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Great post steven segal ..

Money makes a difference now and we have none.
Lillis is a decent bloke but dosent have the tactical nous for this level but
he did get a lot of lads to commit this year and gave it his all.
As lillis said we need new lads coming thru as a lot are getting on now
We should be i  the mix for promotion next year if we get a decent mgmt team together
Although we could struggle badly if things arent done right.
Tactically and fitness wise we need to improve.

As for ross he was the best laois forward i ever saw play .. class act in every way
Hope he gets involved in coaching ..

Best of luck to the lads. To be honest i think Clare might win. They are more of a team
than Laois and have been playing consistently well all year. We are disjointed and trying
to implement a new game plan in the space of a few weeks. Having said that there is a lot
of talent in the squad and on their day they can beatmost teams. If Donie plays well
we will prob win, but thats a bif if .. we have a strong bench so hopefully we are still there with 15 to go..

I reckon the team thats named will start  SCFC

Cahir is a bit of a legend for portlaoise and Laois. His commitment is incredible.
But being honest at this stage i think we should stick with these new lads if we are to move forward.
Attride has the potential to be a great corner back and Hanrahan looks like he could be
top too given time. Also Robbie Keogh is to come back. Seale too with time could make it.
I think Cahir must be nearly 30 at this stage .. His first love is hurling .. i think he should stick to it ..
Playing both codes from a different country isnt a runner .. Huge respect to the man though ..

I would like to see Walsh and Meaney start on Sunday replacing begley and cahillane ..

No one should be gauranteed a spot on the team  .. keeps everyone on their toes ..

Cant call it ..

Its was a very mixed bag on Saturday ..
Defensively we have improved to be fair but we dont have a cohesive attacking plan.
Agree about Donie, ok he is often double marked but his comes across as unfit
He need to be kept inside the 45. Its a pity G Walsh went for glory at the end, if
he'd slipped it to Donie it was a certain goal. Might have got Donie motoring again.
WE we decent in the first half and were definitely the better team. WE thought
we had it won at half time and Armagh came out and threw caution to the wind.
The got a couple of quick points and started to push up on our kick outs while
we continued to concede their kickouts .. this gave them serious momentum.

WE looked done for when we went 2 down .. but the the best laois footballer of
recent times came off the bench to save the day. Ross has been doing it for
13 years and can still do it.  Also Fair play to walsh he nailed that
45 in style ..

I agree we looked unfit coming into the last 10 minutes .. and we were badly
struggling to track runners ..

merdith, JOL, cahillane, donie, strong were out on their feet in those closing minutes.

Nowadays benches oftern win matches and to be fair our bench won it for us in
those last 10 minutes .. the easy thing would have been to fold ..

I thought Timmons was superb AGAIN ..
corner backs were decent ..
Lillis was decent
Quigley was really good, JOL mixed the good with the bad
Thought cahillane was poor, he gets on so much ball out on
the 45 but not much comes from it .. its not from lack of trying to be fair ..
D conway was excellent in the first half, meredith really good before running out of steam
Begely was quite as was Donie..

It was a match to win regardless of how you won it ..
Often matches like that bring a team on a lot ..

Clare will be a huge test .. i really have no idea how it will go but unless
Donie can find some form and we can get decent ball to him its hard to
see us progressing ..

I was fuming when the Dublin match went to Nowlan Park.
Same when we had to play at the same time as the belguim game despite both county boards
asking for it to be changed to 4.30
But i can accept this replay. The laois mgmt sent on a 7th sub. Your allowed 6. Its that simple.
Id rather replay it and lose it than do a meath (LF v Louth ) on it and win it dishonestly.

I think the extra match will help the development of the team.
I think we are a better team than Armagh.
I chose the ireland belguim match the last time but ill be there saturday week.

Small counties, not  just Laois are being treated with disdain by the upper echelons
of the GAA. I admit that that. I think it will reach a head soon but not sure how or
what will trigger it.

The wonderful world of the GAA rulebook.
They are having a terrible embarrassing years with fook up after fook up.
They are run like a corporation now. No accountability. Suits on big wages etc etc ..

Bottom line is that we are a better team than Armagh.
If JOL is back and our heads are right the extra game should bring the team on furthur ..
This fiasco has brought about a lot of debate from new posters so hopefully the team gets
a good turn out on Saturday week. You could see after the final whistle it meant a lot
to the players ..

