Messages

I don't think there's a single poster here who would say that improvement isn't possible. The question is who is best placed to deliver that kind of improvement. The answer to that question depends on how much you respect Cheddar's achievements. If you don't rate those achievements, it's natural that you would be looking for someone else. If, like me, you think he's done a better job than anyone else we've had at the helm since the early 80s (when, by the way, we had much better players), then you wouldn't be so quick to look for a change.

I agree that we should be trying to develop a strategy to score more goals. However, it should be pointed out that you don't need 6 forwards to score a goal. I've only ever seen one being needed. The issue is how to get players into position with the right kind of ball and at the right times to be effective. Again, I would certainly prefer to entrust Cheddar with figuring out that than Anthony Daly.

We played 15v15 against Offaly in the league and we were well beaten. Obviously, it was a different story in the championship when we played with a sweeper. This is not "proof" one way or another but the fact that even the very best teams funnel lots of players back suggests that we're not way of the mark here.

There certainly is a next level to be reached. This will require better players in the first place (despite what you seem to think). It may also need an improved tactical system that gives us a few more goal chances -  I think that will come.
.

I have to admit I'm finding it very hard to understand the clamour for a new manager to take us to "the next level".

The only manager that I would take over Cheddar would be Brian Cody. All the rest have had as much failure as success with players that are far superior to the ones that we have at present. But the quality of our players is improving and I would expect results to slowly improve with them if we have some patience. The level we are at now (ahead of Offaly, Antrim, Carlow, Westmeath) is a job well done and a testament to the work of Cheddar and the players. I wouldn't be going for big names in any way, shape or form. I don't expect Cheddar's approach to be static - he himself is talking about the need to continually try new things and different approaches.

He'll be very good at getting lads to shout into opponents' faces..............

Any chance Woolly might be interested? Or that the county board might be interested in Woolly? 

He makes a lot of sense from behind the mic and I'd imagine he'd be a players' manager. Could do worse??

Very little yet, committees being formed, questions being asked. I also heard a rumour there was an online push for Niall Tully to get the job, please f**k that doesn't happen.

Not trying to be a Holy Joe or anything Don, but could you please cut out the expletives in your replies. Almost every reply you post have them and to be honest does nothing for the good points you are trying to make, in fact it makes you sound like a delinquent schoolboy.
There is no need for it and I think you would be taken far more seriously if you cut it out as you are a good poster and contribute some very valid points to this forum.

Fair play Junior.

I think we're incredibly lucky to have Cheddar. Another great story here:

http://www.hoganstand.com/Laois/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=240628

As redsetanta says, it's up to the County Board now to make his life as easy as possible and to make every possible effort to support him with whatever he needs.

New tactical ideas will always be helpful but I get the impression from all the various storie that Cheddar is a pretty creative person himself. Personally, I think the idea of Laois going 15 v 15 is just not really on at this stage. The best team in the country had 12 lads behind the ball for a lot of the 2nd half against Galway last weekend and that was hailed as tactical genius. The winners' tactics are always adjudged to be the best, regardless of the quality of the players on both teams. In my opinion, Cheddar has managed to get the maximum out of the players we have (exemplified maybe most by Zane Keenan who has worked his ass off in the games I've seen him play) and you can't ask for any more than that.

If we keep Cheddar on board, and with the good players that are slowly coming through, we'll be getting better and better over the next few years.

If we were to go local, I think I'd go for Chris Conway. I always thought he might have the makings of a good manager.

Outside of the county, I'd go for one Martin McHugh (did a great job in Cavan and still doing it with Sligo IT), McStay, Gilroy. I don't know if I'd risk an inexperienced manager from outside the county to be honest.

Ah FFS McHugh is a bluffer of the highest order, his day is done.

Bluffer............?!!!

I know that his work in Cavan in extremely well regarded (he won the Ulster title with them after a gap of 30 years or something) and he was offered the Donegal job before Jim McGuinness got it so that's at least 2 serious counties that don't think he's a bluffer. He's also got Sligo IT punching above their weight in the Sigerson. And your suggestion is Sean and Mick Dempsey, right?

If we were to go local, I think I'd go for Chris Conway. I always thought he might have the makings of a good manager.

Outside of the county, I'd go for one Martin McHugh (did a great job in Cavan and still doing it with Sligo IT), McStay, Gilroy. I don't know if I'd risk an inexperienced manager from outside the county to be honest.

I said last week that if we didn't address the problem of allowing opponents the freedom to wander the field without a challenge we'd eventually get hammered. I honestly didn't think that Kildare were capable of doing that to us and, in truth, Kildare are really not very good.

We are, I think, a pretty serious team when we have the ball. We have a good midfield, plenty of scoring forwards and, individually, some decent defenders too. However, when we don't have the ball, I don't think it's harsh to say that we must be one of the worst teams in the country. I'd love to see the tackle count from that game and I'd say you could count the number of proper tackles in single digits. Kildare lads, as a rule, had no-one within 5 yards of them and had the freedom to pick out any one of 4 or 5 team mates at any point in time.

We were a point up at half time (and could have been more if the goal chances had been taken) but that was due to our good attacking play. We still weren't working hard enough or getting close enough to Kildare when we didn't have the ball so it was only a matter of time before they took advantage. We played the same way last week and got away with it. You won't get away with it in too many championship games.

