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In many ways it turned out as expected, well beaten by a better team but none of the trauma of the Dublin game. With our heavily defensive approach we weren't going to give up as many goal chances as the last day, we did give three with one converted (recurring theme all year) , the penalty was the refs gift to them. The rumoured changes came to pass and the keeper did ok and joins the  ever increasing keepers to have played in the last few years. Lacey unfortunately was hooked early but is he really a corner back?, paddy o Sullivan was back in his normal position but doesn't seem to be going well at the moment. Finn in allowed Larkin to wing forward where he worked hard. The Doyle situation is hard to figure out , was he full forward? , was he a distraction tactic on kickouts ? Was he there to contest long ball ? It's hard to know because bar one cross ball nothing went near him and at the end we were ballooning balls in that might have actually suited him if he had come on than started. Once I saw him running back into the defensive screen there was no reason to believe that he had the mobility to get back to full forward for any ball in to help Evan , go what was his selection for then ?

With such a defensive screen we unfortunately ran into a Cavan team that could kick points outside the zone. 20/26 is good shooting but at times there was no pressure. The gift of the penalty and not using the wind enough in the first half was going to make the second half a slog. The period from the 3rd minute of injury time when Evan scored to the 58th minute when Lillis popped a point we were hammered. The legs seemed gone and a very heavy defeat looked on the cards but in fairness they battled back and got it into single digits. The concession rate is still a huge issue, even taking out the Dublin record score , we still have conceded 4-33 in the Wexford/Cavan games.  Lose to Offaly at home then we don't really deserve to go any further.

So the rumours were true, numerous changes and every line changed, new keeper, Lacey corner back , Finn midfield , Doyle full forward

the team looks to have undergone serious surgery if the rumours are to be believed, does anybody know how the challenge matches went for the supposed radical changes?

i never thought things would fall so bad, so quickly. i actually thought there was a bit of hope in making the two under 20 finals. While there would always be a bit of a fall off due to injury etc, i thought that a good young squad would have been established from the two teams. i remember talking (in loose terms!!!) to Dublin CEO John Costello after attending one of the finals in Carlow. He had the misfortune of standing on the terrace, but the conversation was that Dublin would cherry quick what they needed from these teams but Laois would need everyone one of them such was the problems in Leinster Football and to survive. Of course there were a few other barbs about Dublin funding etc thrown in but 4 years later i would have been hoping a lot more players would have been involved. The two teams from the finals,

2019 Leinster u20 Final
1. David O'Hanlon (Na Fianna) 2. Darren Maher (St Patrick's Donabate) 3. Daire Newcombe (Lucan Sarsfields) 4. Eoin O'Dea (Na Fianna) 5. Kieran Kennedy (Ballyboden St Enda's) 6. Neil Matthews (Erin's Isle) 7. Sean Lambe (St Vincent's) 8. Peadar O'Cofaigh Byrne (Cuala) 9. Donal Ryan (Na Fianna) 10. Niall O'Leary (Kilmacud Crokes) 11. Karl Lynch Bissett (Naomh Mearnóg) 12. James Doran (Na Fianna) 13. Brian O'Leary (Na Fianna) 14. Ciaran Archer (St Maurs) 15. Ross McGarry (Ballyboden St Enda's)
Subs 20. David Lacey (Na Fianna) for Donal Ryan (43) 22. Harry Ladd (Lucan Sarsfields) for Brian O'Leary (55) 17. Aaron Lynch (St. Sylvesters) for Darren Maher (55) 18. Conor Kinsella (Kilmacud Crokes) for Eoin O'Dea (57) 23. Mark Lavin (Lucan Sarsfields) for Niall O'Leary (60) 24. Sean Foran (Whitehall Colmcilles) for Kieran Kennedy (60)

Laois
1. Matthew Byron (Courtwood) 2. Michael Dowling (Portlaoise) 3. Seamus Lacey (Ballylinan 4. Alex Mohan (Portarlington) 5. Colin Slevin (Portarlington) 6. Sean O'Flynn (Courtwood) 7. Dean Brophy (St Joseph's) 8. Robert Tyrrell (Camross) 9. Eoin Dunne (Rosenallis) 10. Mark Barry (O'Dempsey's) 11. Michael Doran (Killeshin) 12. Ronan Coffey (Portarlington) 13. Alan Kinsella (Courtwood) 14. Dan McCormack (O'Dempseys) 15. Diarmuid Whelan (Ballyroan Abbey)
Subs
18. Jack Owens (Emo) for Michael Doran (36) 17. Niall Dunne (Courtwood) for Dan McCormack (38) 19. Jason Maher (Portlaoise) for Ronan Coffey (48) 22. Kevin Byrne (Ballylinan) for Lacey (55) 23. Ross Brennan (Portlaoise) for Brophy (58) 24. Jack Lacey (St. Joseph's) for Mohan (58).

