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Dublin put 16 on Meath, who in turn, put 11 on Laois. Kinda says we're Derry at in general.

That's very very stupid logic, in fairness. Laois man here. Meath and Laois are even enough, that result greatly flattered Meath. Keep that "Team A beat Team B by 10 and Team B beat Team C by 15, so Team C is....blah blah" . out of your logic reasoning. Your brain will explode if you don't   

Regarding the match, hard luck to Derry. You are a good side, it could have gone either way. It's hard to get a run in the championship with being in Div 4 for the year. Going up the leagues like we've done (Div 4 - Div 2 in 2 years) will really bring you on. This is the best Laois side in 7 years or so. I wouldn't be getting too down about the loss, ye will def be back better and stronger next year.

[Some audio reaction from the game vs Derry yesterday :]

Some audio reaction from the game vs Derry yesterday :

John Sugrue post Derry:
https://soundcloud.com/midlandssport/john-sugrue-post-derry

Chris Conway post Derry:
https://soundcloud.com/midlandssport/chris-conway-on-laois-win-at-derry

Jack Nolan on Laois into 3rd round of qualifiers:
https://soundcloud.com/midlandssport/laois-into-round-three-of-the-football-qualifiers

Fantastic win, credit to all involved! It should have been by more, we were about 8-10 points the better team overall. It's hard for anyone to go up to Ulster and get a win in championship but we did it. Derry looked good in championship games so far but we were much the better team. Only real criticism I'd have is not converting those chances more but it's good that we're creating them and going for it. Massive win, LAOIS ABU

There's a new thread now for the qualifiers Laois Rising . Let's continue on there, the Leinster Championship is sadly over for us this year.

Owenbeg is a nice pitch. Good quality surface. Stadium itself is something along the likes of Aughrim in terms of capacity and atmosphere. I don't really understand how the qualifiers aren't in a neutral pitch as it's a huge advantage for them. But we have to go with it. May the best team win. I personally see us winning this one - I can see the lads not being happy with Sunday and I can see us improving on a lot of things that went wrong in Croke Park. Laois by 4, especially if we see Begley return.

Happy enough with the performance today overall. I know that might sound strange after an 11 point loss. But there were a lot of positives and there's no way we were 11 points the worse team. We dominated many periods of the game, and also dominated possession for large spells. In my opinion, we were the better team in certain areas. We just didn't dominate in the scoring department. We're badly needing one or two more consistent scorers up front. Where are our scores coming from? The opportunities are there but we need conversion - for me, the forward line needs far more.

I thought Evan was hard done by to be substituted today. He was causing trouble for Meath but missed some scorable chances. I thought one of the other forwards should have made way. Donie, Evan and Murphy need to start the next day. For me, the next best in the forward line is Cahilane and maybe Scully and Danny O'Reilly up there, too. Our attack was pretty toothless today, and it cost us the match. Not for lack of trying of course, everybody tried their heart out. It's just an ability thing. I thought otherwise, Brody, Booth, Attride, JOL, and Murphy did well. We badly missed Begley in my opinion. All of these things matter a lot and can be the winning and losing of a match. I don't think this year is over. I see us rebounding from this, learning and maybe getting another couple matches out of it. We made Meath (a division 1 side now) look very ordinary for large periods of the game. Just up top were missing that cutting edge for me; we must start our best scorers the next day and keep them on. A learning experience and a lot of homework to do, but progress has been made and all is not lost.

Consolation here is that we have a strong bench. Donie made a substantial difference when he came on against westmeath but he's still not 100%fit to start. Presumably Begley will also be available from the bench but he's not ready to start. Timmons is a big loss but a broken hand usually takes 3-5 weeks to heal, so we might see him for the next match or one after that. Missing our main full back, centre back and centre forward is a big question mark for the squad but let's see how we respond. They certainly did enough against westmeath. I'll go to croker in hope rather than expectation, but I trust all these lads will all give 100%, so I'm more than delighted to support them, win or lose. Laois abu

Team officially named for Sunday:

LAOIS: Graham Brody (Portlaoise); Stephen Attride (Killeshin), Denis Booth (The Heath), Gareth Dillon (Portlaoise; Sean O'Flynn (Courtwood), Robbie Pigott (Portarlington), Paddy O'Sullivan (Portarlington); John O'Loughlin (St Brigid's), Kieran Lillis (Portlaoise); Daniel O'Reilly (Graiguecullen), Conor Boyle (Portlaoise), Damien O'Connor (Timahoe); Paul Kingston (Arles-Killeen), Colm Murphy (Portarlington), Evan O'Carroll (Crettyard).

