Messages

Our thoughts are with the Deegan family and all associated with Harps GAA.

On a separate note, with the fallout from the footballers embarrassment in croke park at the weekend there are serious questions being asked of the co board.
I do expect some bit of joined up thinking meetings/forums/plans to take place. They simply just cannot ignore the current demise and apathy towards or county teams.

In all of this the hurling clubs need to be strong and vocal as i could easily see a plan for laois football being drawn up and hurling left to die a slow death.
We need to make sure hurling is part of any revolution, if there is one.

Replacing Billy Sheehan will not improve our fortunes. We are simply miles off the pace. We are going to lose players now too which will weaken us further.

We need a 10 year plan for football and hurling in the county and we need it now!

Trouble is who is going to firstly come up with the plan and who is going to implement it??

We probably have better people in laois than Michael Duignan but is there anyone willing to step up and do it?
It wouldnt be easy but if we could just find a really ambitious, intelligent and driven Chairperson. He/She should be able to pull like minded people into positions to help drive the thing forward.

Like many posts on here it has to start at grass roots from the bottom up.

Bottom line is it doesn't matter if Billy stays on or not nor does it matter who the next manager is. Until we get our house in order underage we are simply at nothing in both codes football and hurling. The co board have come out strongly against criticism in the past but they will do well to defend against the current state of our county teams.

Portarlington's minor hurling resuls are very impressive. Fair play to the people involved. And they seem to be doing OK at under 15 and under 13 too. It would be great if an adult club got going in that corner of the county rather than seeing the young lads either give it up or get siphoned off by the more traditional clubs.

Some great hurling people in Port doing a great job. Fair play to them.

On a worrying note, i see our U15s were beaten by Kildare at the weekend.

I read on another thread that laois u15s beat limerick at the weekend. 2 different squads? Was it the second team lost narrowly to kildare?

If the co board are any good at all, there should be action taken now. The first thing they need to do is call on the best people possible in the county to draw up a long term plan. Possibly headed up by the likes of Cheddar (although he will say he gave them a plan a few years ago and they threw it in the bin - because they knew better apparently!) Get the plan in place from top to bottom and part of that plan should be how it is all going to be funded. I've been saying it for years that we need a plan. The fact that our footballers have had poor results is highlighting how bad we are at all grades in both codes. The worst thing that could happen now is the senior footballers have a good run in the talteann Cup ask it would give them the trump card of 'ah sure we're not that bad after all and we'll stay doing the same thing for the next 10 years.

The County Board – Where to start with this?? The one thing that I have constantly said is that there is a lack of direction for our county teams at all grades. There doesn't ever seem to be any long term plan – Where do we want to be in 10 year's time?  How are we going to get there? We just seem to be plodding along hoping to come upon a team that we can follow. Instead of starting at the bottom (where we are) putting the blocks in place and building for the future. It took a while but the penny finally dropped in Offaly and they are now sowing seeds for a brighter future and even still they have a long, long way to travel. I asked the question when PJ Kelly was appointed – What legacy will he leave behind? What is he going to do to change our fortunes? Unfortunately I haven't seen anything different to previous Chairmen. Who is going to take on this challenge in Laois?? We need change – We need Action – And we need it now!!!

Head of games Development – GDA Coordinator – With the departure of Mike Henchy - This is a hugely important appointment. There is apathy around the games dept and they seem to have gotten the brunt of the blame for our academy squad's poor performances. Whether that is fair or not I don't know but we do need to be seeing the fruits of their work in the next few years.

In addition - Install Cheddar as Director of Hurling – Allow him to work with the new head of games development to grow and foster hurling from setanta to u20 level.

Development Squads - Head Hunt Proper Managers and Coaches for academy squads - They are out there. We need to seek funding for each academy squad individually. Treat these lads with respect and provide a professional set up for each squad. ENVA are on board supporting our squads but there should be further financial support from other companies. Again I believe those companies are out there.

Strength and Conditioning – We have a new S&C head in Laois GAA. He needs to sort out that end. We have Willie Maher complaining about the conditioning of our senior hurlers. Most of them have been playing senior hurling for at least a few years – why on Earth are they not conditioned properly to play county hurling??

