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we were in one way flattered by the 9 points win last Saturday, and if the Limerick  forward had goaled instead of hitting the post in the 60th minute then the game would most certainly have gone down to the wire.

the positives is that we do look fitter, we at least seemed to have some fuel left in the last 5 minutes, as compared to last year when we were often on fumes in the last 15 minutes.

I sense fans at least see an element of reality with sugrue. he knows the laois scene and realises that we do have to rebuild and what we may find is that division 4, albeit, bottom of the barrel stuff, is less punishing for rebuilding projects. I read on the main forum of this board, that Sligo, a bit like ourselves are on a rebuild, and look how they suffered in div 3 last sunday at the hands of Armagh.

I read elsewhere on this thread that a good season would consist of gaining promotion to div 3 and getting to a leinster semi final against Kildare. The former is achievable, the latter target is, as of now, a big ask. I think Westmeath are a long way ahead of us, possible at the peak of their current squad and spearheaded by a marquee forward. They along with Wexford are div 3 sides, and it would be quite some achievement to beat both to get to a leinster semi final, not impossible, a tough ask.

as for this sunday, I was in Carrick the last two times Laois played there, that qualifier victory over Leitrim and the qualifier defeat to Donegal the next year. From memory, it is a tight pitch with a pronounced scoring goal(road end).  Leitrim have a limited squad, however they do bring a local pride and passion to proceedings especially when playing in Carrick. I see they beat Sligo a fortnight ago in that Connaught league. So they deserve respect. In fact, if a transitional squad, such as ours, takes any of these div 4 sides for granted, then we may pay a price.

Again, I would be happy to win 12 points to 10 and travel back east with the 2 points in the bag.

the appointment of billy, if ratified tonight will go down in most quarters as comedy gold, with the laughing all in the direction of laois gaa. it is some statement about the state of affairs of laois underage football. 

for billy it is a no lose job...nobody expects much, and if they fail, he can slide back to oblivion having had his chance.

2 limerick veterans have retired...regular full back McCarthy and buckley who was a sub for most of last season. 14 of the 15 that started against clare in the championship in ennis are available for selection...in effect they have nearly a full squad at their disposal.

how good are limerick footballers?

well in the munster championship last year, Limerick ran Clare to the pin of their collars, losing by one point....the same Clare team that travelled to Portlaois for the qualifiers and made a laugh of Laois.
9/2 Limerick for this game against a rebuilding Laois is an insult. I would happily take a one point win this minute and move on. We have got into a very bad habit of losing, these last two years and there is no guarantee we will snap out of it in division 4.

I think limerick plus 5 points with boyles is some bet.

With the strategic review coming out tomorrow I'd like to know what changes people hope will be in it.
I myself would like to see a move towards a long term professional set up that incorporates all players from the u13/14 up. My reasoning behind this would be that once a child is brought into the county set up there should be a clear line of progression, including expectations,  attitudes and outcomes with the senior teams being "professionals role models" in the same way of the first team premiership club.
To start with I'd invest heavily with a "laois player" app. This would be download able under licence by all players with coaded usernames for better personal protection.  Along with this each player would receive a performance tracker vest top "sports bra." With all players having to wear it to track activity for county, club, school etc and aduring all sport activities afterwards it bluetooth syncs to the players phone and app. if they play rugby/soccer etc with the consent of that coach. This is overall just to protect against over training etc. 
The app itself would allow for a better understanding of what your players and doing and how they are reacting to training. It will also allow coaches to send training material directly to their teams rather than waste training time on tactical talks the players can arrive to training with the training session tactics already known.
Along with the app I'd hire a full time nutritionist, exercise physiologist, S&C coach and video alalyst.  These people would be available to all Laois teams. Prior to training individuals would open their app see their coachs input and highlights from the previous games ex: possession turnover short 3min video on the turnovers etc followed by 2 min of coach instructions on how the session is going to be run etc. Players turn up switched on. Along with this the coach can give individuals highlights to them directly and what they are to work on themselves.
The APP+tracker would also allow for direct following of the S&C program and how they are responding to it. As for the s&c it should be conducted along the lines russian liner periodisation along the lines of Zerhoshansky, Zatziorsky, Siff and Simmons. This will instill a constant winning/achieving attitude from an early age on. Weight training should begin with the youngest teams and be a constant progression.
Going back to the club's I'd like to see how the underage structures are within each club. Again clubs could be given acess to the app with training games, structures training etc all there for them. I personally would like to see training sessions from u8 up be run with lots of 1v1, 2v2 skills based training games I think for skills development and overall talent.

