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Saves them having to open up Parnell Park I guess.

In Kerry, Peter Keane gave a number of long time servants the chop a few weeks back without even giving those players a prior phonecall to thanks them for their contributions over the years . Sets an example to the panel/those trying to make panel for next year. You have to earn your place on the county panel and if you don't those reach a certain standard then you will be shown the exit door. It also reminds those on panel for a number of years that their spot is not guaranteed. Fair play to Sugru for showing strong leadership.   

Divisional teams will work but will take time to bed down. It is the way forward. That way all clubs are playing at an appropriate grade and if there are players worthy of playing senior championship football from these intermediate/junior clubs then there is an avenue open to them as well. Sugru is right when stating the obvious-we have far too many senior clubs in Laois football and it is diluting the standard of our championship. 8 is more than enough for county size of Laois and then add in four regional teams. Maybe Portlaoise could have turned a couple of those losses in Leinster into victories the last few years had they been more battlehardened from playing some divisional sides in our county championship. The intermediate and junior championships would benefit greatly in competitiveness as well if clubs were regraded as well to match their current standing. This would also provide Laois clubs with a real shot at winning Leinster intermediate and junior club titles and provides them with a shot at playing in Croke Park in an All-Ireland Club final. Surely that is a more attractive proposition to clubs than forming a Gaels partnership just to try avoid being relegated from Laois senior championship every year. What captures an interest and invigorates a club is winning championship games and going on a run. The whole parish often buys into it and juveniles are inspired to follow in the footsteps.

Crettyard for example of the daftness in Gaels amalgamations. They are joined with Killeshin at all underage levels and then at senior they form a Gaels with Spink/Ballinkill. If there was to be some merit to Crettyard Gaels then surely at underage they are joined with Spink/Ballinakill and not Killeshin. At least in that way it shows some form of meaningful partnership between the clubs and where players have grown up playing alongside each other.   

Had Dublin been found guilty of breaking the training camp ban what punishment would the GAA have been able to dish out? The likes of Wexford and Laois will lose a home game in league. What punishment would the Dubs have faced considering they have no home league games. It would have been farcical situation had Dublin been found guilty (I wonder if this had any influence on giving them the benefit of the doubt) and continued to play both their remaining home games and forfeited home game in Croker. 

watching Healy yesterday you sense he is on the decline (perfectly understandable considering toll of injuries, travelling and being 33). He is still a top club player. However, I would be in favour of moving Gareth Dillon onto Mannion. You need someone with pace to mark a player like him and I don't see Healy having the speed required to keep pace with him.

Good performance yesterday. It is a pity that they threw away last year's game against Moorefield. It will be such a tough task going to Parnell Park where Kilmacud will be very familiar with playing at. This group of players deserve a Leinster club. They have had a few near misses and I fearful it could be the same this year. Kilmacud have really hit their stride in the last few weeks and were hugely impressive again yesterday.

https://www.laoistoday.ie/2018/11/05/23-players-who-really-impressed-at-the-laois-divisional-football-competition/?fbclid=IwAR2FVDNkO4dehbwSAr8zvk7JHGmwUTidAmAenMl41jPaS4OfsOHrNDgTXGI

This competition seems to have been of huge value to the Laois under 20 panel for next year. A number of younger players in the county have really progressed throughout this year's championship and divisional games and these experiences should stand to them hugely going forward. Billy O'Loughlin (despite huge resentment/criticism within the county to his appointment) did a good job last year with Laois giving the eventually All-Ireland champions a serious challenge. You would hope that next year's team will be equally as competitive.

I'm  not being awkward  but every club being sent down can argue that they are better than some club staying up.  I would advocate a gradual process  where two go down every year and 1 comes up or possibly 3 down with the third based on league performance

No club is being sent down by a selection committee in the boardroom. The eight clubs would be relegated on merit by finishing in the bottom two of their group. As I mentioned in earlier post dividing 16 clubs into 4 groups of 4 allows you scope to do this. I guarantee if this was put in place every club would have their house in order for the 2019 championship season. You could relegate 4 clubs one year and four clubs the next if you didn't want something as dramatic.

The two down, one up model doesn't work (look at fiasco of a few years ago). It is also so ridiculously drawn out and you are dealing with odd numbers that lead to convoluted championship structures. If memory serves me correct, Crettyard received a bye the year of the 15 club championship and therefore avoided possibility of relegation despite not winning a game. Why would you slowly pull away at a plaster when one good quick pull of it gets the job done. Same analogy should apply to reforming our current club structures.

To tease out the 4 groups of 4. You could seed teams based on their previous five years championship results e.g. 10 points championship win, 8 points beaten finalist, 6 points semi finalist, 4 points quarter finalist and 2 points third round loser. After adding the accumulated points, top four teams on points 1st seeds, second four 2nd seeds etc. Where clubs are tied on points you might then use league position as the deciding factor.   

As for tying championship relegation/promotion to league-very unfair to do when clubs do not have access to their county players for large parts of the league. Something I wouldn't be in favour of.     

I would still like to see the concept of Gaels done away with and simply dividing teams as they are now into A and B won't achieve that.