2020 Leinster u20 Final
LAOIS: Mathew Byron (Courtwood); Michael Dowling (Portlaoise), Alex Mohan (Portarlington), Neil Keane (The Heath); Sean O'Flynn (Courtwood), Gary Saunders (Portlaoise), Jack Lacey (St Joseph's); Barry Howlin (O'Dempsey's), PJ Daly (The Heath); Ronan Coffey (Portarlington), Jack Owens (Emo), Damon Larkin (Portlaoise); Colin Slevin (Portarlington), Darragh Galvin (Portarlington), Mark Barry (O'Dempsey's).

Subs: Dean Brophy (St Joseph's) for Howlin (27), Sean O'Neill (The Rock) for Daly (42), Ross Bolger (Killeshin) for Lacey (47), Josh Lacey (St Joseph's) for Galvin (50), Sean Michael Corcoran (Portarlington) for Larkin (53)

DUBLIN: Josh O'Neill (St Vincent's); Alan Murphy (Lucan Sarsfields), Adam Rafter (Na Fianna), Josh Bannon (St Sylvester's); Rory Dwyer (St Margaret's), Adam Waddick (Thomas Davis), Lee Gannon (Whitehall Colmcilles); Killian McGinnis (Skerries Harps), Evan Caulfield (Clan na Gael Fontenoy); Mark Lavin (Lucan Sarsfields), Lorcan O'Dell Templeogue Synge Street), Sean Foran (Whitehall Colmcilles); Ciaran Archer (St Maur's), Luke Swan (Castleknock), Kieran McKeon (Clontarf).

Subs: Aaron Fearon (Skerries Harps) for McGinnis (41), Padraig Purcell (Kilmacud Crokes) for Foran (45), Conor Kinsella (Kilmacud Crokes) for Bannon (47), Stephen Braiden (Thomas Davis) for O'Dell (54), Conor Tyrell (St Oliver Plunkett's-Eoghan Rua) for Murphy (60)

there seems to be a general lack of anger at what happened yesterday, or is it just acceptance? the beatings of the last few years have probably worn us down and dublin were always expected to win but is it acceptable that a senior county football team can concede 4-30,  it could have been even more if dublin didn't just take points instead of working goals. After the problems we had in the league and championship both this year and last year with the concession of goals in particular that a defensive plan was a priority?. this won't be far off the highest scoring return by a team this year.

we are about ranked about 27th in the country, is that acceptable ? There is so much wrong, not just in the football but also in some of the other codes in the county, underage team, schools in lower grades, club championship sizes.

Really poor crowd there yesterday, wonder what the numbers were like ? The match was at the level where both teams are currently at, we had the better forwards and got over the line eventually. We seemed to have abandoned the heavy defensive system we operated in some of the league games, I still don't understand how Timmons is being asked at times to cover the sweeper role, he is one of our greatest servants but hasn't the pace to do the covering required. We still were defensive at times and played this modern counterattack system which most teams are using to varying degrees of success. Whether we have the blinding pace to allow us go further in the other competition remains to be seen.  If Wexford had used the breeze more effectively and shot better the game would have been a lot tighter but in the second half we were far more economical with our shots especially mark Barry and Evan. We have loads of issues to sort out especially the kickouts which were a mess and lead to numerous scores and we still can't stop conceding goals.

One gripe though is the substitutions or the lack of any meaningful substitutions. Is the panel that bad that the first sub gets introduced as the game is ending. watching for example Lowry carry the ball to half way  with only Evan ahead of him, put the ball into him and then make the support run alone for a return and then turn to go back up the field it was clear he was gassed after putting in a big effort in the game. He was not the only person who was tired at that stage and should have come off earlier. It was bizarre to see the first substitution in the 66 minute and then two more by the 71st. I felt sorry for the two lads left on the line about to come on in the 74th minute and then the ref blows the whistle for full time.

it was a tough watch yesterday with a heavy pitch, bad weather and a very fussy referee. the team didn't seemed dialled in at all for such an important game, the result of which greatly damages our chances of getting out of this group. they were up for it, their backs especially niggly and eventually they paid for this by going down to 13 players. wexford had done us a favour the night before with the last minute free against wicklow which had they missed would have buried us. the game itself was really of a poor standard marked by moments of some great scores but neither at present are really going anywhere. leitrim, i didn't think were great especially defensively and you would be hoping sligo will have too much for them as a very sporadic laois attack managed to get 18 scores against them. london had already hit them for 1-15, wexford 0-19 and even a fairly dismal waterford got 0-11 and they had been doing well on an ability to get goals before yesterday. we unfortunately never looked like getting one which probably could have got us over the line. our system of really playing four scoring forwards up only succeeds when all are pitching in, far too often in this league we have relied on good individual performances like barry yesterday, lowry against waterford and kingston earlier in the league. in such a poor quality division some players should be doing much better especially in terms of getting goals in open play.