In an attacking sense, there were plenty of good performances but Donie was again head and shoulders above anyone. JOL was also excellent, Evan O Carroll was very good, Niall Donoher contributed, Quigley did better this time. But none of these lads really did their defensive duties properly.  That's really disappointing because you would think that that's the easier part to get right.

Unless there's a very radical change in the way we approach these games, I can't see us going much further. This would be a shame because we have enough players to cause a few surprises in the championship.

I would be hoping for a much better performance this time. I've seen Kildare twice now and it's clear that they don't have great forwards and/or they don't have a great attacking system. We also have a stronger midfield. This fact should give us the confidence to press forward and keep them under pressure further out the field. In my opinion, we should have at least two inside forwards available inside at all times and the ball should be delivered to them quickly. Our inside line are capable of doing damage but they need the right kind of service. I hope they go out in a positive attacking frame rather than just a load of people running backwards just for the sake of it and never putting in a tackle. A leaf should be taken from the hurlers - we have nothing to fear from this Kildare team and we shouldn't play as if we're afraid.

Still buzzing after that performance last weekend. I used to go to a lot of hurling matches in the 80s and early 90s but gradually became disillusioned with the whole thing. We had fantastic teams in the 80s especially, with class players all around the pitch but I don't think I remember any performance (apart maybe from the beating we gave Galway in the Centenary Cup in 1984) that matched this one. There wasn't a single weak link that I could see and even the subs kept the standard up. I couldn't see us producing that kind of performance based on what I saw against Westmeath.

I've had enough of disappointment at the hands of Offaly over the years and when I saw that penalty being awarded I thought here we go again............ A penalty at that stage could have put us on course for an old fashioned Offaly fightback. Thankfully, the referee used a lot of common sense there and Laois saw out the game.

As far as I'm concerned, we're in bonus territory now. I was in Tullamore on Saturday in time to see the Galway Dublin game and Galway were just awesome. It's a huge ask for the lads to maintain (or even improve??!) the level of performance for the Galway game but win, lose or draw, the entire set up can be proud of their achievements this year.

Just one last thing on the fixtures. If the footballers lose the replay with Kildare, they will play Antrim in the qualifiers on June 20 in Portlaoise. They'd hardly make the hurlers play in Tullamore and the footballers in Portlaoise on the same day would they?

I was disappointed with the performance yesterday. I thought we had developed a style of play that suited our players (lot more kick passing, lot less running into contact, feeding small forward players quickly, Robbie Kehoe and Donoher sweeping up a lot of ball in our own half) and I thought there was a really good spirit and confidence in the camp.

Yesterday, I didn't see any of that. I thought the system was ridiculous (almost guaranteeing that we are not using our good forward players properly) and I didn't really see the energy and confidence that I thought was there.

There has been a trend in Laois matches throughout the league to let opponents saunter down the middle of the field unopposed and I don't understand this tactic at all. At the same time, there were dozens of occasions, playing with the wind in the second half, where we had no forward available to run into space for a kick pass. So we have 12 or 13 lads back, none of whom make a tackle and noone available then to launch an attack.

Kildare scored 16 points and really could have scored more. They don't have great forwards. This suggests that there's something wrong with the way we defend. The problem, in my opinion, is our attitude to defence. We have to work harder from the front and we have to put in a lot more tackles way out the field. Unless we do, we are going to end up being hammered by someone along the way.

We should have gone into this match with the same attitude that we had to Carlow. If we had, we would have won handily enough in my opinion.

There was only a handful of players that, in my view, played close to their potential - Brody, O' Connor, Timmons, Strong, JOL and Donie all did well enough. If we play with energy and confidence the next day, I think we have more improvement in ourselves than they do. Whether we win or not, I think we need to see a lot more intensity from our lads, especially when we don't have the ball.

Fair play to all involved, including the Country Board who often take a lot of stick from forums like this one.

This is a great outcome for Laois hurling. I hope the players now use the experience to find an extra 10% within themselves for those 70 minutes next Sunday.

Good luck to everyone but, whatever the result, we need to go home Sunday evening knowing that we've done everything possible. Certainly, we're starting in the right way. Fair play.

No doubt he's a passionate man (which was badly needed in the hurling set up) and maybe he just made a snap decision. Undoubtedly, he would have been pissed off by what might be called disloyalty to him and the panel, especially after everything he has done for the individual members of the set up. As you said, there may also have been some frustration building up at the performance levels, despite all the hard work that was being done. At the same time, without knowing him, he never struck me as a "snap decision" man. I can't believe that it's all about a club practice match - he's put too much into it to let something like that make up his mind. I believe there's a Facebook campaign to get him back and I hope he might reconsider.

What a disaster!

I'm not connected with anyone close to the setup but it's hard to believe that it all came down to players playing in a practice match. My own view from the Westmeath match was that a lot of the players didn't seem to have the high motivation levels that are needed to beat the likes of Offaly. I just wonder was there more stuff going on the background. Hard to believe that a man like Cheddar could not find a way to deal with the indiscipline in a way that had the least effect on the rest of the panel.

I feel very sorry for him. He's a credit to himself and his county and I have no doubt the rest of the panel would have him back in a hearbeat.