2022 National Football League

[town1980]

Omg where do I start? Giovanni well said no clue the last few games billy and Chris what is the plan here it looks from the outside the worst prepared team we have ever seen,, both danial and Brian b were poor the energy levels were poor we lookeD like a div 4 team let's not disguise this look at the team and panel will them players dominate Laois club championship not a hope simple as ,, one port guy on it the billy effect hasn't worked dressing room maybe lost I don't know but jays are we that bad ?

[Downtheroad]

Yeah no fault of Billy's. He has what he has and we're not good enough. It's time to accept that. We have a million problems and nobody to fix them. I genuinely feel this county has no chance with the current County Board in place. We wouldn't do any worse if they stepped aside en masse

The County Board is the easy target here. However its composition reflects our clubs so we all have take a share of the responsibility. The clubs are the real culprits as evidenced by the resolute opposition to reducing the senior Championship from 16 as practically every club is terrified of relegation. In a county the size of Laois, 8 senior clubs is more than enough as 16 team senior championship is at the heart of our troubles as it contributes to poor standards and bad practices. Considering we are in Division 4 I imagine some young lads will return as there might be a medal in it.   

[thegreeenandgold]

No fault of Billy's or Chris's you must be joking they took the job made an absolute balls of it, stuck Ross in at every chance they could.   

Complete disaster

[Laoiseabu]

Division 4 next year will be Sligo, Wexford, Laois , Leitrim , Waterford, Wicklow , Carlow , London . That's a very very poor group of teams to be down with and we deserve to be there too.
You'd think when we got relegated to division 4 back 4 or 5 years ago that it would of been a serious wake up call to the county to get ourselves in order but obviously not and now we have made the same mistakes and gone and done it again . Will we learn from our mistakes and get our house in order this time ? No of course we won't . Even if we come up from division 4 we will be found out in division 3 and go straight back down again .
If we don't sort ourselves out this cycle will continue. There is not near enough being done in this county at club or underage level to prepare our players for the demands of senior inter county football and the same problems are showing up over and over again year in year out .
The county board needs a COMPLETE overhaul , the structures in Laois football need a COMPLETE overhaul from top to bottom starting at underage club level all the way up to senior inter county level . It actually BAFFLES me that players are brought into underage development squads in Laois at a young age and by the time they get to senior they are still no closer to being physically, athletically, tactically  or technically ready for senior inter county football than when they first came through the door at the centre of excellence as 14 or 15 year olds with raw potential.
You yield what you sow and there is not near enough being done at a developmental level in Laois to bridge the gap . The results of our failure to address these issues are blueprinted all over our Laois senior football team since 2003 and the more the game has moved towards professionalism in Ireland the further down the pecking order Laois have become.
Something serious needs to happen soon and I would start with replacing that out of date county board of dinosaurs and replace them with people who are proactive and are willing to do whatever it takes to put Laois football back on the map and give young aspiring Laois footballers the platform to become the best version of themselves

[High Fielder]

No fault of Billy's or Chris's you must be joking they took the job made an absolute balls of it, stuck Ross in at every chance they could.   

Complete disaster

Nobody better unfortunately. If there was, they'd be in there. We seem to have no problem getting lads to play up to 21, but then a good percentage of them drift away. Some of them go in and out through the revolving door, but that's no good for continuity or development of themselves or the team.

[High Fielder]

Division 4 next year will be Sligo, Wexford, Laois , Leitrim , Waterford, Wicklow , Carlow , London . That's a very very poor group of teams to be down with and we deserve to be there too.
You'd think when we got relegated to division 4 back 4 or 5 years ago that it would of been a serious wake up call to the county to get ourselves in order but obviously not and now we have made the same mistakes and gone and done it again . Will we learn from our mistakes and get our house in order this time ? No of course we won't . Even if we come up from division 4 we will be found out in division 3 and go straight back down again .
If we don't sort ourselves out this cycle will continue. There is not near enough being done in this county at club or underage level to prepare our players for the demands of senior inter county football and the same problems are showing up over and over again year in year out .
The county board needs a COMPLETE overhaul , the structures in Laois football need a COMPLETE overhaul from top to bottom starting at underage club level all the way up to senior inter county level . It actually BAFFLES me that players are brought into underage development squads in Laois at a young age and by the time they get to senior they are still no closer to being physically, athletically, tactically  or technically ready for senior inter county football than when they first came through the door at the centre of excellence as 14 or 15 year olds with raw potential.
You yield what you sow and there is not near enough being done at a developmental level in Laois to bridge the gap . The results of our failure to address these issues are blueprinted all over our Laois senior football team since 2003 and the more the game has moved towards professionalism in Ireland the further down the pecking order Laois have become.
Something serious needs to happen soon and I would start with replacing that out of date county board of dinosaurs and replace them with people who are proactive and are willing to do whatever it takes to put Laois football back on the map and give young aspiring Laois footballers the platform to become the best version of themselves

Good post.

