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The O'Byrne is a pre season tournament, a blank canvas to try players out in new positions, to blood young players, experiment with tactics etc. Results in these type of competitions are irrelevant and if anything shipping a big defeat to Wexford (conceding 6 goals in the process) will mean the management/players will have learned a hell of a lot.

Laois are now firmly in transition, we need to accept that it will likely get worse, if not a lot worse before it will get better. We're at a very low ebb, so ignore short-termism and lets focus on mini victories or little gains. I don't mean results either btw, I mean the implementation of new tactics/brand of football, the emergence of new young players who may well catch the eye, an increased professionalism with a long term plan in place etc.

Mountmellick seemed to have zero game plan, whereas to Park's credit looked very well organized and had a purpose to how they played.

I was very surprised with how poor Mountmellick's fitness levels were also, a lot of their players seemed to be blowing hard by half time.

I'd say on Park themselves in regards to senior, yes they will probably struggle "but" unlike the likes of Arles Killeen, they seem to have plenty of young players and depth.

I can't help but feel despite Graigue making the 2020 county final, they were too slow to integrate younger players into the starting 15 over the last few years and now it's caught up with them.

Anyone who was in attendance last night would have noticed a lot of the old guard weren't starting, Birdy, Bobby Doyle, Chris Hurley, Ross Alcock etc but they all did for the county final.

Fast forward two months, you could tell a number of those players who started for Graigue last night were very raw and Emo exposed them. Only for very poor finishing in the first half, Emo could have been comfortably up at half time.

I think a rebuild is needed in Graigue now, which isn't a bad thing especially with a lot of talent coming through at minor level. Whilst their juniors didn't have a great year this year by all accounts, they've a number of good players who probably should be on the senior panel who aren't for whatever reason, so maybe this is a blessing in disguise.

I'd expect Portarlington and Portlaoise to make the final, The Town look they're peaking nicely despite being lucky to beat O'Dempseys.

I can't see anyone stopping Port, they're a good bit ahead of the rest of the pack in my opinion.

They beat Graigue by 11 points in the county final and had them at arms length throughout, where Graigue were too slow on both the attacking and defensive transition.

I would also argue that Graigue don't have enough scoring threats in the forward line to win a Championship, while the addition of Conor Kelly has definitely helped, it won't be enough especially with Ambrose (arguable Graigue's best forward for the last decade) not at full fitness.

Scott Roycroft, Jack Byrne, Jamie Murphy etc will all hopefully play senior football next year or the following year, all three have real quality and could be the key to bridging the gap in years to come.

Fair play to Park, they've done trojan work at all levels (male and female) for a numbers of years now and are reaping the rewards.

There will be another fresh faced team in the Laois senior championship next year which is never a bad thing, especially when we've seen how Ballyfin, Clonaslee, Rosenallis and Courtwood have offer something different in recent years.

Mountmellick a club I've always liked and admired really need to be playing senior again, having strong teams in urban area's is absolutely vital for Laois football going forward.

I still think the senior championship would benefit from having 10 or 12 teams maximum, which in turn would ultimately bulk up our intermediate championship with more quality and depth.

Define the term "not upto inter county football" especially when you're a county like Laois who are currently devoid of top talent?

Can we say these guys are inter county class if we played Wicklow tomorrow and beat them by 10 points or do we simply just look at what Dublin, Tyrone, Kerry, Mayo etc produce and say "ah none of our lads are upto it" ?

Personally speaking, you could probably look to the likes of Lillis, O'Loughlin, Begley, Kingston and Timmons (plus a few more) when speaking about the the rest of the panel, you would say most are good to very good club footballers who you could probably replace fairly comfortably on a Laois panel with relative ease, but bringing in Player "A" and not selecting Player "B" isn't going to be the winning or losing of an All Ireland Final in our situation is it?

At the same time if we were only going to pick players who we feel could offer something to a counties set up that was much stronger than our own, we wouldn't be able to field a team I'd imagine. So perspective is needed!