U20 County Team – I believe we have a very talented group at this level. Brochan Reilly, Cathal Cuddy, Joe Pearson, Bobby Murphy, Cody Comerford, Tom Cuddy, Aaron Phelan, Colin Byrne, Jer Quinlan, Brian Duggan, James Cuddy, Ryan Quinlan, Ciaran Flynn, Lochlainn Conway – Those 14 players all saw some championship action this year and are underage next year and along with a few more that can make the step up we should have a nice team next year. They need a really good set up and while Ollie Hally hasn't been bad I feel this group needs a knew voice and a progressive management set up that can give them their best shot of being successful. This year's team while talented were muscled out of it by Westmeath. They need a good winter of S&C.

Setanta Programme – Fair play to Brendan Phelan. While there might be lads in there that can't hit the ball...they won't learn how to do it playing the xbox at home. There will be benefit from this. The interest is huge with well over 100 at both u10 and u11 groups. I think the plan is to have u12 and u13 next year which will bring the total numbers up to 500 across the 4 groups – fantastic! They will need a lead coordinator and administration for each group in my opinion. The whole thing needs a proper structure. Again I would head hunt lead coaches here to plan the sessions. I do believe if the set-up is good we will get the buy in and it will be a success. Hopefully that will start to be reflected in the development squads in the next few years.

The county board are predominantly from football clubs. The co board are ok with hurling at nothing in the county, they are used to it and expect the same.  The fact that football is at its lowest ebb for many years they might actually think about doing something about it and hopefully if they do we have to hope they won't exclude hurling in their plans.

Whats the story with Roddy. Didnt get a run yesterday. I know his form is poor but surely worth 10 minutes unless he's injured?
Id go with
Rowland
Hartnell
P Delaney
Shanahan
J Kelly
P Purcell
FC Fennell
J Keyes
A Corby
P Maher
R Mullaney
R King
A Dunphy
M Phelan
M Keyes

The setanta programme and the development squads should become the most important teams in the county for the next 10 years. See what happens, its time to try something different. Laois people would be happy with a good minor or u20 team to follow rather than watch our seniors being hammered. How many thousands turned up to watch our minors last year compared to some senior games.
There needs to be a shift in focus asap

There's no need for a shift in focus

What's needed is to focus across all the grades and not downgrade or throw out one group of hurlers over another

The CB in the last 2 years ran a surplus of close to €900k,use some of it but also get organised and work smart

Some of the story's coming out of the development squads are barely believable from an organisational viewpoint

If true

If we do as you say, nothing will change
Drastic overhaul is required

The setanta programme and the development squads should become the most important teams in the county for the next 10 years. See what happens, its time to try something different. Laois people would be happy with a good minor or u20 team to follow rather than watch our seniors being hammered. How many thousands turned up to watch our minors last year compared to some senior games.
There needs to be a shift in focus asap

Laois play anyone else recently? Will they be competetive this year?

One thing that bugs me big time.

I heard W Maher interviewed.

"Waterford are 6 or 7 years further down the road when it comes to S&C"....

How can this actually be?

Laois set ups for the past 5 or 6 years haven't been low budget.

That has been my point all along. We are hearing the same things from different managers for years. Are waterford really further down the line in their development, they are but they shouldn't be? Its not like laois are all u20, majority of them are around 5/6 years others are their longer. We will be competitive with the joe mc teams probably forever but after that we will never be any better than that unless we go back to the drawing board and start putting plans in place for 15 years down the road.This is exactly what offaly are doing.

Maybe I didnt explain myself very well. I dont blame the players or management. Its a bigger picture issue I was trying to get at.

"Laois played well for 50 mins"
"We'll take the learnings and improve"
"We are working towards something"

Different management, same thing we have to listen to. Its almost like we are happy with how we are going, its acceptable.
For me, its pathetic. We are actually gradually getting worse every year. The gap is widening all the time.
I dont blame the players or management. They are lambs to the slaughter, someone to blame in an utterly shambolic set up from top to bottom.

The combined schools team would be a good idea but its really only one cog in a wheel that has fallen off the wagon. Before we even talk about secondary schools we need to get the club structures in place with full time GPOs. We need to develop and grow the setanta programme into something special for kids. We need to get hurling going properly in every primary school in laois. The development squads need major focus and attention and then the secondary schools too.
We actually need to start with 5 and 6 year olds and put in the work for 15 years time.
I'm sick and tired of hearing laois senior managers over the past 20 years talking about taking 'the learnings' from heavy defeats and trying to work on them. The same shite for years we are hearing. Bringing Dan Shanahan and the likes of Shane O Sullivan (performance coach) from waterford and paying them. Performance coach...for that last night, give me a break.
Its time for leadership in this county. Wake up and smell the coffee and stop making the same mistakes over and over. We need to start from scratch and we need to do it now!!