Yeah, we don't seem to be a high goal scoring county really, for years. We'll need to take our goal chances if we're to beat Meath in my opinion. Dublin do it a lot - any half chance at all, they go for goal. I'm not comparing us to Dublin but there's no reason why Evan or Paul or whoever can't back themselves, take on their man and run straight for their goal, terrorise them. Or better still: look up and see the man running towards goal in a better position. We could have had a few goals vs Westmeath in my opinion but we took the safe option. Of course you can't go for goals all the time but when the opportunity is there, why not! Goals make a massive difference to the momentum of the game and if we can grab a couple on Sunday, who knows.

Yep, going here with the young crew, win or lose it'll be great to support the lads. Delighted with how we're going really, so for me, anything from here is a bonus. Great to see us doing well in Leinster again after all those barron years. 1 final and now a semi final (and maybe another final if we're lucky) in 2 years is good going, especially considering where we were just a couple years back. All we can hope for is progress and to give our all and that's what we're seeing. 

In relation to the match, I see Meath being too fast and pacey for us on the day, a big step up from Westmeath. Probably 5 points in it or so. Of course, I hope I'm wrong. Never know. It'll be interesting to see the teams named...

We're getting a bit unlucky with some key injuries at an important time. Timmons is a big loss but in fairness, other lads showed up against W.meath and we weren't wanting for effort, that's for sure. I'd prefer to see 15 less talented lads give 100% VS 15 more talented lads give 80%, any day. The performance against Westmeath was excellent. I think westmeath are a good, well drilled, talented side and I wouldn't be surprised if we see them around round 4 of the qualifiers. My men of the match would have been Dillon, Booth, Begley, JOL, Scully and Evan. I also thought O Sullivan and Lowry did well, as did Paul Kingston.

I also would like us to go for the jugular more. It's the only chance we'll have against better opposition. There were chances in that match to get goals if we just saw the free man available. We'll need goals vs Meath to have a chance as they are looking fast, sharp and they have good scorers. I hope this is something John will drill in training. If the goal is on, we have to take it. Dublin do it a lot - they could take the point but a lot of the time they have the vision to work a goal. I noticed it at the match itself but also when watching back footage later. I really hope Scully starts the next day - there's nothing like seeing a lad terrorising the opposition like that.

Why would you get upset over that. This isn't a testimonial game. It's a serious championship game. No room for sentiment, best team plays, full stop.
Brilliant, gritty performance by these lads. Absolutely agree with everything high fielder said. The workrate and effort all put in was immense! So proud to support this team. Huge pride in the jersey. Amazing lads, all of them. Thank you to all, including management. That's a big improvement since the league, best performance all year. Meath will be a step up but we'll enjoy tonight and we won't fear them either.

Best of luck to all involved today. Odd team named but we're not at training every evening so we don't know who's performing etc and it could change before throw in. I do see a few weak spots on the team but we have to go with it. Hoping to be surprised but I can see another tight match with westmeath coming out on top. Regardless, looking forward to supporting the team and heading over now after what seems like an age since the league! Laois abu

Using CAPS to shout and roar and telling someone to "f**k off" are hardly good debating techniques. If ye're not able for the internet stay off it. 

Don't act the victim here kid. You're the one accusing a good young lad with a very good name of manipulating and using the laois set up for a bit of gear. All that and from the safety of your anon username; a cowardly, malicious rumour against a good honest young laois lad. Play the victim all you want. That stuff will not be tolerated.

Yeah I seen it before too, at the U-14 club training. Would you ever cop on, you're still spouting that! Have you ever seen a SENIOR INTER COUNTY PLAYER do 15-20 hours per week since December for a bit of kit? You're the one resurrecting this. So go on and tell us, when did you see any fella give 20 hours per week x 26 = 520 hours since december for a tracksuit and a bag?! WHEN? You're talking some nonsense. You're turning into a joke there lad. Best come off the site for a while.