Laois Gaa is an amateur organisation....the above bollix about under14s doing programmed strength and conditioning is what will ruin the sport....most kids, especially under 14s and 16s should be allowed to express their natural talent, instead of being put into a robotic system.....Beano McDonald was a brilliant minor due to sublime skills not being a bulked up teenager...............all the above apps and tracker stuff is fine if you are  a professional member of a leinster rugby or munster rugby squad......please tell me what happens if you follow the above mantra and still get hammered by 15 to 20 points in your key championship game..what then?

well that was desperate stuff tonight against an experimental Kilkenny team. you can make all the excuses you want, if Westmeath were playing that KK team, the game would have been in the melting pot with ten mins to go, and at best it would have been a single digit win for kk.
I fear we are going to get some unmerciful trimmings in the league.

what is so annoying is that the set up is costing serious money and in this age of virtually professional backroom staff, they should be able to prepare a team to give a makeshift opponent a proper test on home soil, instead of getting a 25pts plus tonking.

these players have been training for the last 8 weeks or so.............I predict any couple of ordinary guys could have gone round the county yesterday and assembled a team without training that would have given a better account than that tonight.

the professional age of GAA is simply squeezing the last flickers of hope out of small counties such as our own.

portlaoiseman says  this thread has become nasty...........no sir, we are entitled to examine the candidates....whoever wins is likely to serve for the next 5 years and the direction they steer the organisation within the county and the leadership they bring will be an important factor in success or failure. If an individual does not want to be therefore examined, don't offer themselves on the ballot.

clearly, portlaoiseman is miffed about his candidate not getting a positive reaction. I have no axe to grind with portlaoise gaa club, and have never been negative towards that club on any posting on this board. If for instance individuals of the calibre of John Hanniffy or  Cheddar were seeking the position of County Chairman, they would have my 100% support, no question.  O Neill brings nothing to the plate, one of those non descript individuals, that has hovered around for long enough and suddenly is at the doorstep of a relatively influential position.

from the late 1960s, the list of county chairman reads, Tom Cushen, Sean Ramsbottom, Bill Phelan, Tom Hassett, Dick Miller, Brian Allen, Gerry Kavanagh....I have experience of all 7 men, and they shared one common denominator....they were committed Laois men. O Neill is not a Laois man and that rankles with me and many others.  I have  spoke with plenty of current and past committee men within Portlaoise Gaa club and O Neill does not get universal approval within his own club is a kind way of putting it...Parkinson on twitter is certainly reflecting a view held by many others within the club.

Hesh's Umpire reflects my view on Shaggy. I have worked alongside him on county fund raisers in the past and he has a good way of sourcing funds for the county...I have found him to be very effective from a few business dealings with him also, and despite the much maligned comment he uttered at the county meeting about foreign games, I think Leavy is quite well clued in......for the record, Leavy with that comment about other sports versus GAA, he was correct in a way..... the GAA should be proactive in looking after itself first rather than rolling over and losing out to other sports....akin to the Christian churches currently taking a big beating from the liberals/pagans and doing nothing about it.

Anyway, a contest is more interesting than a coronation.  My club met earlier in the week, having been heavily canvassed by O Neill, it was decided that the chosen club delegates would have a free vote, you can guess who is getting mine!.