How could Armagh be so defeatist as to turn down the offer of a replay ..
They couldnt say no we couldnt be bother playing a replay ..
2nd chance for them .. I'm sure they'll be up for it big time.
Although its a mess i see it as a positive for Laois ..
Another game under the new regime trying to implement the new system
Presume they will get the game up in Armagh and a big crowd will turn up

Jaysus tony i cant see Armagh forfeiting the game. They would love to get Laois in their backyard ..
They would hardly turn that down ..

Supposedly laois checked with the 4th offical and he okd the 7th sub as one
Was a blood sub ..

Cant see them anything coming from but the way the suits have carried on this
Year towards laois you'd never know ..
"We'll show those Laois upstarts not to complain about fixtures ever again"

GAA has been a shambles this year ..
 

Fair point Blue and White, he is isolated.
He's is being triple marked but shooting from impossible angles is frustrating.
Maybe I'm being a bit hard on him but i think by his very high standards he's been
inconsistent this year ..  He does needs G Walsh up there beside him.
For this year all efforts are being put into getting the defense right.
Hopefully like Cavan we can then put a coherent attacking plan together next year.
Getting the transition from defence to attack right. Does take time though.

Good win from the lads against a poor Armagh side. When the game was in the melting pot they found
that extra few percent. You could see Anthony Cunningham giving the teamtalk in the huddle. the
new defensive setup is remarkable in such a short space of time. The starting point with any team is
being difficult to beat. Our shooting let us down but it was great to see Ross come on and nail that
one at the end.
Attride and Timmons were brillant in the FB line . GOH looks good too.
Begley was excellent, his experience was vital. He rarely gives the ball away.
One of Quigley best games for Laois. Meredith played well too ..
Cahilane is becoming an intercounty footballer. Great to see his workrate. Suits him out around the middle.
Donie is so frustrating. When he's good he's unmarkable but he tries to do too much too often. Maybe
its being captain.
Off day for meaney and donaher..
great to see walsh and Lillis embrace at the end.. big men to put it behind them ..
Makings of a good team. Clare will be difficult. JOL coming back will be a boost
Presume they will be favourites but Laois have a chance if they can convert more chances.
G Walsh starting would help on that front ..

Another big issue is that its demoralizing for squad too when they see some of their
best players leaving when they are still involved in the championship.
Would O'Carroll have hung around if we had by some miracle beaten Dublin.
Can lads heads be 100% in it if they are thinking of going to america a few days
after the expect to lose a game ..

The only way to deal with it properly is you cant play in america until your county is out of the championship.

on the bigger issue the championship structures just arent fit for purpose anymore ..

Gary Walsh has always been a bit temperamental. I'm sure he was frustrated being substituted.
Pity he's left, he can be excellent on his day.
OCarroll is a huge loss .. again was taken off early but he could be a massive player.
Would really develop in the qualifier if we got a run going ..
Can see how lads heads are turned to spend a summer in the states but either
they shouldnt commit for the year if they know they are gonna go over there or
the gaa should bring in a rule you have to be finished in the qualifiers before you can transfer

Another 2 fingers to Laois gaa. Its not just the supporters. What about the players?
They want to see their country play at such a huge sporting event. It could be 20
years before we get back to one again.
The stadium will be empty. How is that fair to the team.
If it was on at 7pm or Sunday 3 pm it would pull a good crowd.
A lot of Laois supporters who havent been out to see them this year would come out
after their brave 2nd half performance against Dublin..
Any wonder people are getting more and more disillusioned ..

I thought it was an excellent performance in the 2nd half from Laois.
I dont think Dublin took their foot of the gas that much.
Facing into a 11 point deficit without our main man at the start of the 2nd half
with 16k dubs influencing the ref, i thought 20 point min defeat
But they fought like dogs and counter attacked quite well.
TBH i think if Kerry had given 2 goals up in the 1st 5 mins and had David Moran
sent off they would have been beaten by 11 too ..

Lillis knows hes out of his depth and the setup hasnt been up to the levels it should have been
this year but there are good footballers there. Would like to see what cunningham can do with
that team next year if he stays ..

We are well capable of beating Armagh, thats for sure.. we'll lose a few to America no doubt .. this
is happening to all but the top teams these days ..

Throw in 3.30 on Saturday 18th OMP .. another gem by croke park cronies ..
Everyone will still be watching the Ireland match .. there will be no one there
And its on RTE ..