[Laois man]

Are you putting your name forward for County Chairman?

[clonadmad]

Division 4 next year will be Sligo, Wexford, Laois , Leitrim , Waterford, Wicklow , Carlow , London . That's a very very poor group of teams to be down with and we deserve to be there too.
You'd think when we got relegated to division 4 back 4 or 5 years ago that it would of been a serious wake up call to the county to get ourselves in order but obviously not and now we have made the same mistakes and gone and done it again . Will we learn from our mistakes and get our house in order this time ? No of course we won't . Even if we come up from division 4 we will be found out in division 3 and go straight back down again .
If we don't sort ourselves out this cycle will continue. There is not near enough being done in this county at club or underage level to prepare our players for the demands of senior inter county football and the same problems are showing up over and over again year in year out .
The county board needs a COMPLETE overhaul , the structures in Laois football need a COMPLETE overhaul from top to bottom starting at underage club level all the way up to senior inter county level . It actually BAFFLES me that players are brought into underage development squads in Laois at a young age and by the time they get to senior they are still no closer to being physically, athletically, tactically  or technically ready for senior inter county football than when they first came through the door at the centre of excellence as 14 or 15 year olds with raw potential.
You yield what you sow and there is not near enough being done at a developmental level in Laois to bridge the gap . The results of our failure to address these issues are blueprinted all over our Laois senior football team since 2003 and the more the game has moved towards professionalism in Ireland the further down the pecking order Laois have become.
Something serious needs to happen soon and I would start with replacing that out of date county board of dinosaurs and replace them with people who are proactive and are willing to do whatever it takes to put Laois football back on the map and give young aspiring Laois footballers the platform to become the best version of themselves

While its easy to blame the County Board and I do on a regular basis

The blame can also be levelled at the clubs

I spoke to an individual recently from outside the county who has been involved with underage development squads the past 2/3 years at u14/15 level in Laois.

He described the skill set of a majority of players at even the most basic level as "abysmal",

that there are 4/5 clubs in the county at most that are coaching their juvenile players to the required level to their age grade,

that the rest seemed to be getting little or no coaching in the basics.

He named the 4/5 clubs who are doing their business right but he said there are a lot of other clubs who are sending in their players who have to be shown the basic skills in a development squad setting which isn't the place for that.

He wasn't blaming the young players themselves, the opposite was the case

he was annoyed that they weren't been given the tools by their own clubs to make the best of the themselves

[Blow-in]

For anyone who seen the underage gradings/bed hopping it won't get much better in years to come. I see many wanting the county board gone. Who's gonna replace them? They couldn't get a PRO let alone looking for replacing a full executive.
I listened to the game on the radio as I was driving yesterday but it seems the kickout situation was criminal.

[clonadmad]

For anyone who seen the underage gradings/bed hopping it won't get much better in years to come. I see many wanting the county board gone. Who's gonna replace them? They couldn't get a PRO let alone looking for replacing a full executive.
I listened to the game on the radio as I was driving yesterday but it seems the kickout situation was criminal.

the football gradings/bed hopping are over on the future of Laois football thread.

What goes on here at juvenile is both codes is shambolic and wouldnt be tolerated in any serious GAA county

[High Fielder]

Are you putting your name forward for County Chairman?

No point. Everyone knows it's a closed shop. They should resign en masse. They have failed. In the same way that they have passed judgement on many coaches, the Laois public have voted with their feet and won't attend. I repeat. They should resign en masse. They have failed.

By the way, that is not a criticism. It's just a fact. It may be the case that we are incapable of being any better than we are, but we owe it to ourselves to find out. Nobody in their right mind could believe that continuing as we are will yield positive results. We need structural change, not throwing out coaches after a failed stint every 2 years. We/they are not doing things right. That has to change, and up to now, they haven't been able to do so.