I think Leavy will poll strongly on the Carlow side, I am 100% certain he will win the votes of both Arles club( a novelty), and I think he may receive the majority of the executive. Not sure how he will poll in the southern hurling hinterland, this has the makings of a 60-40 election.

the one item that is pleasing is the bravery of Fergal Byron to run for coaching officer, he is a shoo-in, may receive a walkover....I would see a Leavy-Byron ticket  adding energy and positivity to the county.

losing the coin toss for the home venue for the first round of the leinster championship adds to the difficult year ahead....wexford park now becomes a very serious test.

the football draw was as good as could be expected. If you cannot beat Wexford at home you are in deep trouble, as Wexford is another county like ourselves declining in the past 5 years or so. Westmeath were the weakest of the 4 seeded teams and again we have a realistic shot at downing them..however defeating Wexford or Westmeath would be contingent on the panel becoming much fitter....we don't want to see established lads with their hands on the hips panting for breath after 20 minutes(like this year in numerous games). If we happened to win the first 2 games, with confidence up we might rattle Kildare.

I was worried about the 2nd tier in hurling, looking again at the draw last night(or the fixtures in tier 1), it may turn out a blessing in disguise that Laois are in Tier 2...we can if primed beat all 5 others in Tier 2, and then we earn a crack at the 3rd placer in Leinster/Munster and are 70 minutes away from an All Ireland quarter final......a fine carrot to dangle............on the other hand look at poor Offaly.......I can only see 4 heavy demoralising defeats coming their way in Tier 1 and then relegation....that will be hard to stomach by their supporters and could end up causing them difficulties trying to get out of Tier 2 the following year.

with 3 candidates declaring their hand at an early stage, they are asking for exposure on one hand and scrutiny on the other.

don draper asks what have they done to deserve the job..........a fair question, however a more pertinent question would be to describe what the ideal candidate for this post would be in your opinion.......a straight as a dye individual with an impeccable CV for instance..or would you prefer a cowboy rogue who might through his various mechanisms make the county more successful?

As of now, the professional position of Secretary, is really the main key holder within this county, I have no idea what the terms and conditions are for that position(full time secure position until retirement perhaps?)....all the other executive positions are volunteers and we have the musical chair effect. I have no difficulty with the incumbent secretary, and assume he works to a prescribed job spec, my only question concerning the proliferation of full time positions within many counties, is who is responsible for the inevitable pension contributions....to date, few counties had this problem......are counties facing this pension bill or will Croke Park and the provincial councils be picking up the tab?(I ask this question as an aside).

In this day and age, truthfully, the Chairman of each county is a figurehead and probably the ideal candidate would be an individual with the capacity to unearth significant amounts of covert sponsorship to finance the best possible inter county teams and management set ups.....because those inter county teams are the flagships.

In a perfect world, we would love a successful Laois businessman with global contacts at the helm to help our quest for some level of intercounty success. Alas such candidates are unlikely to surface too often, I think Tom O Loughlin may have been the last businessman to throw his hat into the ring.

Back to reality and whilst some may bemoan the slate of 3 candidates on the ballot, the unattractive nature of the job in a weak county may contribute to the state of the affairs.

I suspect, no other candidate will surface and I think it will be a 2 runner race on the day of the convention.

I note none of the 3 candidates have any education outside of 2nd level, and 2 are employees, and I struggle to think what their personal area of expertise in life may be..............in a nutshell if any of the 3 candidates were applying for say the job of Laois County Council Manager(or for most managerial positions)....their CVs would render them unqualified and none would even get an interview....this assessment may sound cruel, but it puts things into perspective.

Brian and Peter are "nice harmless" gents, Sean more a "wheeler dealer".   Brian ought to be reaching pipe and slipper time in the GAA, he had his turn and he has zero chance of winning a second term. The only reason why I would imagine he has said he is running is because he may fear he will lose his central council post to the outgoing chairman(if he runs for that post). If Brian remains in the field it will be very poor judgement on his part and he will place a poor 3rd.

