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Does anyone have any idea how our academy teams are going this year? I saw u15 hurlers won something. Laois gaels post plenty of pics etc. on social media about teams but does anyone know how they are really moving. Are they competitive with the bigger counties or are we being well beaten amd we are only seeing these posts when we win a game against inferior opposition?? I would love to see all fixtures/results all the time, would give us a great indication of where we are and maybe encourage us all to go and watch a few games if  a team were indeed showing promise!

I have noticed this, and not just with Laois. Is there a reason why its so hard to find, look up underage intercounty fixtures, result, etc? You'd swear absolutely nobody (except those directly involved) would ever have any interest in trying to attend some of these games.

I was in Croker yesterday. I wasn't expecting that result, but I was confident Dublin would give a better account than what the general public was predicting before it.

I hadn't watched Dublin live in the flesh the last few years, but what really stood out too me was the shear size of them. They're an absolutely massive side, easily matched Limerick in the physical stakes.

Unfortunately that's where hurling is going to be won and lost now. More than ever physicality is the main edge.

100% agree, if Kildare can come from essentially no where to produce a hurling side to compete in the Leinster championship then we have no excuse.

The funny thing is, our lads are regularly beating Kildare at under age still, some big beatings in there too. But it's been noticeable the last few years, that we're struggling badly to transition our rare under age talent to the seniors.

Whereas Kildare are carefully, and successfully bringing their talent through. There's something fundamentally wrong in how we operate at underage in this county. This years u20's another prime example of a good crop of young lads that were not developed properly through to adult levels and beyond.

[The last time Tipp played the Joe McD losing finalists was against Offaly in 2023 and they put 7-38 past them]

It is also a bit of a shambles that the Joe McD finalists have to play the following week, Laois are still the only side who won their match after winning the trophy, as I said in a previous posts I dont think the losers should get into the prelim, 4th in Leinster v 4th in Muster playoff for that spot makes more sense.

Our lads will be on the ground after last weeks defeat and having to face a very strong Tipp side 6 days later is a farce. The last time Tipp played the Joe McD losing finalists was against Offaly in 2023 and they put 7-38 past them  . I hope I am wrong but feel they will do similar on Saturday based on what I have seen thus far.

I expect a very similar score line. As has been mentioned, our biggest issue, and it has been like this for the past 2 if not 3 years, is our game plan.

If anyone was at, or watched the game against Carlow, its flaws stood out massively. We held most the ball for the first 20 minutes or so, but, yet Carlow looked the most threatening. We're so easy hurl against at this level, just wait for us to take possession from the short puck out, then press up on us and force errors. Sure ,sometimes we'll work through the press, but more often than not, we'll get turned over! And then when that happens, we're screwed, because our defensive line is completely out of shape on the back of a turnover. 

The 2nd half against Kildare was as predictable as it comes. There was just no way the Laois defenders were going to be able to keep taking the game to Kildare puck out after puck out, Kildare were much bigger and faster than us, so as the game wore on, their forwards were only going to become more and more dominant.

All this is not Tommy's fault to be fair. A lot of our flaws are not all technique, but physicality and size (or lack of) is also killing us. Time after time, we see Laois me take on 1in5 pot shots, because they simply can't break through a tackle and work themselves into a better position.
When I look at Laois the last few years, I don't see technically bad hurlers. On the contrary, some of our most skilful players have come in the last decade or so. Paddy Pucill, Cha, Picky, Mark Kavanagh, Podge, Rowland, Corby, to name but a few, but the physical element of the game is seriously lacking.

If you look at the best of what KK, Tipp, Limerick, Cork etc have. They're not teams full of the best stick men to ever play the game (current Limerick team has some exceptions TBF). But when they fumble, or make that mistake, or get turned over. They're physically able to get the bodies over and reclaim possession. They can also create space from all over with powerful, driving runs.

This is where Laois is lacking, I fully believe that if could get proper strength and condition going, from the very earliest age. And properly developed and monitored, and we target physical development, as much as hurling (and football) development. We wouldn't be miles off competing in years to come.