with this in mind, the concession of two very stoppable goals really gave them something to play for and got them over the line. the first goal came from greene getting slipped by a very tricky and fast corner forward who squared it across to the on rushing dangerman for a tap in. i felt sorry for greene as he spent most of the game with no defensive cover in front of him, which made it easy for them to ping the ball in front of his opponent. tactically you would have to ask why both paddy o sullivan and the two wing backs were more often every where bar where they should have been, in byrne's and o flynn's case they were mostly tracking their men but o sullivan's positioning in the centre was bizarre. maybe they felt they had to do this with the dangerman beirne mostly at centre forward but it freed up a lot of space down that wing. the second goal as confirmed on the footage was a run straight down the middle after most of the team got caught on the wrong side from a breaking ball and nobody could either catch or impede the midfielder. the lack of pace in areas of the spine of the team will reoccur again when the ground gets firmer and the sweeper system is not being applied consistently if that's the way we are going to go. strangely having played a very defensive structure in some of the early games against weaker teams, we played a slightly more open system today unfortunately not to our detriment.

its hard to know where we are going, we possibly could get promoted but are relying on others and the odds aren't currently in our favour. with the few injuries, the panel is very weak and we have a tough few months ahead of us.

I agree with you on some of those points, the two costly red cards against carlow found us with a very weak team and even lesser options on the bench. Definitely the quality present at the moment is not there but I would fault billy on not coming up with a plan to replicate what Evan brings to us. It was a tough ask and maybe he did have a plan , but it got tougher after Murphy went off but having Daly in his own full back slot on two occasions because we have invested heavily in this ultra defensive system was not ever going to work. Having him behind the play trying to get back up the field to be an outlet for an attacking ball in makes little or no sense. At least if he stayed up there we wouldn't have had their influential fullback so far up the field.

Once Lowry ran out of legs and mark Barry was offering nothing the only real option but to have put Paul Kingston in there who would at least the scoring threat in him. By the time we did that the game was effectively over. Overall it was such a sloppy performance with poor options, misplaced passes and no real shape to the team. It's a killer when we have players soloing to the half way line and no option or player ahead of them, once they delay they got swallowed up and turned over the ball. Top teams can play that system because they have more athleticism in their team, at present we don't have that .  Once their two midfielders started to dominate especially Healy at 8 we were under massive pressure with their athletic advantage. We will probably beat Waterford to keep us in it but in a division where everyone can beat each other we are left with two difficult away games. They might suit us as we seem to find it very hard to win at home.

Laois u20s played westmeath in Coe yesterday. Very poor performance against an unfancied westmeath side. Laois near enough full strength except for aaron phelan and ciaran flynn who were injured.. Left with 5 min to go and laois were up by 2 or 3 points.

hardly know the team ?

kildare 5-19 Laois 3-19

Kildare definitely beat Wexford last week down there, so they are handy enough

https://twitter.com/deirdrekelly8/status/1626930942026649600?s=46&t=YZm3k7M1NQ3tAz3zndsiNw

Minor hurlers beaten by Kildare by a few points in a challenge match in hawkfield today. 3 x 30 minutes played.

it was great to get the win today, considering how long it is since we won a home game but most importantly back to back wins to put us in with a shout of being in the business end of this league. win the two games and hopefully carlow in a fortnight would set up nicely for the games with leitrim and london which possibly could decide the group. the panel is very limited at present and bar murphy's return probably for corbett their isn't going to be many changes. none of the subs are really getting much time on the pitch and today was probably a day when we went flat in both halves where we could have brought someone on.

it was a division 4 standard game, as someone said to me on the way out, players that have struggled in the higher divisions were comfortable at this level. it definitely was way off the pace in terms of the intensity and speed that they faced at times last year but they can only play what's in front of them. Wexford offered something different to Sligo with their more positive approach at times, they certainly looked like they had the legs on us at times but ultimately probably didn't have the scoring power we had in the forwards. that being said the new defensive approach with the mass withdrawal of players or the evan on his own system is not going to work against better teams especially later in the summer. if your going to lump ball in on top of him at least give him a chance, too many times he got balls fired nearly to the corner flag for him run after or up in the clouds to contest with a sweeper in front of him. with no players pushing up to even feed off a break, it was a cheap concession of possession but often we kicked it because in reality we had no other option up front due to the lack of forwards to aim for. maybe with the return of murphy we can play both inside. Sheehan is probably going to stick with this approach after the horrors of last year and i cant see him allowing the wing backs / midfield off the lease to push a bit further forward in support or offer themselves as a line break to the defensive systems that they will face.

with westmeath getting a trimming as well today and antrim trying hard but ultimately failing at home, this league already is a farce. they would be nearly better reverting back to the old system of 8 teams in each division, at least teams could play teams at there own level without getting trimmed in every game.

i would include Timmons in there as well unless we continue with this very defensive system with him as a sweeper. long term i would hope Paddy O Sullivan is moved back to a more natural position.