2015 Laois Senior Football

[Giovanni]

I'm not sure that John O Loughlin, or several of the other members of the team, are properly appreciated by the Laois supporters. I'm not surprised at all that he's a regular on the team of the week.

As regards the fitness thing, I'm not sure that fitness levels could have changed all that much from the last day. From my point of view, two important things changed. Firstly, the team simply looked more "up for it" on Sunday. You could see it even in the warm up - they knew this was a do or die scenario really. The mentality of the players was different this time.

The second thing that changed was that the selection of Boyle and Dillon in the half forward line bought more zip and energy to the half forward line and Boyle in particular used the ball very well. I'd like to see us keep those high energy players for the remainder of the league. Damien O Connor or Attride could be used very well as a sweeper which is really needed I think.

We need a few more like unlaoised in Navan on Saturday night.

[redsetanta]

I see where Setanta are showing the game so that will stop people travelling up from Laois.

[Unlaoised]

I see where Setanta are showing the game so that will stop people travelling up from Laois.

Don't think this will have a major effect we wouldn't have had that many going anyway......

[Junior Ex Laoistalk]

Laois manager Tomas O'Flatharta on getting their first win of the campaign against Roscommon
https://soundcloud.com/midlandssport/tomas-oflatharta-post-roscommon

Former Laois defender Peter O'Leary feels the win over Roscommon can kick start the team's year
https://soundcloud.com/midlandssport/peter-oleary-on-laois-win-over-roscommon

[beano]

Hey,

Was one of the few who made it sunday. It felt like an away game, The silence when we got our second goal was a joke. The county board have to promote the home games more. How can Roscommon bring a couple of thousand to portlaoise.

Sunday proved that Roscommon are very overated and it showed that we have good talent in our panel especially our forwards. Our forwards seemed more natural than there's and found it easier to get a score.

Paul kingston did well but i felt he was nervous and fumbelled the ball a good bit, however you cant complain with 1-2 and hopefully this will bring him on.

Dillon and boyle did ok and like the younger kingston I feel that dillion has alot to offer and at once stage in first half he burned his marker to show us the pace that he has. I think he kick a point as a resut.

While we keep saying that we a lacking in defenders what sunday also showed us that in modern football if your team is set up well this can rectify the problem.

All in all a good day for Laois and a good day for those of us who follow Laois on the bad days as well as the good days!

PS I'm enjoying this site. Miss laoistalk but this is a great alternative.

[ILikeStrawberryJam]

I agree with beano the support for the team the last day was an insult to the players.
You could see the pride the players had in the jersey and gave absolutely everything
in an excellent gritty display. €15 is a bit steep to be fair but when you see lads giving so
much they deserve better support.
We are suspect defensively and we have to rack up big scores but have some top forwards.
Its worth paying the entrance fee alone to see donie these days. He was excellent on sunday.
Scoring off both feet and always using the ball intelligently.
Quigley and Johnno were excellent in the middle.
Niall Donaher was very good. got a great goal and a point.
Evan O Carroll was MOTM. He was excellent. scored a great 45 and carried the ball brillantly.
Defensively we were still a bit open but much improved. Paul Begley was very good against a much bigger man.
If they bring the same fight to their remaining games they have a chance of staying up.
Respect to redstetanta and junior for getting this forum up and running and promoting it.

[The Boy Wonder]

I think we are going t obe relegated anyhow so don't see how the postponement will help at all. We are not going to beat Roscommon next weekend, Kildare are a stronger team than us despite their poor form and both Meath and Galway will more than fancy their chances against us. Fair enough the Dwon game could go either way but I can't see us getting anymore that 2/3 points which won't be enough to stay up. I haven't checked but I would say we are hot favs to make the drop.

Ok - Roscommon are on an upward curve, have had good underage teams and a good manager in John Evans. On the other hand Laois have a core of experienced players who have been operating at a higher level than Roscommon for the past number of years. If Laois have anything about them (and I believe they have) they will stop the rot next Sunday.

I'm delighted that my faith in the lads was vindicated. It's not going to get any easier from here - away to Meath & Galway, home to Kildare and away to Down - a very tall order. All we can ask is that they bring the same level of commitment to these games as they did last Sunday and que sera sera.

It is a poor reflection on the county that more supporters won't come out and support their team. The commitment these guys are giving to the jersey has to be acknowledged. It's high time for genuine Laois followers to get off their asses. Our expectations may not be too high at the moment but we can be very competitive at a level just below the top. If the supporters had more belief in the lads it would help drive us on.