Relieved to get to the JMD final. We've made hard work of getting there and to be quite honest, I don't like our current style of play - I don't think it suits us.
Our first touch in the last two games has been very poor overall and we are no aerial ball winners either. At this stage of the tournament we ought to have these glaring deficiencies ironed out. The only aspect of our game that is working is when we can offload the sliothar into a player with space and time to convert a score. We're easily succumbing to pressure in most 50-50s and turning over ball to the opposition.
Today, under the stand in Carlow, we passed off a ball into midfield and there was a free Laois player on the wing - who was begging for the pass. The result was a turnover in midfield and a Carlow point then resulted when we should have taken the obvious option and scored a point instead, a two point swing in the crucial closing part of the game instead of scoring, we went another point behind.
I seriously hope management scrutinise every minute of that game today and learn, learn hard from it. Kildare are a step above Carlow and today it seemed we took very little from the lesson Kildare dished out last week. We have two weeks to prepare for the final - so do Kildare. We need to have our homework done for June 8th.
There are players on that Laois panel that have given great service to Laois over the years and the last two games (incl. Today) I think they have lacked a little bit of leadership. I hope they can resurrect it for the final.
Looking ahead to the final, I think the wider expanses of Croke Park will suit us better than Kildare. If we can play to our strengths, i.e. using the space intelligently we can drive on for the win. 

Have to agree, I'm not 100% a fan of our style either. But it should be a lot easier implement it on a pitch like Croker, the extra space will be a huge advantage.

My main issue with our style is it's too easy for the opposition to defend against it, without having to do a huge amount tactically themselves. Carlow simple let us have the ball for large periods and then forced the man press when the timing was right. It was so predictable, double bonus for Carlow when they did turn us over, they would have loads of space to work with as we had committed men forward while we were trying to progress it.

Playing Offaly now next weekend. They were beating by 4 by Westmeath.

I see in the minor hurling that if we top our group we play the runners up in the other Tier 2 group. The winners of that game play the 4th placed team in Tier 1 which will likely be Wexford.

I think if we come through the preliminary quarter, we have 3rd place in the Tier 1 in the championship proper, which will be Dublin.

cbs playn c n d rubby n hurlin football dyin a death in there. fundin shud be cut

What the hell is rubby?

And what funds are you referring too?

Interesting for Ballacolla to be changing after 1 year and a county final win.
I wonder is W.Hyland on the Laois ticket?

Baby No.5 is expected to arrive to the Hyland household in January!!!! So time to fully commit is limited.

Will Laois camogie or hurling be benefitting from the first 4?

Laois camogie to dominate in a few years. Zero contributions to Laois hurling thus far...🙈🙈

Interesting for Ballacolla to be changing after 1 year and a county final win.
I wonder is W.Hyland on the Laois ticket?

Baby No.5 is expected to arrive to the Hyland household in January!!!! So time to fully commit is limited.

I was at that game on Sunday and to be fair the end result did not reflect the balance of the game.
The dubs brought on 3 subs after half time which really swung the balance.
Laois unlucky to be 5 points down at HT.

Also none of The Harps or Camross lads with the exception of young mortimor played. Albeit most of The harps lads go to kilkenny schools.

In saying that i think the county board are missing a real trick here. Post primary school is massive in the development of any county minor, u 20 hurling teams. Look at the way Offaly have approached it in the last few years.
I firmly believe with the proper buy in Laois could be competing with the likes of St Kierans, kilkenny CBS and whoever for a Leinster title.
Imagine the knock on effect of that.
Offaly done it last year, why not us. so Laois schools participation should be a vital part of development plans going forward.

I think CB's main issue was, in the first half, playing against the wind and rain forced them into a hand passing, possession game that they were not comfortable playing. As soon as the storm died down at half time, it worked in NF favour as they just sat that bit deeper, knowing CB couldn't launch points form distance like they had done in the first half and eventually wore them down.

I was impressed with NF, the conditions and pitch were pretty atrocious by the end, but they still kept their sharpness. They have some serious pace up front, and will take some stopping on a dry, wide open sod of Croke Park if they get there. Which I think they will. 

