Laois SHC 2024

[Laois man]

Portlaoise must of put nó effort into this group there shocking underage there strong in the football so the hurling will take a back seat.

[Laois345]

They've no one strong st U20 unfortunately. A poor team. That result is to be expected.

Bit still shocking from the club. As a previous poster said, some degree of effort is being put in with younger groups but it will take time. To me it's just shameful the whole thing.

When you look at some other clubs struggling for numbers.

[Laois Rising]

I know that it has been said before but how can a club with passionate clubmen like tommy fitz, Cheddar and Critchley and a history of winning hurling titles in the 80s and 90s show such disregard for the development of hurling. The chickens have come home to roost at underage which has been at a deplorable standard for a number of years now and with the u20 side struggling to compete even at 'B' standard. A club the size of Portlaoise should never find itself playing in B competitions. I would love to see the establishment of a hurling only club in Portlaoise. Even in a hotbed of football like Tralee in Kerry a hurling only club was set up and is beginning to flourish. I think they won the Kerry minor championship and have players filtering into the underage Kerry teams. There is so much untapped potential and a new club that puts a proper emphasis on the development of hurling in the town could only be seen as a plus. I know in reality it's never going to happen but it would be fantastic for the development of hurling in the county.   

[Laois man]

A lot of passionate club men making money helping other clubs and doing nothing in there owe club.

[Voice of tReason]

Leinster Championship this weekend.

Hard to see Clonad live with what is supposed to be a very strong St Kevins team from Dublin. Especially away from home.

Ballyfin and Lusmagh should be decent. I think they've played each other in a practice match earlier in the year and there was very little in it. Bookies have Ballyfin slight favourites and it'd give them a boost ahead of next year if they could go to Birr and win.

Clough Ballacolla got probably the best draw they could but it's telling that despite home advantage, the bookies are siding with Castletown/G. If C/Bcolla play like they did in the final then they'll have a chance but anything less and they'll come unstuck against a team that had a right cut off Kilcormac/Killoughey and hammered Thomastown last year.

[Genocide Organ]

Yes, I agree - think Clonad will be too young and light for what is apparently a big, strong Kevins side. But you never know.

I heard Ballyfin were well beaten by Drumcullen (Offaly Intermediate champions) in a practice game recently, so wouldn't rate their chances that highly against the winners of the next grade up.

Also fancy Clough-Ballacolla to lose unless Picky is unreal.

Very pessimistic, altogether!

[Laois Rising]

That is a pessimistic outlook alright! Ballyfin have achieved their primary goal and with Danesfort also in the mix I cannot see them putting in any huge shift to try target this competition. Think their season is done. I never can understand why Dublin have a senior B in hurling that prevents their second tier winners from representing the county in the Intermediate championship. It is the same in football.

If Clough Ballacolla play as they did in the county final you would give them a good chance. Play as they did in the semi-final and they will be well beaten. I do not know what appetite the players have for Leinster this year. They put everything into the county final and it will be hard to replicate that performance again. 

[Laois man]

Best of luck to all laois teams this weekend.

[Ogie]

Excellent Result for Clonad away in Dublin, I do believe they are a club building the last couple of years doing good work, hopefully can stay at Premier level next year at least

Ballyfin well bet by Lusmagh

Clough Ballacolla produced their best display in the County Final and will have to do the same again now at this level, is the hunger still there for this road, and is the quality still there without Picky and more miles on Dunphys clock

[Ogie]

Castletown won by 12 they top the group with a game still to play. Camross gone after Cbolla beating them today. Harps beat Borris. Clan Né Gael Strong in the B. Question should a team with 3 or 4 clubs together be allowed into a B competition??

Well... It was the same arrangement last year, and they weren't up to much. These things are cyclical, I suppose. I would say that more concerning for hurling in Laois is how the traditional clubs ( esp. R/E, B/K) are not really featuring in underage grades, except at the lower levels.

Clough Ballacolla will be with Mountrath in the Minor Championship next year and are operating with small numbers and poor standard at U13 & 15, with a couple of excellent hurlers at each grade also

Rathdowney Errill were U13 C,15 B,17 B, but got to both finals, definitley standard poor there and struggling to recruit quality in the town now

Castletowns biggest fan will admit they massively overachieved U15 this year and Minor, but have a few talented lads coming through and if they win the Prem Inter next year will work out well for them, management appointment important there

Borris Kilcotton competing well in 15 & 17 A last couple of years and again have some quality players at each level, seem to be very active at juvenile
Camross the same always very active at juvenile and have a strong bunch that has won all coming into U17 this year but not strong at U15/13 level
Ballinakill are perhaps overachieving / codding themselves a bit with the extra lads from pickas, St Josephs GRaiguecullen, who will mostly fall away from hurling but are all of age and therefore physically strong