Games Development

As previously stated the role of the coaching and games dept in Laois GAA doesnt appear to be doing a whole pile. You just have to look at Offaly and work going on there is huge in comparison to us. The have an agenda and they are going after that agenda with an ambitious plan to achieve as much as they can in terms of developing their games in order to put them in a position to win hurling and football titles in years to come. It will take time but they certainly are working hard especially since Michael Duignan took the reins there. He got good motivated like minded people around him and started driving all aspects of Offaly GAA forward.

I think there probably is some good work going on in Laois but we dont actually see it. The main reason being we currently dont have a County PRO. We have been lacking in that dept also for the past few years. We actually know very little of whats going on in Laois GAA circles and only for Laois today we wouldnt know anything. There wasnt one update from the walsh cup game on Sunday last on any Laois GAA social media outlets. We know every ball thats struck in Offaly, every initiative thats going on. Fair play to them they have their house in order.

Our games development manager and games promotion officers?

I dont like being too critical but I am quite involved in my own club and i dont see them. I have no idea what any of them actually do. Maybe they are flat out busy and doing great work but i dont see it and dont know where its happening. Leinster GAA have rolled out full time GPOs for clubs to bring on. This is a very positive step and i have no doubt their work will pay off in time to come. But this was brought about by Leinster GAA not Laois GAA, it fell on our lap.

The county development squads and setanta programme

The setanta programme is hugely important. This again is not coming from the county board or games development office as such. It was brought back in by Brendan Phelan (a club member) and Mattie Collier (Hurling board). To be fair i think it went fairly well last year for u10 kids. There was great buy in from kids and parents with over 120 completing the programme last summer. Again it shows the interest and desire for hurling in the county is there but we need leadership from the county board and an ambitious plan to drive things on. The setanta now needs to be upped for all age groups from u10 to u13. I believe that the setanta can be developed into something very special for kids if its supported and properly structured.

The development squads are now being supported by Laois Gaels. Again Laois Gaels are not directly working under the county board and were brought about by another club member Bryan Breen (and others). Fair play to Laois Gaels and hopefully they can be a long term success. After last years minor team success its imperative that a few competitive teams are brought along behind them. The development squads are hugely important. Last year some of the squads were a shambles which has been highlighted here before. Who is responsible for that? I know Niall Handy has a cut at ppl for not getting involved. I think ppl in Laois just think theres no point and that we will never get anywhere. If ppl had an impressive set up to come into I do believe that the will in Laois is there, the interest in hurling in Laois is there, the desire to achieve is there. People want to see a plan, they want to see a future, they want to see something worth working for and then they will come on board and row in.

Minors 2023

After a great year in 2022, what can we expect in 2023? The guts of 18,000 ppl in portlaoise for a Leinster final again highlights the appetite. The whole minor set up for the past couple of years was very impressive. Having someone like Derek McGrath there was invaluable to the players. This team and management was supported by an external source outside of county board. Would that external figure along with a few more external people with a love for laois hurling be brought together to try and help bring success to the county in future years? I hope the minors do well again this year but there seems to be a considerable drop off in terms of management personnel from last year to this year. Regardless I wish the team and management all the best, it will obviously be a hard act to follow.

Portlaoise

There should be two strong hurling clubs in Portlaoise. Currently there isnt one strong hurling club. Was it not part of a plan to create a new club in Portlaoise, what ever happened to that? They have a GPO in there now and while it will take time i think they can turn it around. Again the county board need to have a look at whats going on there, whether its creating a new club or getting kids out to clonad and PRT. There needs to be a long term plan for GAA participation in Portlaoise town. The numbers are huge, One club is not enough.

Schools

Literally no hurling in secondary schools in Portlaoise. Our biggest town by far, a hurling area...how are we ever supposed to improve? Could a combined Portlaoise schools hurling team be entered for starters and try to develop that. Maybe have an East and West Laois schools hurling team entered into the Leinster Schools B competition. The other option that we have tried before in a all of Laois combined schools team. I could be wrong but i think the combined Offaly schools team is only made up of 3 schools. I dont think Birr, Colaiste Cholim Tullamore or Kilcormac are part of that as they are involved in the Leinster Schools B which makes it even more impressive.

Maybe im wrong

Thoughts?