Munster Schools 6
Hogan Cup 3
Munster Senior 5
All Ireland 2
Munster club 4

Total 25
10 more than Tipperary Hurling who topped DOG's stats for hurling.

Carlow have won one less than Cork in these categories with a princely total of 1. (Leinster club s'chip)

Good post SE, hard to argue with any of that.

Laois hurling has definitely improved under cheddar, no doubt, but it can be confusing and irritating to see the different way the football and hurling panels are perceived In the eyes of some laois supporters. The football team coughs up a lead against kildare, and you'll hear how they'd no leaders, no heart, no this or that, hurlers go out against galway, game over at half time, and you'll hear its a bump, twist or some other type of undulation in the road to progress. Laois football has had a poor year, TOF didn't help, and the loss to Antrim was piss poor, but the hurling loss to Antrim was also poor. Beating the biffo's was a step we hadn't taken before and is progress, but as much as we are improving, they are coming back to meet us.

Cruella it may be confusing etc. but the logic that the hurlers should be criticised because the footballers are being criticised is flawed.

The football people in the county have been frustrated for quite some time. I believe frustration has accumulated due to, in no particular order, players not wanting to play for Laois, the lack of coherent underage/coaching structures, the dominance of Portlaoise, the apathy among the other senior clubs, the senior club relegation debacle in 2014, the appointment of TOF and the overall lack of planning/direction of Laois football. The collapses v Kildare and Antrim have put the tin hat on the whole thing and the mood of Laois football is very negative as a result.

The hurling on the other hand have been competitive in 1B for the last two years after many years of yoyoing. The vast majority of players that should be playing are playing. Our underage teams are competing much better, reaching a minor and u21 Leinster Final and beating everyone in Leinster (bar Kilkenny) at some stage in the last 3/4 years. Hurling has structure through the Setanta programmes and our seniors are competing well . There is the belief that we have good people involved (Cheddar, Critchley etc) who have Laois hurling in their heart. There is a positivity about Laois hurling and we shouldn't try to quash that just because the footballers are getting criticised.

Although progress is slow the majority feel that Laois hurling has a heartbeat and a direction. Just look at the numbers pucking around and playing at underage. Hurling is growing. Football however is stuck in a rut and may not have bottomed out yet considering the standard of minor and u21 teams the last 10 years plus the standard of our senior championship.

Laois are making progress but patience is needed. Waterford play a similar style game to Laois but do it better. They have better players due to a number of successful schools, minor and U21 teams plus a bigger pool of senior club hurlers to pick from. We are going in the right direction and, although we must have high expectations, we cannot demand too much too soon.

In yesterday's Munster Final Tipperary fielded a first 15 with 12 clubs represented. Waterford had 11. When Laois faced Dublin two weeks ago only 7 clubs were represented. We are a small dual county trying to compete with huge hurling dominant counties. There are probably 10-15 senior clubs in Tipperary with no county representative. We have 8 senior clubs and all are represented on our panel.

Cheddar and Pat Critchley have sown the seeds of revolution. There are now clubs and juvenile hurlers in clubs where hurling didn't feature before. Places like Ballyadams, Wolfhill, Barrowhouse, Graiguecullen and Emo are producing players for Setanta programmes. We need this and we need it to continue. We are too small for hurling snobbery. Cheddar wants to create a team that young players aspire to. We should respect his and their efforts. We are close to being the best we can be right now and we are continuing to strive to improve. There is pride, honour and respect in that. The rest will follow as long as we persist.

I've played hurling and football in Leinster since I was 7/8 years old and I cant ever recall any of the pre-planned sledging that people are referring too.
The coverage of this is completely out of hand. So the best forward in the country was manhandled a bit last Sunday, doesn't mean there is an epidemic.
The media (especially RTE) are only delighted to cast the GAA in a negative light and our players are giving them ammunition. Just read an article on rte.ie where one of
our players mentions rugby in a positive light. The website has emboldened this and highlighted. Even when rugby is not the subject they manage a
positive spin off. The same media outlet overlooks the stamping, biting and supplement culture in rugby.

A bit of common sense and balance is needed on this topic.

We have recently started a nursery (hurling) in our club. I am currently running it with the help of 5-6 parents.
We generally work on skills such as throwing, catching, beanbag solo, dribbling and ground striking (in stations of 10 minutes)as it is in a hall.
Can people suggest some good resources to vary the drills? Also we currently get between 25-30 from 3-4 national schools.
Do we need to be working from a bigger pool as players may drop away as the years go by?