The real issue is that there needs to be a huge cull amongst the Laois senior set up, its time for the older heads to step aside and fill the panel with young players and if we end up in Division 4 so be it? Sometimes you need to take a few steps back for the long term betterment and development of a team in the hope of long term success.

We all know as of right now, the most important thing for Laois is to focus on our underage teams, getting them competitive again and challenging for top honors in Leinster first and then beyond. We see it allover the country, club teams shelling out 10k/20k per year on a manager yet underage teams struggle for basic training equipment. This blatant short-termism with no plan is a recipe for disaster and we've ben neglecting our underage structure for years! 

I would say the same thing about the Laois senior football team right now, let them enter a transition period and so what we spend another few years in the doldrums, but if we pooled most of our resources into coaching structures, underage teams, development officers etc who's to say we won't become the next Monaghan or Roscommon in time?

In Laois over the last decade at least it's been very much a case of "it's harder to get off the county panel, than to get on to it" and a trend that has continued again going into this year.

Are we at the stage now where a championship season is build around looking to finish best of the rest in Leinster after Dublin? Moving up and down between Division 2, Division 3 and Division 4.

When is the lightbulb moment going to come in regards to Laois football, where a complete rebuild takes place? An overhaul of our youth structures right upto the senior intercounty team. The increase in put from the county board in hiring more development officers who are all actually going into every club in the county and seeing what help they need to best prepare their players who are deemed good enough to play for Laois at underage level?

I would happily take a couple of years in the doldrums, strip the whole set up back from top to bottom and rebuild. This is the only way Laois football is going to move forward, starting with the senior team. What is to be gained now playing countless players in the their early to mid 30s?

For what it's worth having a mediocre Laois Senior Championship standard wise is doing the county no favours either. I could count 6 maybe 7 teams maximum who could be deemed senior standard, those sides need more games against eachother regularly with possibly the inclusion of amalgamations making up 3 or 4 sides in a revamped 10 team Senior Championship.

Can someone tell me why clubs in Laois are prepared to shell out €10,000 - €15,000 a year for a manager but wouldn't have the foresight to instead pump funds into hiring a Development Officer (even on a part time basis) or even compensate a few coaches within their club to go into the local school/schools in their catchment area?

Setting aside €2000/€3000 (hypothetical figures) per year to pay for every underage coach within the club to partake in coaching courses, have a coach education weekend where a big name coach comes down and all your coaches attend and hopefully pick up new techniques, drills etc.

Soccer clubs even at local level seem to be light years ahead of GAA clubs, despite having far less money and it's baffling.

I would agree fully with you there, re the lack of a league campaign has really hampered sides and friendlies only tell so much.

My naming of said clubs/amalgamations etc was more brainstorming than anything and I for one know that I haven't got all the answers, but it's sad to see how badly the club game has regressed in Laois at Senior Level.

I know the fear for small rural clubs is that they will lose their identity and their club if they join with anyone and there's no other championship for them to compete in, I get that. "But" that doesn't need to happen, just because Kilcruise and Killeen (as an example) may join together to play in the Senior Championship doesn't mean in 4/5 years time both won't be competitive in the Junior A or Intermediate Championships separately.

I also don't buy this whole "hate" for eachother is as deep in parishes around Laois either, sure there is numerous examples of these amalgamations at underage level.

Anyhow that's my two cents on the matter 

On the Championship itself, I firmly believe that one of O'Dempseys, Port or Graiguecullen will finally topple The Town this year.

I would totally agree with the above statement. I've been watching Laois football for years but never seen anything like the display Killeen put in tonight . Surely an amalgamation has to happen now ?  Killeshin who were in a county final last year seem to have really gone backwards almost overnight. I reckon the loser of Killeen and Kilcruise gets relegated. Courtwood have well and truly had there bubble burst after the other night and don't look anywhere near senior standard . Portlaoise have deteriorated a lot but will still probably just about get over the line again this year .

The solution would be easy and simple in my opinion at least.

