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P.S BallyroanAbbey do you not think that Portlaoise are something to aspire to ,  they have not always been this strong nor will they always be.
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I fully believe that they are something to aspire to, you were the one who brought up population. I also believe that they need to be tested and until clubs get their acts together at underage gales teams are the best way of doing that.

Look im a football man first and foremost and nobody was too disapointed to see those lads leave for abbeyleix but it is something that has happened a lot in the last few years and there is no point saying it doesnt happen, it benefits both us and abbeyleix and i think the results are starting to show this year and further progress will be made over the coming year.

Was anyone else at the match last night id  be interested to hear it from a neutrals perspective

Think they have a few from ballypickas on it which is suprising considering delaney (who i felt was excellent tonight) and a few others were poached off them by abbeyleix. I was probably a bit harsh earlier on but it really was a game that should of been won by by 10-15 points especially after cranny got the goal. All thinggs going well we'll finish the job in the replay

It's

Anyway back to Sunday, for now, I feared it was one of our weakest Senior hurling teams to take the field in years,
Our middle 8 were completely dominated, Only Healy in the full back line and Foyle at Full Forward could come out with any credit
Surely cha has to get some credit, showed a bit of fight

Unfortunately laois are a shambles beat before they started , the dubs are super fit but laois have about 5 men completely off pace

what is it that laois supporters expect?
Genuinely id like to know what it is that they deem a good performance or a good championship
Considering the start they got and they played over half the match with 14 men i think it was a good performance, particularly the 2nd half

Very surprised dillon is still there, must be going to be used as an extra defender, would imagine lots of positional switches

Why is there always so many borris lads named on these teams?
For a club that hasnt won a championship they always seem to have alot of lads on the team while the likes of camross tend to have very few despite probably being the most consistant club in laois in the last few years

Does anyone know how the duggan chap is involveld or eligable

I disagree.
Amalgamations are the way forward. Not temporary little arrangements.
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Just as a matter of interest what clubs do you think should amalgamate

But if its "something that all sides want" then where's the problem. It is something that's going to happen to a lot of clubs if only to survive.
What's the point of having a club and depending on 20 members to make up a senior panel, it just can't work.
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sorry was meant to say all sides have to want it
Take trumera, last year, 18 players won intermediate last year, tiny area, fact is they'd rather struggle with the 18 or 19 because they represent the area where there from, same with barrowhouse winning junior last year, you take the clubs out of these areas the numbers playing from these areas would decline majorly

Mountmellick Gaels is Mountmellick plus Brendan Reddin. Because Castletown put in a junior team, Mountmellick had to go down the route. No one else is coming from Castletown as far as I know,  But the point is well made. A proper area amalgamation involving a Senior club  will not be a runner in the long run if 17 players have to be named.

I agree regarding the first point. It was the only functioning example I could think of.
I understand why 17 players should be named. I also understand that it will be a major stumbling block. Not in that instance, but in any proper instance.

I understand this in a lot of cases 3 or 4 of the lads named mightnt even be in the country or retired. Realistically smaller clubs dont want to join up with senior teams in their parish, alot of the time its the players that want the club kept, any that want to go usually get their way, kingstons to killen from barrowhouse and gilmartin to camross being good examples. Basically what im saying is that you cant force these clubs to join, i know somebody said that the arles clubs need to cop on but it could be easily argued that that rivalry drove them to heights they mightnt have reached otherwise.
Amalgamations are very hit and miss i feel, the first year we joined we were relegated, the harps joined 30 years ago and still havnt won a senior, castletown/slieve bloom lasted 4 years and one of the reasons it ended was over a row about jerseys, on the other hand the likes of rathdowney/errill has been a massive success. Im not saying amalgamations are bad but they are something that all sides want

Goodluck going into the likes of ,kyle, trumera, slieve bloom, ballypickas, kilcavan, barrowhouse, cortwood and telling them they need to fold for the greater good of the county, ill look out for you in the obituaries.
The county board brought in a rule that alllowed lads from these clubs a chance of playing senior so what harm are junior clubs doing
As regards championship make the football into 8s like the hurling and relegate the teams out of senior who dont makke q/f, regardless of pristige or size, unlike stradbally and joesphs in 2014

Change is never easy. It's not my job to tell anyone anything - the CB should be leading this change,

Key word is "allowed".
Caveat: if the club let them.

Too much resistance from the smaller clubs. 10-in-a-row is coming and no-one's going to stop Portlaoise with this b.s.

im assuming your from a big club as am i or not affiliated with one at all, the reality is that people take great pride in playing for their area, take ben conroy for example, was willing to give up senior hurling as possibly even an inter county carrer because he  would rather win a junior with slieve bloom than a senior with castletown.  i know that football basically died for a decade in abbeyleix after we joined in 06, you ask any person from ballyroan who do they play for they will never mention abbey its like a dirty word
A rule has been put in place that allows lads from any club in the county to play senior while allowing them to also play for their own community at junior, so really what benefit do amalgamations really bring?
The only amalgamations i would like to see would be ones of hurling clubs joining to form football clubs like st fintains and visa versa like slieve margy

Goodluck going into the likes of ,kyle, trumera, slieve bloom, ballypickas, kilcavan, barrowhouse, cortwood and telling them they need to fold for the greater good of the county, ill look out for you in the obituaries.
The county board brought in a rule that alllowed lads from these clubs a chance of playing senior so what harm are junior clubs doing
As regards championship make the football into 8s like the hurling and relegate the teams out of senior who dont makke q/f, regardless of pristige or size, unlike stradbally and joesphs in 2014

With regards lillis club record, his championship wins with palatine in carlow and st laurences in kildare were with mark kavanagh as co manager, who was a coach with westmeath last year when they got to the leinster final so you could argue who the brains behind those victories, particularly considering how hot headed an individual lillis appears to be

Apart from underage coaching another thing that needs to change is championship structure, a leaf needs to be borrowed from the hurling and the senior needs to go down to 8 with the other 8 being inter, it will make it far more competitive in all grades from senior to junior and improve  performances in leinster for the winners, with the gales thing brought in this year it could finally make senior an actual championship instead of waiting to see who will play portlaoise in the final, if you improve the standard of club championships you improve the county team after a period of time also