Laois Senior Football 2017

[SCFC]

Is Damien O'Connor involved this year? Haven't seen his name to date...

[Don Draper]

Wouldn't have made much difference in my opinion, Don. One could argue that 1/2 more games before the league would increase our match sharpness, rather than training. 99% of GAA players prefer matches to training, also (me included). The only downside I can see is that Louth would have a bit of homework done on us, but that works both ways.

You're entitled to that opinion. We've had good games, and we'll get practice ones if needs be. We dont need to be f**king about playing Louth twice in a few weeks. Time to put in a few decent training sessions now, let the U21's play as a unit, and let the management go about their business now in peace. The Byrne Cup has served its purpose for 2017. Its all about getting out of that f**king division now.

Will somebody please think of the children!!

It seems I flipping deleted the flipping post when trying to flipping edit it. Don't flipping drink and flipping type kids.

[ILikeStrawberryJam]

Thought Begley, Donie and Attride were excellent.
Gary Walsh, Booth, JOL and David Conway were also good.
Defensively we were OK considering we were down so many ..
Interesting to see the mark in operation .. I think it will be a success .
Looks like we are gonna play a tyrone style counter attacking game.
For the first time in years we seemed to know what we were doing.
Properly drilled, decent fitness for this time of year and good enthusiasm from the boys ..
Some great foot passing on display. Nice cross field balls into Donie.
Left one on one with any defender he is so dangerous. Great goal ..
If we can get our spine back , timmons,keogh,quigley,ocarroll (meredith gone for the year?)
and blood a few more U21's  we could have a decent year.
Fair play to Stradbally .. ran like clockwork .. great atmosphere ..

I think we can let Don back off the naughty step .. one of the most knowledgeable posters on here .. 

[blueandwhite1]

This all reads quite well. Anyone care to hazard a guess at what the team will look like for the Louth game?

[Giovanni]

As one of those that questioned playing the game in Stradbally, would like to add my thanks to all those Stradballians who made it an enjoyable evening. As it turned out, the atmosphere of the place would have been lost in OMP. We were lucky with the weather but it was a great evening.

Apart from that, I also thought that there were hugely encouraging signs from our lads. It's the first time in years that I thought we looked like a TEAM (in the way that Tyrone usually looks like a team). The defensive aspect was very impressive and, in my opinion, we saw a much more sophisticated defensive system there than we saw during McNulty's time.  Begley was excellent again and Meaney, I thought, was superb. Some of the passes he sprayed around were top quality. Gary Walsh was very good in the first half when and Donie was good in the second half. Sean Ramsbottom also had a strong impact when he came on. Denis Booth looked very strong at full back and Stephen Attride has matured into a really good player.

On the downside, I think Brody just had one of those days when a lot of things went wrong. I think he's one of the 3 or 4 best keepers in the country but on Saturday night kick outs were poor and the first Meath goal was soft enough. I'm not entirely sure about the idea of Darren Strong and Kieran Lillis at corner back but the excellent defensive system protected them this time. Maybe Darren will end up being our Philly McMahon? Don't know. The other worrying thing was the damage that Graham Reilly did when running from deep. Not easy to counteract that I suppose. Last thing was I thought JOL does a lot of calling for the ball in positions where he really shouldn't. We were turned over a few times when lads in possession were trying to force passes to him that were basically impossible.

Overall though I think we're definitely heading in the right direction and the team looks like it is being properly prepared.

[town1980]

i was at the gaem saturday also but for the first 20 mins laois wer all out of sorts so game plan wise i dont think we actually had a massive plan to combat them,,there pace our plan leaving two lads inside on there own clearly wasnt working ,,i do think the players themselves stumbled upon there game plan to a certain extent,,,i totally enjoyed the game fitness levels were good commitmant to the game each other was good,,begly was immense as was donie with cute runs and quick delivery,,not like first 20 mins,,signs are positive so fair play to peter creedon he has excitement and def has a positive impact,,happy camper i am after that game ,,enjoyed the atmosphere and support for the lads

[Laois Laois]

Atmosphere was great ... fair play to all involved in Stradbally ... really impressive set-up. Same with Crettyard

Pity that the early rounds of the Laois SFC/SHC Championship up the the Quarter Finals are not taken out of OMP as the atmosphere would be so much better. CB could do the gates themselves if they are worried about revenue dropping by moving games outside of OMP ... revenue might even increase as might attract more neutrals to games. Plus an added incentive to players that they need to reach a quarter final in order to play in OMP

[Tony]

No need to take the wee wee, Don. 