Watched C Ballacolla on Sunday when match was over turned over to see end of Munster club semi final it was like watching two different sports first touch and speed and skill of the Munster match was a joy to behold . C Ballacolla were well ahead of rest of clubs in Laois so we have a fair idea of standard of hurling in the county and gap is just getting wider also saw result of Laois schools v Dublin south some hammering for unfortunate Laois players hard to ask young lads to commit to this. No great upturn to fortunes since Keegan was appointedm

Whether Keegan is the man or not, I don't think the fortunes of the current combined schools team can be put on him! He's barley in the door in relative terms. It will be when reviewing the fortunes of our underage squads in 4/5 years time, can we only judge how things worked out. 

Based on what you have seen Ottoman from the championship who else do you think might add to the Laois starting 15 next year. I felt while we gave Offaly a really good rattle in the Joe McD final I do think we are a couple of quality players light if we were in Leinster this year. We have yet to replace Kavanagh and Cha in an attacking sense (granted Quinlan, Keyes and Duggan still have plenty of scope for further improvement to reach those levels) and defensively, while solid, it currently won't be enough to compete with the top level sides. Wexford hit us for 32 points easing up in the prelim this year. Cleere is an excellent club hurler but you could argue for the merits of O'Connell and Cuddy who were given the starting wing back positions ahead of him. Cuddy is a player of huge potential and O'Connell has done well in the wing back position the last few years for club and county. Cleere does bring a scoring threat and perhaps that is something Gleeson will look to when thinking what way to set up in 2025. If Cb could get a run in Leinster and Cleere continues to perform it would be hard to dismiss his claims for more gametime.   

I think our main problem, is as you said our forward line. I made a point here a few months back at the time of the Joe MaC final. If you look at the 2019 team, our forward lines choices were from Mark Kavanagh, Cha, a prime Picky, Willy Dunphy, and Roddy. Aaron Dunphy to be fair was exceptional on both teams.

Until we get the likes of Quinlan, Keyes and Duggan to those standards, division 1 will be tough. And from what I've watched this year, I don't see too many better options up front on what those lads bring to the table.

Considering the weather I thought that the standard of hurling is slowly improving in terms of skill. Remember, club and for that matter, hurling and football at Club and County level is cyclical. Clubs whether rural or small towns will struggle every few years due to retirement, poor management. Lack of numbers etc. Castletown dominated during the late nineties and early 2000s then due to the loss of the two cuddys and some others, they fell away for a period which is understandable considering the population basis. But judging by their minor win and playing A hurling at juvenile level, they are on their way back which is a positive for the county. The Harps are definitely going places and have some lovely hurlers which will definitely benefit the County going forward. Abbeyleix definitely have improved and they will definitely have more than one County panelist next year. Unlike some of you I don't believe that portlaoise will be contesting County finals or contributing to Laois hurling. Borris are back where they belong so I don't believe that the apparent demise of Rathdowney Errill is going to put Laois hurling back years. Mark kavanagh was an awful loss for them but they will hang around and in a few years be back where they belong. We have a few good hurlers and I'm hoping that this manager will unearth one or two more gems to help the county like Mossy and David Dooley have last year. Laois are not an old panel and I for one would love to see more of James Duggan and young Byrne from Abbeyleix. We're in Division 1B and could quite easily beat Antrim Westmeath Offaly and Dublin on a bad day are no world beaters. Other than the Deise there's one other team that has slipped my mind. So look ahead to the league and see what this Tipp man has up his sleave

If he could find a way of getting the best out of Lee Cleere, that would be another bonus. The best player across the half back line in the county the last 3 years, but he can barley get off the bench for Laois. We can't afford to not have lads of that level involved.

[And he missed stephen bergin deliberately dropping the Hurley to get the first goal]

Terrible reffing performance. 9 more frees awarded to CB than to RE. And he missed stephen bergin deliberately dropping the Hurley to get the first goal. RE should have been 7 up at HT. Still might not have not been enough the way CB played in 2nd half but it would have been tighter with a different ref. No one wants to see free taking contests deciding finals...very poor but its Laois so he might get 3 finals in a row next year.

I don't think there's any rule against dropping your hurl?!
He didn't hand pass the ball?

I don't think you can drop the hurl intentionally, regardless of the actions after. But his hand that was holding the hurl was clear struck and he dropped it after that, so the ref can either call a free from the illegal stoke, or allow advantage.