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It will either be someone completely out of the box of thought or it will be a John Evans type if not John himself. Is there a rough time frame for it to be moved along?

Surely not. Isn't Evans the type of journeyman we have been saying we don't want.

Don't think GAA-SMART is saying he wants to see Evans get the gig, just that it's a possibility. It wouldn't surprise me if Peter Creedon 2.0 walked through the door.

I have to admit that I agree with the above comments. Regardless of what team Graiguecullen are throwing out at Junior C level, it's not right. There's no reason why they shouldn't have scrapped the Junior C team and used some of those players, along with members of their proper Junior A team, and had a good run at the Junior A championship, a competition they haven't been far off from winning the last few years.

There's lads on Graiguecullen's Senior side who will be sitting on the bench tomorrow and not see any game time. What are they to do for the rest of the summer? Sit on the bench for the rest of the summer, or maybe decide to drop down and win an easy Junior C title?

...The Harps didn't set the world alight against a Rosenallis side missing John Lennon, but there's room for improvement...

Do you feel Rosenallis would have won the match if John Lennon played?

It would have went right down to the wire anyway. I think there's a great chance that Rosenallis will meet The Harps again in the final.

Connolly saunters in 2/3 of the way through the season and takes someones jersey.  That approach never ends well.

Aw you'd imagine whoever misses out on 26 would be raging. Connolly is a class footballer, but some of those Dublin lads must have been training all year and to see him just come back and get a jersey would annoy ya.

Dublin's bench doesn't seem to be as strong as recent years. I'd say Mayo will still need to be up by three points with ten minutes to go to have any chance. Their legs will give out in the end.

[Group A]

Group A
16 August

19:00 Ballyfin CLG vs Naomh Fiontáin Maighean Rátha    

19:00 Clonaslee St Manmans/Cluain na Slí Naomh Meanmain vs Colt/St Fintan's/Coillte

Group B
17 August

19:00 Rosenallis vs Shanahoe

19:00 The Harps vs Slieve Bloom    


From the Laois GAA website, as of 9 August 2019

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My two pence on the games..

Ballyfin v Mountrath: The winner of this one should surely top the group. It will be a close enough one, but Ballyfin have a Laois senior in Eanna Lyons, and at this grade, that's huge. Ballyfin by 6.

Clonaslee v Colt: Can't imagine Colt are as competitive as they were in recent years in this championship. They'll probably face a relegation final. I don't think Clonaslee are motoring as well as they were last year, but should still have more than enough. Clonaslee by 12.

Rosenallis v Shanahoe: Probably the best game of the weekend puts two of the strongest sides against each other in Rosenallis and Shanahoe. I was impressed by Rosenallis against The Harps, and with John Lennom to come back from suspension, I fancy them to win this. Rosenallis by 4.

The Harps v Slieve Bloom: On the other hand, this will probably be the most one-sided game of the weekend. The Harps didn't set the world alight against a Rosenallis side missing John Lennon, but there's room for improvement. With Ben Conroy out through injury for Slieve Bloom, a relegation scrap looms. The Harps by 20.

Is Either of AOS or SOS fit enough to keep up with McCarthy

No

McCarthy isnt as strong in the air as AOS though. It's a real pity that Parsons isn't fully fit because he has arguably been the best midfielder on show in Mayo-Dublin clashes in recent years.

Ballyroan to win by four.

Thoughts after the first round?

The gap between the top 4 of second 4 appears to be growing bigger, Portlaoise & Castletown  was of a very poor standard, Abbeyleix & Ballinakill both beaten easily.

Borris Kilcotton with a good performance should have won by more and been out of sight earlier, it will be a big confidence boost for them. Camross will regroup no doubt

Rathdowney Errill were at their ease but looked the class act of the weekend

Think it's more a big 3 than a big 4. I don't think Clough-Ballacolla are strong enough anymore to challenge the top dogs.

Court wood gave Kilcruise a bit of a trimming. Big game against the neighbours next for Kilcruise while Courtwood can test themselves against the town

Bit surprised at that score-line. Fair play to Courtwood, few young players on that team that should be in with the Laois seniors next year.

As for Kilcruise, surely it's time they go back in with Killeen and give themselves some future. Neither will be challenging anytime soon if the situation continues, and Kilcruise will be doing well to avoid relegation now.

Stephen Rochford and Éamonn Fitzmaurice two names I'd like to see been mentioned . Rochford not going to stay a  number 2 forever and Fitzmaurice is will eventually be eager to return to inter county management after his sabbatical.

I'd be shocked if either of them would be interested in managing Laois. They've managed All-Ireland challenging teams in Mayo and Kerry respectively. I know we've improved and have a bit of potential, but I don't think either will fancy it.

Hpefully, the County Board will ensure that the Divisional Championhip is a permanent part of the Laois GAA calendar from now on.

Agreed. That area championship helps tell the difference between good club players and good county players. It also raised funds for a great cause, so it's a no brainer really.

Huge loss. Thought we might have got another year out of him. Best of luck to him in whatever he does next. I can see him potentially getting the Kerry role somewhere down the line.

As for who's going to come in now, not easy to predict. No obvious candidates inside Laois. Padraig Clancy is the only one I can think of that might be up to scratch, but not even sure at that.

A frightening scoreline really. I'm not sure how it's even possible for a team to get beaten by 49 points. Maybe I'm being unfair. Was there a good reason does anyone know?

Depleted team from last year. Between missing 7 off last year's senior team and whoever went up to senior on Friday night aswell as injuries. That team they put out would struggle to win a junior c match let alone junior A. At least they fulfilled the fixture. I see Graiguecullen's second team conceded to Killeshin. The Heath have a decent junior team though will struggle to meet the 1st teams ability and realistically lose 1-2 off senior team.

I see Cathal Og Greene back for Park Ratheniska. A massive addition for that level. I'd be very surprised if they didn't win it this year. They threw away chance vs Annanough last year.

Park-Ratheniska look the the team to beat alright. Saying that, they have failed to get over line at this grade for the last four years or so. It will be interesting to see if they can come out on top of any matches that go down to the wire.

I wouldn't write off Kilcavan just yet, but Barrowhouse look like they've fallen back a bit. The Harps have a few decent players, but will focus on the hurling later in the summer and football will take a hit.

I feel a bit sorry for Robert Tyrell. A terrific talent that is being wasted at a hurling club that barely tolerates football in Camross. If he is to play football for Laois at Senior level he will need to be competing in the Senior championship. I wouldn't be an advocate for transfers, but in this case it might be necessary.

Of the second teams, O'Dempsey's, Portarlington, Ballyroan Abbey and The Heath look best placed to challenge. Even though it's hard to know how strong The Heath are considering how poor the opposition was in round one.

Crettyard v Kileen was an aul scrap. The quality was low at times thou. Kingston was great to watch. Kileen are  a very old side. Crettyard dug deep with who they had, O' Carroll had a few nice.pints.Could have went either way at the end.

Would anyone be able to give an age break down of the killeen team? Id be familiar with maybe half of them and would guess at least 10 starters are over 30.

I think only Donie Kingston and Conor Keightley were under 30 from the Crettyard game. Fair play to all at the club for keeping Killeen afloat at Senior but they're going to need to come up with a solution soon.

I seen Stradbally just fell short of neighbours The Heath in their match. Sure 49 points is just a kick of a ball really