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Have to feel for Harps goalkeeper. Murphy's law for him yesterday. Some good scores in it but overall a poor game.  I hope the Harps push on and win it next year. Some nice young lads coming through and their u17s are decent this year so they'll add a few to it. Park Ratheniska/Timahoe will kick on and have 1 or 2 nice hurlers to come through next year which will add quality to the side.

Great to see PRT winning County hurling finals and hopefully they can build on the success in next year's intermediate grade.  Great exposure for young lads from that part of the county and the club is flying underage.
Felt sorry for young Fitzpatrick in the harps goals, some dreadful errors with give momentum to PRT. Good to see The Harps back competing in county finals too. There a strong hurling area with a great underage set up. They've reached another minor final so bound to feed into their adult set up.

Both are/were involved because of family loyalties, making sure their sons are on a Laois team
Wouldn't happen in any other serious hurling county

Cillian Dunne will be on the Laois minor team next year regardless of whether the manager is Liam Dunne, Ben Dunne or the Pecker Dunne

County board will save money on kits and squad gear with the closed shop policy. Lucky to have a squad of 24 players the way the current u/16 management are operating.

Both are/were involved because of family loyalties, making sure their sons are on a Laois team
Wouldn't happen in any other serious hurling county

Hes in charge of a development panel and has a duty along with the county board to develop as many players as possible during his time in charge. From my information and that of other contributors on here he made the panel a closed shop since the Tony Forristal tournament in 2017. I have learnt that the most he has at training in these years is 20 max and mostly around the 14/15 mark. How is that good management ffs ?.
The results have been unbelievable in 2017 and 2018 but they've been hammered by Cork, Tipp this year. Suffered losses to Dublin and Wexford. I also believe a poor Offaly team nearly beat them last week where this Laois team hammered them in the 2 years previously.
How in gods name is acceptable that no development squad have trials because of a few results. Show me the evidence where this happens anywhere else ?.
Some quality players who are dual players have already stepped away because of the cliché installed by the management.
The players that trialled for this years minors were supposed to be involved in the celtic challenge team but again that was made effectively a closed shop.
Being involved in development teams for many years myself this is one of the worst cases of mismanagement I ve ever heard.

I can only speculate that mcgrath is going to receive a large wad of cash for his efforts. If it helps to improve players and help reconstruct our development panels I'm all for it
My fear is that he is being brought in to allow the current U16 management oust last year's minor management team and that his involvement in the county will be as a partial adviser.

Experience or not his management, selection process and training methods for the last 3 years have been nothing short of a disgrace. There's a clear club bias from people I've talked in the know.
Hopefully Derek mcgrath will change that and be allowed to fulfill the roll without the parochial bullshit that goes on in this county.

I completely agree with Clonadmad regarding this years U16 panel. At least the u15s had ongoing trials at the start of the year. How the team can be termed as a development panel is beyond me.
~No trials since u14
~The only so called hurling county that had one panel in place since u14.
~Players handpicked by selectors who clearly have club bias when selecting a panel and don't travel to other club or schools games.
~Having ongoing training sessions for the last 2 years where they would be lucky to get 20 players
~Denying other players with a passion to hurl for their county the right to trial.
I accept that some times it may be difficult to get the required help but this is where the county board needs to be proactive about hurling and drive us on to the next level. This should all be sorted before Xmas.
Go outside the county if you have to. Ex players who have a passion for laois hurling. Spend some money ffs. The profile of laois hurling is strong at the moment it wouldn't be too difficult to get a proper management team in place for next years minors who are a fiercely talented group.

Well from what I can gather, is that the management team opted to enter one team only in the tony Forristal (albeit with fantastic results) when this group where u14. This went against the grain of every other year when Laois sent 2 teams. I think the majority of the problem is that other chaps not involved in the click have no interest or desire to be ask in to make up the numbers in what essentially is a closed shop.

The fact that the panel has never had trials and are handpicked by the selectors in the intervening years is unbelievable. The mentors who call the shots are involved with their club teams so they never get to view other games independently.
I again reiterate the fact that Laois had only three subs last Saturday a week or two out from their important end of season tournament. Is their any other development panel in the country managed in this way. I believe that one chap playing corner forward is a back and has been playing in that position since he was small. No surprise when I heard he was from one of the selectors club.

I have a friend with a young chap on this panel and heard great things about this team. I went along last Saturday to have a look at a practice game in the training centre against a Cork selection. The first thing that struck me was that Laois had 3 subs, while Cork had a full panel of over 30 players most of which got game time.
I was informed that this particular group have not had trials since u14 level which seems extraordinary considering how players devolp from year to year. A lot of players possibly falling under the radar, in addition to the benefits of 15 on 15 training sessions. I'm a firm believer that no parent should be involved with a county set up  as it totally compromises the job. Im familiar with kilkenny set ups and its a strict requirement to have quality independent coaches with no family attachments in their devolpment squads.
Ps cork hammered laois for the record which is worrying. Hopefully a quality coach and selectors can be chosen for this highly talented group with no family or club loyalties.