Tailteann Cup 2023

[Joeythelips]

Very lucky to scrape a draw, I think that makes us officially the worse senior football team in Ireland

Should be absolutely embarrassed with themselves. Blame management all you like players have to step up. They're the ones playing. Not good enough.

Look at any sport where a decent manager comes in and gets the best out a group of players, I get its the players who cross he line and compete but good management teams get the best out of the players at their disposal. No offence to the current management set up but they are clearly not good enough. Im sorry if people take offence to that but the results clearly bare it out.

[Giovanni]

Very lucky to scrape a draw, I think that makes us officially the worse senior football team in Ireland

I'd say we're still better than Waterford but give him a little more time.....

[Blow-in]

It's a shambles on and off the field and don't let anyone tell you any different. A good mirror needed.

[Laoiseabu]

I know Sheehan is useless but the bigger picture here is that even when he leaves we are STILL going absolutely nowhere anytime soon . The problems in Laois football run MUCH deeper than just Billy Sheehan. That SHITESHOW up in Parnell park today is only the tip of the iceberg and let me tell you we will get even worse again . Lillis , Finn and Timmons might possibly hang it up after this year , apparently Greene and Pigott won't be committing next year and from what I've seen OCarroll is after getting very heavy and sluggish. I try to be less harsh but not beating London is the absolute bottom of the barrel . I just can't see ANY positives that make me think that there is light at the end of the tunnel in the near future .

[BallyroanAbu]

I would say it here Laois would get to a tailteann cup semi under a half decent manager.  There are problems in Laois Football but this is a joke.  A bad one

[Countyminor]

It's quite remarkable that we've had four games in this competition and we've yet to win a single one.

Best to just cut the bandage off now and give Billy the boot. He's grossly out of his depth and completely and utterly clueless. I was actually optimistic for his appointment last year and after watching our good O'Byrne Cup run in early 2022 but giving him a second year on the back of a dismal relegation and a shitshow of a championship was an incredibly lazy decision to say the least. Watching this continue into this year is just painful and sad to watch. The apathy this football has generated among supporters is a rotten contagion.

If the CB had any sense they'd be looking for someone to step in immediately and prepare the lads for the next game.  The hopeless optimist in me would want to see Sugrue return or even someone like Eddie Kinsella from Courtwood who'd have worked with a lot of the lads at U20 to come in, although I highly doubt they'd be interested and I imagine regardless what happens Sheehan will lead us into the next game.

Maybe it's for the better. I highly doubt we'd win next time out anyways.

[SpeculativeEffort]

Everything in Laois GAA is run by people who only line up everything for their own clubs to prosper. Small minded, passive, reactive rubbish. The county board do their business behind closed doors. The media are not allowed in and the county doesn't even publish an agreed report. Unprofessional and no transparency. WHAT ARE THEY AFRAID OF? The media are mere cheerleaders. They refuse to call out the bullshit or are afraid to.

CLEAN OUT THE WHOLE LOT

It should have happened when Eddie Brennan shone a light on the county board.

Have we any pride?

[The Boy Wonder]

Yes, we're at a very low ebb at the moment but let's hold fire until this campaign is over just out of respect for the players. Lads like Mark Timmons and Kiernan Lillis deserve at least that.
After this Tailteann Cup we do need a new manager to come in and try to lift us off the floor. If we get the next appointment right (and the best possible resources provided) we just might see some light at the end of this tunnel.

[Junior Ex Laoistalk]

Just saw this on the hurling forum and it makes a lot of sense. This is really worrying for the future of GAA in Laois.

Now let's imagine your a business person and Laois GAA approach you for the 20k. Think about it and look at the people who would be asking you.

Chairperson - PJ Kelly, I can't think of one positive thing he has done in his role as Chairperson. No leadership or personality. Look across the border and see the influence Michael Duignan has had.

Hurling GDA - Declan Buggy, I don't know anything about him so I can't comment. I've heard some positive things from his previous job.

Football GDA - Donie Brennan, less said the better (represents alot of what's wrong with Laois GAA)

Head of S&C - Tom Hargroves, ran out of Tipp for running a very poor, laughable program with their senior hurlers. Their conditioning this year is chalk and cheese with last years. Just look at our senior footballers and how far they look off the pace from the middle of the road teams this year.