The real tussle is O Neill v Mortimer. The 2016 vice chairman vote off between them was tight, Mortimer winning by a few votes......the fact that he won that vote is critical as he unseated O Neill(the previous incumbent).

It is now or never for Mortimer, I don't see him lingering around the county executive should he lose.

My guess whether it is a 2 or 3 runner field, Mortimer will win comfortably on the first count.  Will he be the first ever Camross man to hold the position?

a couple of hours to the action and the signs are for a dry afternoon.

I think the senior b will be a very tight affair and it could come down to the better conversion rate from frees.  Personally I am against "gales amalgams" functioning outside the highest club grade, and todays final is a slap in the face for those single entity clubs operating at "b" level.  Ballyfin to scrape it.


The 2016 A championship was a vintage version with a memorable drawn final.  I think the standard of fare in 2017 has taken a mighty dip and the two relatively lifeless semi finals continued a low standard championship.  Not one team at Senior A level has an unbeaten record in the championship. If you were to delete the Camross-Abbeyleix game from memory, then the black and amber would be strong favourites, that defeat hinted that as others say they are a functioning sum of the parts.
Clough Ballacolla needed to peak to beat Rathdowney and they went through the motions against Abbeyleix once they started strongly against the breeze, the second half of that game was almost like a tame challenge game. I do fear the legs may be gone on some of the C/B veterans, today may tell.

My overall read on Camross is that they are akin to Tyrone in football...very functional, programmed and a cornerstone of their game plan is to establish a lead and thereafter control the game...........if they lead early I suspect they will win in a workmanlike fashion, similar to the Borris semi.

The fly in the ointment would be C/B flying out of the traps and getting a lead, then just as we saw with Camross v Abbeyleix(or Dublin-Tyrone), the "program" then stutters, and C/B could well hold on.
Whoever  is in front by 2 or 3 points in the first 15 minutes is likely to win....could we have another draw in 2017?

I spoke with one of the 3 man interview committee, and not one person has even been pencilled in for a meeting, let alone a short list been composed. Names have been proposed, some by clubs and the teasing out process(checking out who may actually be interested will commence soon).

keyser....the mr scully reference, is because he was the ballyroan guy running round behind Clancy with a tactics board last year, much to the mirth of many, suspect the guy is star struck(if you can be) by Clancy.

I tend to believe that John Sugrue's record within Laois is far from hectic, just my opinion.

Billy Sheehan is a marmite character...I felt he gave it his all when in the blue and white and fulfilled a disciplined role when with McNulty...........he was a coach with Cork footballers in 2017, and whether we like it or not, Cork footballers are much higher up the football food chain than Laois, and evidently he was appreciated in Cork.

my preferred team, would be Mick Dempsey as manager, with Clancy, Conway and Sheehan(fitness) as assistants/coaches.........Dempsey with more experience could take the heat as manager and the others as younger bucks could learn the ropes.

paddy power odds

o dempseys   2/7            ballyfin 7/2
ballyroan       8/11          crettyard 11/8
portlaoise      1/5            kilcruise   4/1
killeen           2/5            port  3/1
ballylinan     10/11          mmellick  11/10
st josephs      1/6           clonaslee   11/2
graigue          2/5           killeshin   2/1
stradbally       4/9           heath      11/4

where is the value?
   

I was a club delegate at the meeting on Monday evening and I could go into detail and fully fill in the doubting Thomas merchants, I will not, because it serves no purpose.

The heart of the issue is Laois Senior Football and the future.

we can all see the current roots are rather weak and require strengthening, and the current fruit is of a poor quality as compared to the past, and some of the current fruit has blemishes.

The County Chairman's key message at the end of the discussion was that appointing 3 different managers in the last 4 years has solved no problems and finding another new manager will continue a vicious circle.


As a club delegate, let me explain to you the procedure for appointing a new manager..........the executive, from within, select 3 or 4 to conduct interviews, and they then return to a county board meeting with a candidate, and the delegates are as good as told to rubberstamp this selected candidate.