A streamlined system of 12 senior teams (8 clubs and four divisional), 12 intermediate and 12 junior seems to make logical sense to me. You call re-brand the intermediate as premier A or senior A if that keeps some of the clubs happy. I still can't fathom why they opposed to playing at a level where they can be genuinely competitive and have the possibility of aiming for and winning a county title. I guarantee if the likes of Killeen, Crettyard, Ballyfin, the Heath etc. were all playing one another in an intermediate competition the eventual winners would take immense pride from winning out such a competition and celebrate it appropriately. For 5/6 clubs in Laois every year their goal is to simply avoid relegation. I went through my own playing days in such a scenario and the reality is after a number of years of doing it you grow weary and tiresome of it. Having something to play for that is attainable is far more enjoyable and rewarding for players. Winning championship games and "going on a run" also lifts the spirits in a club, parish and community.

I hope some sense prevails in the near future in relation to restructuring the Laois championship because at present the current system is at best mediocre and not serving clubs or the county team as it should.           

simple way of reducing the championship from 16 to 12 teams. In Limerick they reduced their hurling championship from 16 to 12 in one year by dividing the 16 clubs in 4 groups of 4. The two team teams in each group progress to quarter finals. The bottom team in each group automatically relegated.

Unfortunately you are left in the position that the intermediate champions do not gain automatic promotion that year. If you wanted to give them promotion then you could have the 3rd place teams in the group play relegation semi-finals and relegation final with one team eventually losing out. 

If you were to go the whole hog (which I would do). Top eight teams progress to quarter finals and bottom eight teams relegated to intermediate.
Then for the start of the following year's championship (2020) I would then create my four regional sides meaning that their are 12 teams in the championship (8 individual clubs and 4 regional sides). Any club that is not playing at senior level, their players are eligible to play senior for their regional side (similar to kerry model). If a club is promoted to senior then those players are no longer eligible to play for the regional team. Therefore every club is playing individually at their right level and it will do away once and for all with some of these ridiculous amalgamations that we have e.g. crettyard/spink where some of the spink (in reality Ballinakill hurlers) players are kicking a football for the first time that year playing in a competitive championship match.

It's just a thought but it would really strengthen our championship and could be fully up and running by championship 2020.

It's a fantastic draw and we have the added bonus of not having to face a side who has a championship game under their belts going into the quarter final. Westmeath will be much tougher proposition twelve months on from this year's championship game. Heslin and co. will be out to make amends for a write-off of a year. Things were not right in their set up this year and, with the manager that is in place now, I would expect that to be rectified by the time we face them.

The draw should also encourage buy in from lads-realistic target of a division three title and another Leinster final appearance with possibility of reaching a super-eight.

Is Kevin Meaney looking to make a comeback to county fold next year? I see he is selected to play. Maybe he is just a passionate South East Laois man. Great to see the names that have committed to these squads. Should make for two good, competitive games Saturday night.

I agree- the standard of the last few county championships has been deplorable. I felt that when Cheddar was manager that our championship witnessed an improvement as well at the time. The energy and interest created at county level seemed to filter into the club scene. Sadly, it appears things have regressed.

https://www.sportsjoe.ie/gaa/laois-player-reveals-stripped-soccer-scholarship-sneaking-off-play-hurling-weekends-123189

Ross King has given 100 percent commitment to his club and county the last number of years. He sacrificed a scholarship in UCD for love of county and club. Lads like that deserve the upmost respect from the Laois GAA public-not a cowardly and thuggish attack on the field of play. Any normal person would consider winning a final in that way tainted, embarrassing and not worthy of celebration. Listening to interview with Camross manager after game you'd swear he pulled a tactical masterstroke to turn the game. Highly embarrassing and infuriating to listen to. Furthermore, a manager of any class would be quick to wish King a speedy recovery as it was clearly evident that the young man was badly injured.

Eddie Brennan should run now. He's in a lose lose situation. If he doesn't bring in some of the Camross players (when we have such a small pick already) it will be detrimental to our chances of progress in 2019. However, having them there next year isn't likely to develop a harmonious team environment (toxic would be the word that springs to my mind). Hard to ask lads to hurl together and function as a team when certain clubs can't leave insular, backward approaches to hurling where they belong (in the past). Play hard but play fair. Teams that cross the line need to be made an example of and appropriately punished. In Laois we hand them back to back county titles.     

I think a bit of perspective is needed. These lads are all fine footballers but the litmus test is when they face a Portlaoise side in championship football. Too many players have been talked up this year as potential county standard only to be blown away by their direct marker when they faced Portlaoise in the championship. What this year's championship has shown that there are plenty of good footballers in Laois at senior and intermediate level but very few outstanding or really top level footballers. You'd be hoping that a couple of these lads will be able to make the step up with proper coaching and exposure to high level football. At present our club championship doesn't provide this-reason why I hope the regional competition starting in a few weeks really takes off. The only way of truly progressing players is by playing games regularly at a higher competitive level. If players and clubs buy into it it has huge potential for player development.       

Very cheap shot thrown at Graigue and Clancy on this forum. If you took four or five of the the most prominent players (e.g. O'Reilly, Fleming, Doran, Brennan) from any club team in Laois bar Portlaoise they would struggle badly and more than likely flirt with the relegation play-offs. A lot of young players given the chance this year and that orders well for them going forward. They will have benefited from the experience of this year. If they can keep that group of players together for the next year or two they should be competitive going forward.

I'm not sure what more they could have done this year. My reading of O'Dempsey's game was that the first goal proved the decisive score. Showed great character against Killeshin the first day and Timmons showed huge commitment and hunger driving the team forward in games. They very much looked like a team playing for their club and manager.