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That's a bad Ballyboden team.

Portlaoise did everything they could to lose that.

Bad ? - how shite are laois then so

Would expect more from a Dublin team that beat Vincent's.

Portlaoise let in a soft goal, missed goal chances, missed 20yrd free and numerous point chances.

This is not to take from Ballyboden. I just think Portlaoise will be kicking themselves.

That's a bad Ballyboden team.

Portlaoise did everything they could to lose that.

I think having 3 or 4 area teams would add a renewed interest to the senior championship.
I would relegate 8 teams from senior and then introduce 4 area teams. Senior championship could then have 2 groups of 6 with the top 2 in each group playing the semi finals. Have 2 area teams in each group. Play the group stages outside OMP to create a better atmosphere. We need to relegate that many to make the area teams strong enough.
Interest in football in Laois is at a very low ebb. Small changes will do nothing.

It's not 41 yrs since Barrowhouse won a title.
Were they not senior in the 1990s? Maybe I'm wrong.

Mick Dempsey (Laois) - no real impact or success - went on to get great respect with KK
Tom Cribbin (Kildare) - Pushed Dublin hard in his first year
Colm Browne (Laois) - no impact or success
Micko (Kerry) - Leinster 2003
Liam Kearns (Kerry) - Leinster Final but hard to follow Micko
Sean Dempsey (Laois) - no impact or success
Justin McNulty (Armagh) - Push Dublin and Donegal all the way.
TOF (Kerry) - uninspiring appointment no success
Mick Lillis (Laois) -
Fact is in Laois if there is no respect for the manager or he is one of our own or both don't expect a positive reaction. Couple that with ageing players this is not looking good.

Disaster appointment. Nothing against Mick Lillis but division 3 here we come.

I don't think it's all the players fault that we concede too much and don't track back enough. A game plan is something that is put in place and practiced again and again in training and matches. We lack a game plan big time and have done for as long as I'm looking at Laois. McNulty had a plan of sorts but it only worked to keep down the score against the better teams. Moral victories were how we ended each year but we couldn't beat Longford & Louth. He did bring in a professional physical training setup and that's one of the things that is keeping us going in division 2. Coaching of individuals is seriously lacking too. Very few of our players can tackle correctly. We don't know when to let the ball go and get turned over way too often in games. Donie passes as a last resort. He is playing great but if he doesn't score nobody else will. Boyle is a passenger. Maybe he would be better at 6. Donagher kicked a few lovely scores but he is so weak he can't even slow his man down defensively. Antrim will trouble us Saturday especially if they drop players behind the ball like Fermanagh did last year.

A Game we should have won. 3pts up with minutes to go. Brody: Very good, very sharp and brave. Attrite: in trouble in the corner, Keogh not an Intercounty 6, Quigley: went missing in the second half when we needed him. Can barely remember him touching the ball. Johnno: Drove us on at midfield. Boyle: Absent, too slow. Evan: great game, great work rate. Donie: Great performance. Ross: Frees great but nothing else.

Kildare are still not great. Laois have a great chance the next day.

Great to get the win with a good score put up but my god Carlow were terrible. I hope this game doesn't come back to bite us against Kildare. Kildare are very beatable but a nothing game like that could have us at a lower intensity than we need. Laois will go in as favourites now and that's a tag that doesn't suit us.

At Midfield we are very strong but defensively we are wide open still. In attack Donie will be a marked man the next day. He's had a great year so far but the next day is his first real test and he needs to do it in championship. Himself and Paul seem to want to find each other with the ball a lot. We are stronger than last year with Timmons, Quigley and Boyle adding strength and experience down the middle and Attrite, O'Carrol, Sheils and P Kingston all a year older. Weakness would be the physicality of our cornerbacks and number 6 and maybe not enough defensively minded players in the middle third.

Not sure if there is 'real pace' in that team. D O'C ok but doesn't use it. Who else?

In reality this is a weaker Div 2 than last year. Donegal & Monaghan replaced by Westmeath & Kildare. Also Armagh gone too. We now go into the last game with the possibility of being relegated to Div 3. Things are not looking good for championship now. We'll beat Carlow but after that we will struggle. Hard to blame management as the players are not there. I hope I'm wrong but our best players are getting older and Minor & U21 failures of the last few years mean there are few replacements.

Great win last weekend. Saturday will have a real championship edge to it. Great game to get to find out where we really are.