[BallyroanAbu]

If only the world knew that all the oracle's of football reside in the Laois GAA forum, there would never be a mistake made.
For people to post in here that Sheehans appointment is doomed to failure is ridiculous.
He probably wouldn't have been my first choice but I don't claim to to foresee the future and know it won't end well.
Perhaps part of the problem in Laois is all the whingeing and moaning that goes on in the background. An appointment has been made, if the county got behind the team the chances of success may improve.
For those claiming this is an awful appointment - out of interest, who was the last manager you were happy with when they were announced?

Happy to oracle it, complete shit show but the definition of madness is to repeat the same thing and expect different results.  We can do better,  Jesus they have dragged us to a point where we think we deserve it.

I said it last October,  I know it annoys alot of lads on here but Ross, and older players need to go.  The results may not be pretty but we have to rebuild.  It sends the right message, our manager needs to be from within the County's Coaching structure and our future managers need to come from there.  Hiring lads who need to win, leads to short-term thinking which is now unfortunately having long term consequences.  We need a clear strategy of how we are getting out of this mess and to tweak that plan as needs be. 

[Zooming around]

Are you putting your name forward for County Chairman?

No point. Everyone knows it's a closed shop. They should resign en masse. They have failed. In the same way that they have passed judgement on many coaches, the Laois public have voted with their feet and won't attend. I repeat. They should resign en masse. They have failed.

By the way, that is not a criticism. It's just a fact. It may be the case that we are incapable of being any better than we are, but we owe it to ourselves to find out. Nobody in their right mind could believe that continuing as we are will yield positive results. We need structural change, not throwing out coaches after a failed stint every 2 years. We/they are not doing things right. That has to change, and up to now, they haven't been able to do so.

Ah no... It is.

[Laois Rising]

I wanted to give Billy Sheehan some pass as he has a number of players who didn't commit or were injured throughout league. However, as a good Longford GAA friend of mine told me during the game as I brought this defence out at half time, Billy O'L is working without the following mainstay players in Longford who were not available to him:

Gary Rogers (centre-back), Donal McElligot (wing/corner back), John Keegan (midfield), Rian Brady (centre forward),Daniel Mimnagh (corner forward), Liam Connerton (full forward).

Pretty much the spine of the Longford team for the last few years and best club players within county. It's probably the same for most smaller counties the levels of non-commitment. It's about getting the best tune out of the players you have. Billy certainly isn't doing that at the moment. In the modern game when kick outs and kick out strategies are of huge importance to the winning and losing of the game we were shambolic in this department against Limerick, Fermanagh and again yesterday. I know Chris and Billy want to play a traditional kicking game but they need to address this deficiency before start of Leinster championship and Tailteann Cup. 

[Joeythelips]

If only the world knew that all the oracle's of football reside in the Laois GAA forum, there would never be a mistake made.
For people to post in here that Sheehans appointment is doomed to failure is ridiculous.
He probably wouldn't have been my first choice but I don't claim to to foresee the future and know it won't end well.
Perhaps part of the problem in Laois is all the whingeing and moaning that goes on in the background. An appointment has been made, if the county got behind the team the chances of success may improve.
For those claiming this is an awful appointment - out of interest, who was the last manager you were happy with when they were announced?

Happy to oracle it, complete shit show but the definition of madness is to repeat the same thing and expect different results.  We can do better,  Jesus they have dragged us to a point where we think we deserve it.

I said it last October,  I know it annoys alot of lads on here but Ross, and older players need to go.  The results may not be pretty but we have to rebuild.  It sends the right message, our manager needs to be from within the County's Coaching structure and our future managers need to come from there.  Hiring lads who need to win, leads to short-term thinking which is now unfortunately having long term consequences.  We need a clear strategy of how we are getting out of this mess and to tweak that plan as needs be.

I agree, Ross has been one of Laois' all time greats and a modal player in the way he prepares and conducts himself on and off the pitch, but to have a 39 year old coming off the bench at this level tells its own story. Again I know most people will say he is there on merit but Laois need to bring in and blood younger players, build a side that can compete. Thats a 3 year plan (minimum) realistically and would most likely ship some beatings early on but you would understand if you could see thats what they were doing. This looks like we are going no where. Do the current management have a plan?