Leinster Senior Hurling Championship 2020

[Helix.]

Niall Corcoran still a GDA with Kilmacud Crokes so I imagine there's something stopping working for a rival club.
Welcome news this morning re: Cheddar. Credit to Eamon Jackman and committee for getting appointment confirmed quickly.

[Chrimtain]

Delighted to see Cheddar back. Hopefully the upward trend for the hurlers can be continued.

[HURLING1]

Feeling a lot of anger and disappointment at the loss of Eddie  Brennan but absolutely delighted with the new appointment  and in my opinion the best man for the job.
Not just great for the Senior set up but great for hurling in general throughout the County.
I know some posters here had huge negativity  towards him before but hopefully all will get behind him.
And I know its wishful thinking but if we could  encourage the 5 or 6 top players back into the County panel I have no doubt we could be very competitive.

[blueandwhite1]

Holy god. Cheddar. Some man. After the dejection and disillusionment he must have felt working with the county board the last time to come back is amazing. I hope he gets a strong team around him as Eddie had. No better man to find resources too.

This is brilliant news of course.

The Messiah returns, again.

[redsetanta]

I have huge respect and admiration for Cheddar because he doesn't do this for himself he does it for Laois hurling. A selfless man, in fact it will probably cost him to manage the county.
He knows the importance of a successful senior county team and he will use that going round schools etc to raise interest in the game. An astute reader of the game and always looking to learn. I wonder could he coax Michael Dempsey in with him. I would say there are plenty who would be willing to work with Cheddar because they know they will get honesty of effort.
He has a much better panel to work with this time round as well. The young minors he had are bigger and better.

Delighted to see him back and in light of where we could have been this is great news.

[seafoid]

I really hope that Laois can kick on with Cheddar. It would be a disaster if the county went backwards after the progress of the last 2 years.
Laoid must capitalise on the fact that Offaly are currently banjaxed.

[merman]

A wonderful appointment.
I'm thrilled for Cheddar himself as I'm sure he will feel he has unfinished business.
I'd also expect him to be a very popular appointment with the players. If tentative talk of a Supporters Group gains traction; he is the type of manager that will galvanise support across the hurling fraternity in Laois.

Thinking back to his previous tenure, he was very unlucky going into his last year.
My memory may be hazy but I think he lost Joe Fitz, Tommy Fitz, John A Delaney and Brian Stapleton to retirement in the close season.
Tom Delaney did his cruciate and I think Ciaran Collier, Joe Campion, Paddy Whelan and Zane Keenan all stepped away.
(Apologies if I'm misremembering specifics here.)

You are realistically looking at half a team there and with the retirees; some of our best ever hurlers and real leaders in the dressing room.
The feeling was that Cheddar was looking to develop his 'sweeper' system to be more progressive (especially with some of his minor players coming through strongly) and then he had to almost restart with a severely weakened hand. I think some posters felt we had stagnated but on reflection, I'm sure all objective supporters would say that his time here was hugely positive.

The Clare game proved that we have hurlers who can compete. I wouldn't view that performance as positively as some on here but we look to have players with the skillset to implement a game plan that Cheddar would like.
He's not in it for the short-term, he's not using us as a stepping-stone; I would be very hopeful that we will see improvements but we will also see minimum standards maintained and enhanced; hopefully as younger players filter into the set-up, we will start to close the gap to the tiers above.

I'd love to see Corcoran and Tommy Fitz stay involved and I would also like to see Eamon Jackman part of the management team. He is an excellent coach by all accounts and I feel he would bring something to the table.
I'm sure our backroom set-up is one of the smallest around. If we could support it by bringing in some more Laois people, we are likely to improve our set-up whilst keeping costs in-check.

An election stunt by the current chairman I would be thinking.

Seeing as the closing date for receipt of ballots is today; I suspect not.

[Ogie]

The good thing to come out of all of this is Cheddar back & Merman back!!

[G@@]

Well well. Cheddar is back? Is it confirmed?

Certainly a good appointment if so. He will no doubt lack passion and ambition which is exactly what Laois hurling needs right now.

'Cometh the hour, cometh the man'

[clonadmad]

I bow to no one in my admiration of Cheddar and all he has done for hurling in this county.

I hope he has driven a hard bargain with the county board as regards nailed on commitments to what resources he needs because he has been let down by them both in relation to his grand plan for hurling in the county and also during his previous tenure.

The reality is that,given all that's gone on,any credible candidate outside the county was going to give it a swerve and Cheddar has taken the top table out of a hole

I hope they appreciate it with deeds and not words

Nearly all second bites of the inter county managerial cherry end in disaster

I hope he bucks this trend and I look forward to seeing his backroom team

One final wish,will the lads refusing to commit please realize how close we are to the likes of Clare and please please please get on board.

[G@@]

I really hope that Laois can kick on with Cheddar. It would be a disaster if the county went backwards after the progress of the last 2 years.
Laoid must capitalise on the fact that Offaly are currently banjaxed.

Worst case scenario is Laois stagnate under Cheddar, which I doubt will happen. Cheddar certainly won't want to allow Laois to slide back into Joe McDonagh under his tenure which I think many of the hard-core Laois hurling supporters really feared if a "journey-man" was appointed.

Even if Laois were to stagnate, that would mean solidifying 5th place out of 6th in Leinster and giving a Munster also-ran a decent game. As for the League, I would hope to stay in 1B and that may be the tougher of the two competition aspirations.

Finally, regarding Offaly - their downfall has led to the likes of Galway being hired in to uphold a Leinster Hurling Championship that Kilkenny dominated 2000-2010. I certainly don't like to see them fall from grace so hard, despite all the heartbreak they served us in the last forty years. Funnily enough, I don't see Kerry being hired in to uphold a Leinster Football Championship against a very similar situation... wonder why?

[Ogie]

Rumours (only rumours) of Cheddar getting Mick Dempsey on board with Niall Corcoran staying on, Brendan Bugler also ?
Would be impressive, I'd be delighted to see Corcoran stay on

[clonadmad]

Rumours (only rumours) of Cheddar getting Mick Dempsey on board with Niall Corcoran staying on, Brendan Bugler also ?
Would be impressive, I'd be delighted to see Corcoran stay on

Fingers crossed if that was the case

An excellent mix

[Helix.]

When are the county board meeting re: voting results and hopeful ratification of Cheddar anyone know?

[Laois Rising]

Rumours (only rumours) of Cheddar getting Mick Dempsey on board with Niall Corcoran staying on, Brendan Bugler also ?
Would be impressive, I'd be delighted to see Corcoran stay on

Fingers crossed if that was the case

An excellent mix

That would be some dream team and hopefully Tommy Fitz stays onboard as well. A nice Christmas present for all Laois hurling Gaels.