I'd love to see us work on our pace. Our fitness looks good but the difference between good teams and great teams is proper tactics and pace (and yeah talented players). The likes of donegal, dublin and mayo clearly work on their pace. There are lots of training drills that work, even to give you an extra half yard of pace, such as resistance sprinting and fast running with weighted loads. Rugby players often do it. I'd say creedon and co would be smart enough to implement it. A half yard and increased power and acceleration may seem insignificant but it's a not so obvious trait we've been lacking the past few years.

[SCFC]

Is Damien O'Connor involved this year? Haven't seen his name to date...

Anyone? I think he's a valuable player. Hope he's on board.

[Laoisabu]

Yes he is on the panel but currently injured. Not sure how serious it is.

[Tony]

Is Damien O'Connor involved this year? Haven't seen his name to date...

Anyone? I think he's a valuable player. Hope he's on board.

Agreed - he's a massive player for us - he's very comfortable in multiple positions, too, which is great to have. I would personally put him at corner back because of his speed and aggression in the tackle. Corner back is vital for pace - if you put a slow man in there, prepare to leak goals. For a corner forward, they prey on slower corner backs. Anyway, he's back shortly within a week to full training. Will hopefully see him against Louth.

[Unlaoised]

Damien O'Connor should be back in this week...We might have to wait a bit longer for Quigley and certainly a longer again spell for Timmons.

James Finn got injured the first day but is on the mend.

I'm not sure how bad Ruari O'Connors ankle is after the other night but I heard Evan O'Carroll got a nasty injury playing for Maynooth on Sunday I hope it's not as its sounds.

Gareth Dillion is okay as well and is back in contention.

It was a decent performance the other night and it shows that the players are in much better shape than they were this time last year.


Ratings
Brody 7 - Kickouts were decent unlucky with the goal but may feel he might have stopped it.Did well overall

Strong 8 -Very impressive at corner back where I thought he would be too loose to play there

Booth 7-Good in spells looks in decent shape and used the ball he got well.

Lillis 5-Not a position he ws used to and got cleaned out early doors did come into the game.Centre back will be his spot !!

Attride 7- Did very well and grew into the game I think he has this spot nailed down esp on this form

Farrell 5-Maybe harsh but Reilly ran riot in the first half and the gap here was just too much.Did do better in the second half.

Begley 9 -Best player on the park I thought full of running great in the tackle and two fine points off the trusty left boot

O'Loughlin 7-Started slow but again grew into the game needs to offer more from Kickouts but still a key player

Meaney 7-Scored the point of the game and held his own in the middle against Menton.Can't ever fault him for effort

Murphy 5-Not on very long to rate coughed up a few balls but scored one lovely point .Will grow as a player!

P Kingston 7-Thought he was bright in most things he did might look for Donie too much but is a real asset to the forwards.

Walsh 8-Constant threat even when Meath were on top,scored 4 points and is going to be a handful for any back

R.O Connor 6-Unlucky to get injured was showing well for the ball .certainly there is more to come form him.

D.Kingston 9-Started slow but as the ball into him improved so did he had a 5 minute spell of magic and Meath couldn't cope

Donogher 7-Played everywhere looked to be moving well .Used the ball well and scored a beautiful point.Great servant!

Subs

D.Conway 7-Showed well should have got a goal but got on plenty of ball and showed hunger and passion as always

S Ramsbottom 7-Did well scored two great points and hit hard in the tackle ran out of steam.

J farrell 7 -carried the ball well on the break in the latter periods of the game.

R.Munnelly,C Lennon,S Moore,D.Luttrell weren't really on long enough to rate but Moore did get on a few balls and found a Laois man with every pass.



All in all a good night for Laois I know Meath were missing a few but it still was a strong team they had out and it will be interesting to see how Louth(our first League opponents)do against a team who are certainly after putting in a lot of work early doors.

I like what I see from the Creedon set up!

[Unlaoised]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY1R85jqPjs

Never been as sick as I was that day ....some terrible calls against Laois....

We had some support back then listen to the roars as we score!!

[Don Draper]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY1R85jqPjs

Never been as sick as I was that day ....some terrible calls against Laois....

We had some support back then listen to the roars as we score!!

That effing pick up.

[Don Draper]

Fook sake, I've only gone and watched the U21 final highlights as well, now I'm really pissed off.