2015 Laois Senior Hurling

[redsetanta]

I hope the likes of Joe Fitz and Jimmy Walsh give it one more year. Joe had a togh afternoon today and was in the wars but he was battling right til the end. He was a great leader this year nine more so than the Offaly game. A few of the lads were poor today by their own standards and it's just a pity that we can't get everyone to play to their potential at the same time on the same day. Cha has been very consistent and really got stuck in again today. Our subs didn't really make an impression. A lot of rushed deliveries into the forwards and it was Dublin men hoovering up the loose ball.
It's terrible to say that the Dublin keeper didn't have a save to make today and we never looked like we'd get a goal. Tried hard though and it was a tough physical battle but Dublin were just that bit better and although we kept in touch they hit some terrible wides that should probably have put them out of site earlier.
We are just not up to the speed of hurling required at this level which will take time. They were alot sharper and faster in their play.
Anyhow we got ourselves out of the round robin and hopefully we can have a decent league campaign next year.

[burdizzo]

Not yet Mossy, but its a long week in hurling let alone politics, I would be expecting a handful to call it a day. Next year will be a transitional year - as long as we avoid Round Robin winners we should be safe - watch the draw in late Oct/early Nov for that one.

Would it not be fixed to make sure Laoise played the round robin winners? This year the perceived 'weakest' - Offaly and Wexford - played the round robin winners, although I know the previous year Offaly dodged that. How will it work, I wonder? Would we not be better off playing round robin winners, than coming in cold against Galway or Kilkenny?
Yes, last night's performance was A LOT better than the Waterford game last year.

[merman]

..... as the Dublin Hurling Fans are a decent bunch and though coming expecting to win, they won't bring the arrogance that their football counterparts so clearly do.

Firstly, disappointed that I was so naive in this instance. There was a minority of downright nasty Dublin fans in OMP last night. I appreciate that they are in every count, including our own no doubt, but it left a sour taste for me to see grown men goading a young 16/17 year old girl for having the temerity to cheer on her team.
Scumbags

Anyway, hard luck to the lads last night. We would be well-served to remember that we are a very short distance down a very very long road. This Dublin team is 10 years down that road and are rocket-fuelled by a huge population and considerable funding from Croke Park. And they have a long road to travel still too...

Dublin deserved to win. Undoubtedly. They had us at arms length right throughout that second half and I felt they could have clicked up through the gears if they needed to. I think both teams played to about 70-80% of their ability and if we had delivered an absolutely perfect performance then we might have had a chance but such performances are rare and it wasn't to be.

On the match itself, we were undone by a blistering start from Dublin. There was clear direction to take on our full-back line and they went for goals very early. I felt for Brian Stapleton as nothing went for him but he owes us nothing and has had, and will continue to have, much better days for Laois. Mark Schutte is a classy forward and he's physically strong. I flagged our match-ups earlier this week but I was wrong and probably hadn't appreciated the sheer physical advantage the Dublin forwards had. Schutte, Keaney and Dillon are strong imposing forwards and are direct; they caused us huge problems in that opening half.
On the sweeper question, I still maintain that we can't do away with it yet, or for the foreseeable future. 6v6 would work for us if our backs were the measure of the Dublin/Galway/Wexford/Whoever forwards but we'd be naive to think we are. We simply need that extra protection and we will until we have put 5-8 years of competitive minor/u21 teams back-to-back. That's not a criticism of our current players who I have the utmost respect for but I just think our full-back line would be hung out to dry if we went man for man.
Now, that said, our use of the sweeper failed us yesterday. Dublin were clever, fast and had a clear direction to their play. We needed Joe Campion to be a presence on and off the ball but he was all at sea and I have a degree of sympathy for a natural forward who is being shoehorned into a position that just doesn't suit him. Paddy Purcell gave an exhibition of sweeper play for our county champions last year and might well be worth considering for the years ahead.

I don't want to go into too much individual analysis but I was flummoxed by the apparent dropping of John A Delaney. I think it was unfair that he seemed to have been dropped off the back of a poor performance against Galway; one of the very few occasions where he has been comprehensible bested in a big game. To his credit, he was outstanding on his introduction.
I though Joe Fitzpatrick was outstanding in the 2nd half btw!
I also feel we need to consider Matthew Whelan as our long-term full back. He has the physical attributes and I just think Cahir Healy would be better suited either further out the field or with specific man-marking duties. He might be needed in midfield as we were ripped apart there yesterday.