If 3 out of 4 of these people approached me I'd run a mile. No inspiration or initiative between them. Until we remove the deadwood and get passionate, progressive people involved we are wasting our time. We need to make Laois GAA a fashionable product and look at it as a business people want to investinandbe part of. If as it is in its current state is the best we can do, I certainly wouldn't be investing.

I'm just fed up of the whole thing and being bottom of the barrel. We will realistically never win an all ireland but we can be competitive and give people something to support and that kids want to be part of but right now, no chance. We are facilitating GAA not promoting it. Disillusioned with the whole thing.

[Blow-in]

Any Games Manager appointed yet or anyone know the candidates?

[High Fielder]

This is about as bad as it gets, and yes, they will get rid of Billy. I'm of the opinion that we could put a cardboard box on the line and we should still be beating London; but we didn't, so draw your own conclusions on that one.

I have sympathy for Billy. This County means a lot to him. He was eager and he genuinely wanted the job. There are plenty in Laois and elsewhere who swerved it because they know how bad things are, and were eager to keep their own, overly inflated reputations intact. Truth be told, Sugrue aside, there is nobody in the County remotely good enough to be even asked in my opinion. Some will disagree and good luck to them, but without going into specifics about individuals, I felt one who is lauded on here got badly found out in the last few years when he arguably had one of our better teams at his disposal.

[on the hop]

Heading into injury time yesterday two points down the thought crossed my mind that it would be better if this ended today. a treasonous thought in a way but they dug out a draw which keeps things alive for another week, the draw for the next round will decide a lot and the attitude of the squad going forward, you have to fear any draw up north, that game in 2009 in Newry and the horrible vibe afterwards is still a memory. its hard to believe that from the start of the year where we were expecting promotion and a good run in this competition to now where we were suffering an eight point turn around and fighting for our lives against one of the poorest teams in the county. Maybe we got ahead of ourselves or over estimated how good the team was but that delusion should be gone now as we are clearly in the bottom three/ four counties in the country.

The big fear now is a bad defeat to end the year, which leads to a number of the older players retiring and a weak enough squad getting further hollowed out. As has happened in other counties and even at club level if your main adult team does not become an attractive proposition for younger players then they won't commit and you eventually stagnant at a level.

[High Fielder]

I'm surprised by your post OTH. 2 things. Did you not see this coming? And, with all due respect to any player, I don't think it matters who isn't there next year. What we need to fix won't be done so this year or next. In fact based on our current standing it's meaningless. We don't have the players (now) to fix this. Hopefully we will in the future, but things need to change

[on the hop]

I'm surprised by your post OTH. 2 things. Did you not see this coming? And, with all due respect to any player, I don't think it matters who isn't there next year. What we need to fix won't be done so this year or next. In fact based on our current standing it's meaningless. We don't have the players (now) to fix this. Hopefully we will in the future, but things need to change

i was trying to be positive after a few of the comments here after the offaly match !!!!! in fairness we were playing a team that had finished bottom of division four having conceded 117 points against scoring 82 points and i see on Laois Today they had lost 14 out of their last 15 games. so i wasn't expecting them especially as they play a heavily defensive game to notch up 2-14. i listened to the podcast on Laois Today and in fairness it was commented that this could be a banana skin, so maybe i was naïve in thinking with four of the better scoring forwards in the county playing that we could knock up a reasonable score. we had a goal to play for and a target which again i hoped would be the more than a motivation to see things through.

As for the other point, i am worried about next year and going forward into the future because its not just the football but it seems there are issues in a number of codes. Your senior adult teams are your flag ship teams that usually when going well generate interest, investment and opportunism in a county. when its over i hope there is a proper debate on whats happened.

[High Fielder]

No harm in being positive. But as someone whose opinion interests me, I'm sure you've seen the drop off in standards, particularly at club level. We're at a seriously low ebb here, and I accept your point about your Seniors being your flagship. That is why what's happening now isn't healthy for us. We're doing a lot of harm. It's counter productive to send out teams for this sort of humiliation. Supporters won't buy into that. Neither will the players or in fact future players. We need to get our house in order before we have the humiliation of not being able to field a team at short notice.