1. The current league calendar is far too congested, clubs playing 10+ league matches is madness and should be shortened to groups of 6/8 and no more.

2. One main senior championship with half being amalgamations and the other half being individual clubs, the winner goes on to represent Laois in Leinster (obviously with amalgamations not being allowed the best placed individual club would get the honour)

Just a couple of random examples off the top of my head whereby you might have the likes of Crettyard/Spink, Killeen/Kilcruise, Ballylinan/Barrowhouse, The Rock/Mountmellick, Courtwood/Emo, Timahoe/Annanough etc joining together to play in the senior championship, but will also be given the chance to play in specific grades below as individual clubs.

If an amalgamated side gets relegated, it's irrelevant, whoever wins intermediate will replace them be it a solo team or another amalgamated side.

3. In turn, a separate mini competition could be ran between the 6 or 9 strongest clubs who are happy to go solo this would be done on a straight knockout basis or in x2 or x3 mini groups containing 3 teams in each.

x2 groups of 3 teams - Top team in each group goes into the final, bottom two teams play a relegation final.

x3 groups of 3 teams - Highest scoring team (with points average of course) goes straight into the final, whilst the top 2 in the other groups play a semi final and in turn do the same but flip it to the lowest scoring/points tally side goes straight into the relegation final whilst the bottom 2 teams in the other group face off in a semi final.

4. Clubs want more competitive games, league games aren't worth a toss and at least if Laois are going well clubs will still have proper competitive games on a weekly or fortnightly basis that will really bring on players, I think anyway!

Surely after this year the county board will have to review how many teams operate in the Laois Senior Championship?

Having watched a couple of games over the last few evenings, it's fairly evident that the 16 team Championship nowadays is madness. There are 4 or 5 teams at least if not more, who are on life support and shouldn't be anywhere near a senior football.

One way to solve the problem would be to have a regional championship (the main one) where 2 or 3 small parish teams can join together ala Kilcruise and Killeen and then allow both clubs to field teams individually at a lower grade.

The standard of Laois club football is on its knee's bar the few top sides, who even still are operating at a level below of what it was a decade ago.

@Clonadmad, again this is merely a suggestion on my part all hypothetical 

Personally speaking I think many GAA heads nowadays bang on about tactics far too much, in truth when comparing tactics in the GAA and Soccer for argument sake it's chalk and cheese. In Soccer a managers tactical noose can win multiple games against better opposition, in the GAA this simply isn't the case and more often than not the favourite tends to win time and time again with very few shocks every year in either code of the Senior All Ireland Series.

For me in the GAA anyhow play a tiny part and I think many others need to realise that. I mean you look at the modern game how many forwards in a team can kick a point from play? How many defenders are actually natural born defenders and earn their corn on doing just that? What we have nowadays in the GAA is athletes being moulded into footballers and not footballers being moulded into athletes (with the football too) and it's a damning verdict on the way football is gone. Which highlights so many problems and lack of coaching is the cause.

A senior club will play an ex inter county player €15,0000 a year to manage them, yet the underage teams in the club may struggle for footballs or bibs or a set of new jerseys? To make it worse and I'm not blaming the volunteers who give up multiple hours/days out of their lives to then in turn be held responsible for nurturing the young talent coming through in these clubs, despite having no coaching education or guidance on how to actually coach?

I mean until Laois GAA get tough with clubs and demand anyone that's coaching or involved in an underage set up goes and attends all of these workshops and the county board are sending DO's or whoever around to assess sessions and what not we may as well give it up.

The earlier you catch young players with decent and proper coaching the better the player they become, it's that simple provided all parties are pulling their weight be it play and coach.

Perhaps if Laois even looked at regionalising pockets of the county where the cream of underage talent (before Laois underage set ups) locally from u10s to u13s or whatever get to train even 1 day or evening a week every week with a GDO taking a session? I.E. the elite 5 or 6 players from each club Graigue/Killeshin/Crettyard and then have the same Stradbally/Timahoe/Ballyinan etc (only random examples) where the coaches of these clubs attend to get educated and the kids themselves are getting coached? A win/win imo.