Looking at our forwards, it was a difficult evening for a few of them. Picky Maher and Tommy Fitzgerald struggled badly and I think Picky, in particular, needs a good club championship to help him realise his potential. Zane Keenan worked hard but was well contained and his frees weren't up to the usual standard. I really hope he continues with Laois next year...
Cha and Willie were excellent I thought. Hyland nailed 4/5 points and is the real leader up front. Crummy couldn't handle him and resorted to nastiness and aggression and Hyland still had his measure. Similarly, Cha got on a lot of ball and hit 3 nice scores from distance. Cha works so hard and if we can get him active in closer to goal then we have one the genuine top young forwards in Ireland. Neil Foyle is still not 100% and getting him and Roddy fit for next season will be crucial.

Finally, just on the ref; I thought he was very hard on us. I have no problem with him missing Paul Ryan's strike on Joe as it was devious and off the ball but there was 6/7 softish frees that Dublin forwards got at crucial times; the same frees weren't forthcoming up our end.

The year as a whole should be classed a success but our feet should be firmly on the ground. The Dubs will still look down their noses at us as a poor team and I think some of the media love-ins might well do us a disservice as we all know that we have a lot of hard days ahead.

I hope we can maintain the core of this squad but I have concerns that our extended panel might not recommit as a lot of players have sacrificed a lot of their young lives and gotten no real game time. It's a debate for another day but we haven't found the right balance between club and county and this could affect our panel moving forward.

Finally, a thank you to Cheddar and all his players and back-room team. I am an avid supporter one day a week or fortnight; I have incredible respect for the sacrifices these men make 4/5/6 days a week. True heroes and incredible role-models for our impressionable juveniles; that in itself is progress seeing where we were a few years ago...

[finbar o tool]

the last 3 championship games - We beat a poor offaly team with long range points. Galway hammered us, dublin beat us by 10 points and they had 21 wides and a goal disallowed, again anything we got yesterday was long range efforts. and people think we are progressing and we should stick with the same system?!! Cheddar has brought this team as far as he can, A big thank you to him for all he has done but time for change.

[Dave like the tv channel]

Firstly, disappointed that I was so naive in this instance. There was a minority of downright nasty Dublin fans in OMP last night. I appreciate that they are in every count, including our own no doubt, but it left a sour taste for me to see grown men goading a young 16/17 year old girl for having the temerity to cheer on her team.
Scumbags

Par for the course. I call these people Everydub. They seem to think it's acceptable to bring this loutish behaviour along with them. If we wanted to live in Scumbagland, we'd move there. Keep your scumbaggery in Dublin, where it's normal behaviour.

[Don Draper]

the last 3 championship games - We beat a poor offaly team with long range points. Galway hammered us, dublin beat us by 10 points and they had 21 wides and a goal disallowed, again anything we got yesterday was long range efforts. and people think we are progressing and we should stick with the same system?!! Cheddar has brought this team as far as he can, A big thank you to him for all he has done but time for change.

Finish with Cheddar and Laois hurling is finished. That is the truth. To think any different is utter stupidity.

[burdizzo]

I agree. People seem to think we're better than we actually are. We're at the level we're at, because that's how good we are. Cheddar has the players' confidence. Who else would you suggest we call on, anyway?

[merman]

There is nobody else.

Cheddar has brought these players from the abolute pits of despair to where we are now.
No, we're not world-beaters. We still have a long way to go; we still have some very darks darks to endure but Cheddar has forged a close-knit panel of dedicated Laois men and that is a crucial foundation fi whatever progress may lie ahead.

[finbar o tool]

No, people think we are worse than we actually are!!!  We are better than what weve shown this year, the system is wrong. If cheddar doesnt change that system we wont progress. And im sure a few candidates will appear now that cheddar has steadied the ship!
I dont mind cheddar staying if he changes the system.

[Don Draper]

No, people think we are worse than we actually are!!!  We are better than what weve shown this year, the system is wrong. If cheddar doesnt change that system we wont progress. And im sure a few candidates will appear now that cheddar has steadied the ship!
I dont mind cheddar staying if he changes the system.

Jesus that is some horseshit. The system develops, that what systems do.

Go on, tell us who these managers are and how they'll be paid for. Tell us all that and while you're doing it tell us how much Cheddar is paid.

[finbar o tool]

I never mentioned pay?!
The system doesnt work, like i said, this sweeper horseshit is restricting our players from playing to their full potential, as mentioned above, the results speak from themselves. Sick to the teeth of lads saying, ah we only got beat by 10pts. Thats progress! Bullshit. What is the system developing?! How is it progressing?! Cheddar has brought us to the same standard as other top counties with backroom team, preperation etc. but negative hurling will not progress this team. Long range points wont get us far and thats all we can do at the moment. Wake up!!