[portlaoisekid]

Its great to get a win and see a real performance from these lads but we are certainly not out of the woods yet. I would still be worried for the 2015 season, lets hope this is not a false dawn.

I've always maintained that we have a number of really good players but our weakest players are not up to standard and in reality thats the case for the majority of inter county teams except the top 3 or 4. The fact that we dont have a full deck to deal from as per usual is crippling us from making solid progress.IMO our midfield and forwards are capable competing and providing a platform for victory against most teams and will do damage against anyone but our defence is weak, some hard working  lads in there but we need more quality. McMahon a huge loss. Im not going into lads who wont commit but when I look at it we are missing our best defender, our best full back and 2 best half backs, we cannot expect progress without everybody involved. Its a credit to lads involved already and commitment they give but quality is hard to come by in Laois.

Laois are well able to beat anyone outside of the big boys and we should be aiming to win every match in this division as on any given day there is nothing between the teams. Confidence and desire bred from good management is the difference between winning and losing in this division IMO. I still have my doubts about our mgt but by jaysus it would be great to be proved wrong about them.

[Faugheen]

Jesus PK, would you ever get down off your soapbox about lads who are missing and wont commit, we have what we have, and they deserve more respect than you saying that they are not of inter county quality, (even if you do qualify it by commending their commitment). Btw, who are the full back and 2 half backs you refer to ?

[Giovanni]

Personally, I think Mark Timmons is the best full back we have (by a long way). He is definitely inter-country standard. While it would be nice to have O Leary and McMahon fighting for wingback positions, and Cahir Healy as a man marker or centre back, I think Strong, Kehoe, Attride, Begley and maybe O Connor are all good players that can do a good job in the half backs.

I agree that our defence hasn't been great this year but I don't think this is because of the quality of the players. Better defence requires harder work all round the pitch. It also requires a system of sweeping and covering so that defenders are left one-on-one as infrequently as possible. Our lads are being left one-on-one far too often and that bit definitely needs to improve.

[Junior Ex Laoistalk]

I think one of the reasons we won last Sunday was because of the attitude of the squad. They must know by now that they are not the best players we have (because we're always telling them ...) but they have what some better players don't have and that's great heart and pride in the jersey and their county. They fought all day against a physically bigger and stronger team and played the game very cleverly.

For once we got the tactics dead on, defend in numbers and when the chances present themselves, take them. I'm not sure of the wide count but it was very small which proves that we took almost every scoring chance we got. I too have to praise Even O'Carroll on his display of selfless running, tracking back when the opposition were attacking yet was always in his position to score or help create one when we were attacking. The day worked out perfectly for him but he does that every day he plays but not always with the same result.

It's great to see a few u-21s come back into the squad, they are all good lads and add so much to the team. As has been said already this team are a match for most teams bar the top six or seven and should be good enough to stay in this division with a bit of luck. The support was pitiful last Sunday but it didn't stop those lads from giving a great display. The Roscommon support around me were full of praise for the Laois effort as they were sure they would be at the top of the table after playing us last Sunday.

Roll on Meath...

[portlaoisekid]

Jesus PK, would you ever get down off your soapbox about lads who are missing and wont commit, we have what we have, and they deserve more respect than you saying that they are not of inter county quality, (even if you do qualify it by commending their commitment). Btw, who are the full back and 2 half backs you refer to ?

How did I disrespect anyone? If I believe our defence is our weakest link its hardly disrespectful , anyone watching the team would agree. I don't give a toss about lads not committing but I was merely making an observation which from what I hear is the norm on these supporters forums.   I stand over what I said about our defence.

[Faugheen]

No point in getting into a tit for tat PK,but I stand by what i said, it is disrespectful to players. The sooner we decide to move on and get over the fact that we don't have this player or that player the better. As i said, we have what we have and as it stands they are the best we have. All they need now is some respect for their efforts no matter what quality they are.

[redsetanta]

Same team named as against Roscommon. Timmons at full back and Begley in the corner.
Meath start with almost the same team as well except for 1 change in the forwards.

[portlaoisekid]

Going to be tough going to Meath as Meath are a decent team but we are well able to beat them. A big test of us and where we actually stand but as I said previously on here there is nothing between the teams in this division and if we go in with a good tactical plan, as in fairness TOF had last week, and a positive attitude we have every chance of winning.