Are you seriously suggesting you take " an elite 5 or 6 players" "from clubs and put them in a regional squad and you train these u10's to u13's once a week?

Crazy and wrong on some many different levels

Crazy and wrong?

From a coaching point of view, how is it wrong if you're giving kids an extra 30-40 hours of football minimum with proper structure and coaching per year?

By age 14/15 most young players have already developed certain bad habits that may potentially be extremely hard to coach out of them, hence why most Soccer Leagues nowadays have county set ups for as young as u12's and would train 1 if not 2 nights a week I'm sure? I know that the LOI clubs all have elite u13 teams who would train upto 3 nights a week, but a typical GAA attitude a sport a million years behind Soccer when it comes to coaching and education will know best I'm sure.

The earlier you bring these players into "elite environments" even strictly from a coaching point of view the quicker they develop.

Could you imagine an 11 year old forward getting advice from a qualified coach on how to use the correct technique to kick a score even for an hour a week? All the while watching others of a similar ages doing the same? Instead of being asked to run laps and being let kick 30 balls wide in a training session without someone being educated and qualified enough to actually go and speak to the child and show them how it's done!

No-one is saying to the take fun out of the sport for the younger ones, but surely to God if we thought outside the box and hired more GDO's and used them in ways like I've said or maybe not but in other ways that we could see real progress in years to come, as the natural talent is definitely in Laois it always has been but it's about maximising it.

Personally speaking I think many GAA heads nowadays bang on about tactics far too much, in truth when comparing tactics in the GAA and Soccer for argument sake it's chalk and cheese. In Soccer a managers tactical noose can win multiple games against better opposition, in the GAA this simply isn't the case and more often than not the favourite tends to win time and time again with very few shocks every year in either code of the Senior All Ireland Series.

For me in the GAA anyhow play a tiny part and I think many others need to realise that. I mean you look at the modern game how many forwards in a team can kick a point from play? How many defenders are actually natural born defenders and earn their corn on doing just that? What we have nowadays in the GAA is athletes being moulded into footballers and not footballers being moulded into athletes (with the football too) and it's a damning verdict on the way football is gone. Which highlights so many problems and lack of coaching is the cause.

A senior club will play an ex inter county player €15,0000 a year to manage them, yet the underage teams in the club may struggle for footballs or bibs or a set of new jerseys? To make it worse and I'm not blaming the volunteers who give up multiple hours/days out of their lives to then in turn be held responsible for nurturing the young talent coming through in these clubs, despite having no coaching education or guidance on how to actually coach?

I mean until Laois GAA get tough with clubs and demand anyone that's coaching or involved in an underage set up goes and attends all of these workshops and the county board are sending DO's or whoever around to assess sessions and what not we may as well give it up.

The earlier you catch young players with decent and proper coaching the better the player they become, it's that simple provided all parties are pulling their weight be it play and coach.

Perhaps if Laois even looked at regionalising pockets of the county where the cream of underage talent (before Laois underage set ups) locally from u10s to u13s or whatever get to train even 1 day or evening a week every week with a GDO taking a session? I.E. the elite 5 or 6 players from each club Graigue/Killeshin/Crettyard and then have the same Stradbally/Timahoe/Ballyinan etc (only random examples) where the coaches of these clubs attend to get educated and the kids themselves are getting coached? A win/win imo.

[were a Div 2 team in my opinion]

I totally disagree the only difference today was the intensity shown by Kildare today they themselves have not being bringing it to games they did today we didn't in any zone of the pitch we did create 3 goals chances I don't remember Corbit having to save any effort on goal so we weren't far off ,, you fail to bring that fight and doggedness into every game at this level then your always gonna drop points,, were a Div 2 team in my opinion

With Donie Kingston & Paul Kingston involved and then having Cahir Healy, Gareth Dillion and a few others providing that added quality and experience.