All of our clubs outside of Portlaoise & The Harps, its a numbers game, almost all are working off panels with maybe a max of ten lads to the correct age,
Portlaoise seems to have got to big to manage, but Football side doing well at 13/15,

The Harps were winning underage simply due to the weight of numbers, enough guys of 15, 17 ,20 years of age not top notch coaching or extra work, and that came from the mouth of a Harps man. 17s this year lucky to get to a final and were poor when there

Sooner we go back to even ages like most counties the better, 14/16/18/20 to allow players develop fully
Run an U20 Championship in the spring time
Improve the standards/ efforts in our secondary schools (Mountrath aside)

The gap from being a good minor at 17 to being a fully developed ( interested ) player at 24/25/26 is huge, and allows too many to walk away

[Laois man]

Castletown over achieved won the final by 6 points are you serious

[Genocide Organ]

Thought it was a poor enough minor final. Wouldn't say Castletown overachieved, but only for that Tom Óg Phelan, they'd have lost it. I believe a lot of young players on it.

Well done to Clonad. Showed good determination to win that, by all accounts. They should be well fit to mix it at Premier Intermediate, which isn't a strong grade by any means. Colt-Shanahoe, Mountmellick, Clonaslee all treading water at that level. I suppose in fairness to Mountmellick, they did well on their first year up, but they were never going to win it.

[Voice of tReason]

Looked like they would throw it away at the end but a good win for Clough/Ballacolla.

Darren Maher and Cormac Hogan were excellent. Mulhall, Dunphy, Pearson and A Corby really good too.

To win in Leinster without Picky is a good achievement and a warning to the rest of Laois.

[Verbal]

They were good.
Castletown Geoghegan were below what I expected of them.

I think the ref could have settled for a yellow rather than sending the player off.

[Laois Rising]

Castletown won by 12 they top the group with a game still to play. Camross gone after Cbolla beating them today. Harps beat Borris. Clan Né Gael Strong in the B. Question should a team with 3 or 4 clubs together be allowed into a B competition??

Well... It was the same arrangement last year, and they weren't up to much. These things are cyclical, I suppose. I would say that more concerning for hurling in Laois is how the traditional clubs ( esp. R/E, B/K) are not really featuring in underage grades, except at the lower levels.

Clough Ballacolla will be with Mountrath in the Minor Championship next year and are operating with small numbers and poor standard at U13 & 15, with a couple of excellent hurlers at each grade also

Rathdowney Errill were U13 C,15 B,17 B, but got to both finals, definitley standard poor there and struggling to recruit quality in the town now

Castletowns biggest fan will admit they massively overachieved U15 this year and Minor, but have a few talented lads coming through and if they win the Prem Inter next year will work out well for them, management appointment important there

Borris Kilcotton competing well in 15 & 17 A last couple of years and again have some quality players at each level, seem to be very active at juvenile
Camross the same always very active at juvenile and have a strong bunch that has won all coming into U17 this year but not strong at U15/13 level
Ballinakill are perhaps overachieving / codding themselves a bit with the extra lads from pickas, St Josephs GRaiguecullen, who will mostly fall away from hurling but are all of age and therefore physically strong

All of our clubs outside of Portlaoise & The Harps, its a numbers game, almost all are working off panels with maybe a max of ten lads to the correct age,
Portlaoise seems to have got to big to manage, but Football side doing well at 13/15,

The Harps were winning underage simply due to the weight of numbers, enough guys of 15, 17 ,20 years of age not top notch coaching or extra work, and that came from the mouth of a Harps man. 17s this year lucky to get to a final and were poor when there

Sooner we go back to even ages like most counties the better, 14/16/18/20 to allow players develop fully
Run an U20 Championship in the spring time
Improve the standards/ efforts in our secondary schools (Mountrath aside)

The gap from being a good minor at 17 to being a fully developed ( interested ) player at 24/25/26 is huge, and allows too many to walk away

A very good synopsis of where juvenile hurling is at. In fairness to the Harps club-they do a fantastic job of getting every young child possible, both boys and girls, involved, enjoy being involved and playing. They must be commended for that as it takes some really committed club people to ensure this happens year on year and not as a one off when you might get a couple of parents at a certain year group who really drive things but only drive it for that year group.

It's also massive for creating a community pride and creating a sense of attachment to a community as well. Obviously, the person who you were talking too Ogie, would like to see more expertise coaching going on. Hopefully our Hurling Games Development Officer is tapping into the potential of the Harps and providing the necessary coach the coaches etc. sessions to ensure that those players are being exposed to the best coaching possible.