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The Rock fairly hammered Spink last night.. Football has been completely put aside it seems over there! The two just don't work together for them it seems! Most likely Annanough and Timahoe to go straight into semi finals. Annanough are the only team I can see that MAY put it up to Timahoe. Still can't see anyone coming close to them.

Don't think too many would have foreseen O'Dempseys playing Graigue in the losers group at the start of the year!

Think we should move on from that game now! What happened, happened, and the perpetrators will be dealt with i'm sure! Significant moment in O'Dempseys if that earlier statement is true. It could go one way or the other now with a new manager coming in. Gel the players together or send them spiraling downward.  Still think they have enough talent to progress far but they just don't seem up to fulfill their potential. Losing to Timahoe was an early sign that things were not going so well.

Young trainer who I can't say I know much about. Was he not over that Park team that got relegated to JuniorA last year?

Don't think they will have a queue out the door of candidates but hopefully they will get someone in place soon!

Some shocks over the weekend. Most notably, Mountmellick beating Port and Killeshin beating O'Dempseys.. Serious wins for those teams.

Strad obviously had Portlaoise slightly rattled but they really seemed to turn it on in the second half, holding Strad to a point. The Heath looked good and should go far this year.

Big talking point was probably the row in the Josephs/Ballyfin game. I was at the game and although it looked very bad there didn't seem to be any serious injuries after it bar one of Josephs guys. Not sure who. It will be interesting to see what action is taken on this though.

As a previous poster said Ballyfin lost some big players and could potentially lose more so it's hard to see them troubling anyone else in the senior ranks now which is unfortunate for them.  Agree that the referee was poor in the game. A thankless job but he didn't seem to have control of the game at all.

Potential Arles derby in the next round sounds good but think it'll be a Killeen/Town final, with Portlaoise to sneak it! Not a mindblowing prediction 

Mountmellick v Portarlington - Could be close enough, but reckon Port will have enough to win.

Emo v The Heath - The Heath to win this comfortably, look to me motoring well.

Ballylinan v Killeen - Can't see anything but a Kileen win here.

Ballyfin v St. Josephs - Joseph's to have too much for Ballyfin.

Crettyard v Ballyroan Abbey - Will be tight but reckon B/Abbey will come out on top.

Killeshin v O'Dempseys - O'Dempsey's will be sore after losing to Timahoe in the Division2 final but will surely pick up a win here.

Portlaoise v Stradbally - Portlaoise, can't foresee a shock.

Arles v Graigue - Probably be the toughest to call, unknown quantity in relation to both these teams. Graigue to sneak it.

Have to agree that Timahoe should win this, probably comfortably enough. Surely the players and management will not allow a repeat of last year where they went in to the final complacent and Ballyfin shocked them. Quigley being back is a massive boost for them, they are in the Division2 final tonight, beating a couple of senior teams along the way so they seem to be motoring well. Hard to look past them.

It would be great to get someone in place before the local championships really kick into gear. Let them get to a few games to see if they see any potential new players, just having them visible at matches would do no harm for morale among supporters/players, it would show people they are genuinely interested in the local scene and not just inheriting the same squad. I know that more than likely the personnel wouldn't change much but at least they showed interest.

Interesting championship, no real obvious potential winner but plenty of contenders. Park coming down from intermediate would be the most likely but no guarantees with them. They are a bit inconsistent, some good results in Division 2 followed by some very bad results. Any of the senior teams second team can't be written off, will obviously depend on how many are plucked for senior championship. Always find it a bit unfair that some teams can potentially get weaker as the championship progresses but no realistic way to get around that.

I'm sure Cahillane will be playing senior championship for Portlaoise, I would be shocked if he didn't. I think the gap between Portlaoise and the rest of the senior teams may be narrowing but I cannot see them being troubled this year. Their teams in league games look to have been a good bit weaker than a potential championship team but they still performed well. They will hope to have a good few of the big guns back for the Strad game.

O'Dempseys, Port and Killeen are probably the most likely to trouble them but every dog has it's day so you never know! Let's just hope we get a competitive championship with some entertaining games!

O'Depmseys are too strong for this division. They would probably be up around semi finals in Division 1 if they were up there. Hard to see anyone stopping them winning this league, though Mountmellick did surprise them last year! Don't like that they gave a walkover in their last game though. Not really fair on the other teams in the division.

Agreed that it doesn't look great for Ballyfin but they are usually a different team in championship, though it is hard to see them worrying Joseph's too much.

Timahoe look to going well, must be favorites for the Intermediate this year. Lost Clancy but Quigley is a serious gain!!

Crettyard do seem to kick into survival mode at this time of year and fair play to them! The Heath seem to be going well and should be in line for a semi final although they do have 2 tough games coming up. Very strange with Graigue conceding game, you would imagine no team in Division 1 should be conceding games but sure!

Whoever we do get as manager, there is no point in hounding lads to play who do not want to. There was much talk about Laois players mentality after the Antrim and Kildare games. The players on the field those days were lads who wanted to be there representing their county. I would be far more confident with lads like that over lads who did not want to be there.

We need someone who can get all the players playing for the county. Someone that inspires everyone to join up and put everything into it. In some counties this kind of commitment is a given, not in Laois. For this reason we need a big name manager. Someone who'd make the same impact as Micko, just his name brought everyone on side to begin with.
If we appoint an inside man this wouldn't happen, if we appoint someone from outside similar to O'Flatharta they would be in the same position. The problem is that we don't have the money for a big name manager. We'll have to appoint someone local or second rate and hope the players show some pride and start playing for their county.

Fully agree with this. I can't imagine a local person who would get everyone putting their shoulder to the wheel and get the top footballers in the county at their disposal.

So O'Flaherta is gone, bit of a managerial merry-go-round at the moment. Fair enough he didn't seem like a great manager, nor did he have a great record, but I would find it very difficult to point the finger solely in his direction for Saturday's loss. The players just seem to fold when any serious pressure is put on, which is a real shame considering some of the talent that is there.

Hard to know who would be really wanting to take over Laois now the way it is. I see other posters calling for a local appointment but realistically is there any candidate who would be suitable? I can't think of any..