On this forum, we can all offer different views on the state of football at senior level within the county. What is undeniable, is that you need to be properly organised and management must command player respect and through good management have a powerful control over players.  In otherwords, find the right candidate, and discipline(team and personal), attitude, application and dedication will all fall naturally into place.

The one common denominator of fault for the past 5 years under the stewardship of Gerry Kavanagh has been the flawed interview process which 3 times has now delivered inadequate managers. In the business world, the sourcing and appointing of the right candidates into key management positions is critical to commercial success.  Appoint duds and the business fails, that is why I suppose the recruitment firms thrive due to their relatively successful record in finding candidates to fill briefs.

We can all here see that Laois Football is a devalued currency compared with 10-15 years ago, it is still not as bad as the results suggest in 2017.

The right manager will not suddenly make Laois a challenger to Dublin in Leinster, or a div 2 side in 2 years........a right manager is one who will automatically through his actions and attitude and character, receive full cooperation, respect and compliance from his squad

If the entity tasked with locating such a manager has failed 3 times within 4 years in their chore, then it becomes critical that a different entity(perhaps some outsiders with the acumen) be selected to find the new candidate instead of the regular 3 or 4 off the executive.................will this happen........highly unlikely............because, those 3 or 4 individuals from the executive, would regard the job of headhunting and nominating a new managerial appointment as one of the perks of their own personal executive positions.

as someone who was at the county board meeting, those of you making a laugh of the proposal by Mick Moore to sack the outgoing management, an element of context is required, and the motion was in keeping with the mood of the majority of the delegates.

Some time before the discussion was opened to the floor, the county secretary gave out details of a meeting held last week between members of the executive and creedon in reviewing the dreadful year.

amongst the gems offered by creedon at that meeting included:

"He replied to queries on all matters relating to our indiscipline particularly in (the) league, stating it had resulted in a breakdown in trust with some players"


"GPS data results displayed our fitness levels to be only standard during the league, resulting in a five week block of fitness training being introduced after (the) league, which showed an improvement for championship, but levels dropped for second half performances against Kildare and Clare".

"Unaware of alleged rumours of a certain culture not befitting of an intercounty panel"

"Backroom team and their roles and acknowledged that as a management team some mistakes were made and they are aware of that".

"In reply to a query as to the future of Laois GAA football, he stated that it was his opinion that an incoming manager must make hard decisions into the composition of his panel in both retaining balance and with a view to a complete rebuilding process and youth policy, in preparing 2016/2017 minor panellists for intercounty football, and that is providing these players are willing to commit and that our pre league training programme should be structured 80% fitness and 20% coaching".

and the secretary's notes on the meeting concluded with

"It was agreed that we engage in reviews with all stakeholders and that Peter Creedon's opinion also be sought as to if he would consider continuing in role and if so, his plan for the year."


the last sentence is key, because the only Laois selector with Creedon is the county chairman's son.....said chairman, Kavanagh, is batting heavily for the retention of Creedon.



There are nuances and tones which happen at county board meeting, frequently there is tension between the executive and the club delegates.  The clear impression given between the briefing on the meeting with Creedon and the sounding from the executive was they want to retain Creedon.  It was in that context that Mick Moore tried to move his motion for dismissal, and was shot down by the smart ass answer that Creedon only had a one year term and therefore could not be sacked.  In hindsight, perhaps the easier option would have been for Moore to move a motion that Creedon and the outgoing management be excluded from consideration for 2018.

As you can see from the Creedon briefing, he had trouble with discipline, fitness and awareness of external troubles.....totally out of his depth........the fact that this gentleman has not copied the approach of Kevin Ryan(Offaly) and move aside, lends me to believe that he is just another useless gravy train manager.
The club delegates have a significant voting majority over the executive in Laois, and judged on the soundings last night, the chances of the executive getting through a second term for Creedon are nil, as at a max 2 out of the 30 odd clubs would vote to retain him.