[Don Draper]

I never mentioned pay?!
The system doesnt work, like i said, this sweeper horseshit is restricting our players from playing to their full potential, as mentioned above, the results speak from themselves. Sick to the teeth of lads saying, ah we only got beat by 10pts. Thats progress! Bullshit. What is the system developing?! How is it progressing?! Cheddar has brought us to the same standard as other top counties with backroom team, preperation etc. but negative hurling will not progress this team. Long range points wont get us far and thats all we can do at the moment. Wake up!!

Firstly, I used horseshit, try be original, it doesn't take much and will add to your use as a poster.

I never said we were only beat by 10 points.

The game was in the melting pot with 15 minutes to go at 6 points down, it was anything but the Waterford game last year.

We have a problem in the full back line that has hampered matters all year since Dubhie retired. That will have to be rectified, the answer is in Camross if he wants to commit.

You said the job would be more attractive, to who? Name these people. And tell me how you're going to explain to them, how you've binned the man who saved Laois hurling, because any hurling man out there has huge respect for Plunkett and will be scratching his head at what you'll do to him if he fails, when you've canned the saviour of Laois hurling. I'm sure he'll love to hear you explain that.

[G@@]

Tinbar o Fool. 

[finbar o tool]

Don, sorry, i will try to be as cool and original as you in future posts! 

i didnt say you said anything, do you read my posts at all?! IN GENERAL, im sick of the mentality that "oh we were only beaten by 10 points this year thats progress".

when Laois Hurling was in the depths of despair, Cheddar came in and did a fantastic job, and the players would die for him. these things i appreciate and admire. i have never said otherwise. the question was asked who would take over if Cheddar left? and i only meant that now that Cheddar has done all this work im sure there will be people willing to step in. not like before when Cheddar stepped up and did the job himself because no one else would!!
the only point i ever tried to make is the sweeper system is progressing nothing. improving the back room team, the set up, the fitness, the commitment, was always going to improve our hurling. but the sweeper system is doing nothing for us and we will never win anything with this system. all we seem to be able to do is long range efforts at points. thats not good hurling, and how  can anyone say the sweeper system works when you look at the scoring and wides against us?! thats with an extra defender!! and if cheddar wont change it then we need a change of manager.
i know most will probably disagree and thats fine. but thats my belief. im entitled to that.
a lot of people are blinded by love and hype for cheddar. and i can see why. but when it comes down to making decisions on the line or implementing this sweeper system i dont like it and dont agree with it. if he changes that then i have no problem with Cheddar. because he has all the other attributes of a great manager, but the one failing i see is a big one in my eyes.

oh, and good joke there G@@, give yourself a pat on the back for that one! 

[Don Draper]

Don, sorry, i will try to be as cool and original as you in future posts! 

i didnt say you said anything, do you read my posts at all?! IN GENERAL, im sick of the mentality that "oh we were only beaten by 10 points this year thats progress".

when Laois Hurling was in the depths of despair, Cheddar came in and did a fantastic job, and the players would die for him. these things i appreciate and admire. i have never said otherwise. the question was asked who would take over if Cheddar left? and i only meant that now that Cheddar has done all this work im sure there will be people willing to step in. not like before when Cheddar stepped up and did the job himself because no one else would!!
the only point i ever tried to make is the sweeper system is progressing nothing. improving the back room team, the set up, the fitness, the commitment, was always going to improve our hurling. but the sweeper system is doing nothing for us and we will never win anything with this system. all we seem to be able to do is long range efforts at points. thats not good hurling, and how  can anyone say the sweeper system works when you look at the scoring and wides against us?! thats with an extra defender!! and if cheddar wont change it then we need a change of manager.
i know most will probably disagree and thats fine. but thats my belief. im entitled to that.
a lot of people are blinded by love and hype for cheddar. and i can see why. but when it comes down to making decisions on the line or implementing this sweeper system i dont like it and dont agree with it. if he changes that then i have no problem with Cheddar. because he has all the other attributes of a great manager, but the one failing i see is a big one in my eyes.

oh, and good joke there G@@, give yourself a pat on the back for that one! 

Who will be willing to step in?

How will we  pay them?

Oh and just to refresh your memory, its obviously a bit poor, this is what you said

Cheddar has brought this team as far as he can, A big thank you to him for all he has done but time for change.

So get ta fook trying to move the goalposts now.