Laois Senior Footballers 2025

[Riseagain]

Allianz Football League Division 3
Full time
Laois : 3-20(29)
Leitrim: 0-6(6)

That leaves us level on points with Clare, Antrim and Fermanagh but ahead on scoring difference.

[Riseagain]

Teams	|P|	W|	D|	L|	+/-|	Pts|
Kildare	2	2	0	0	21	4
Offaly	2	2	0	0	12	4
Laois	2	1	0	1	18	2
Clare	2	1	0	1	10	2
Antrim	2	1	0	1	2	2
Fermanagh	2	1	0	1	-14	2
Sligo	2	0	0	2	-13	0
Leitrim	2	0	0	2	-36	0

Table after round 2

[georgedoylesrightleg]

haha pioacher ya gowl. off n shite. the kids be ok lads, give dem time.

[Laois Rising]

I think games against Leitrim can be written off as they are going to lose every game in this division by double digits. The vast majority of the panel are young lads straight out of the u20s. Leitrim did brilliantly last year in division 4 and had that little luck as well against Wexford to get them up. However, the team they have this year would struggle to finish even mid table in division 4 and that is the reality of the situation.

What was great to see was they set plays and player positioning that McNulty implemented. Laois created numerous scoring opportunities in the opening half through very clever movement of the ball and clever positioning of players before making their runs. Leitrim were at sea trying to defend it. How it fares against better opposition will be interesting and I'm sure teams will do their homework on that Laois performance to find ways to negate it.

 

[County Man]

The 23 point winning margin will do us no harm at all in a scenario where 3 teams finish on the same points come the end of round 7. No less than 11 players got on the scoresheet for Laois on the day against Leitrim.

Certainly didn't expect it to be so easy but lads applied themselves very well and the 3 goals were worked well early on. It gave the substitutes a bit of game time, some of which are new enough to the panel.

For me, the standout player for us was Pa Kirwan who got through a lot of work, took his goal well and got a fine 2 pointer in the second half.

Sligo next Sunday should be a cracker. It looks set to be very close, hopefully home advantage can get us over the line.

[Laois Rising]

Sligo is a proper test of this team. Sligo need the points as well as another loss for them puts them in the relegation battle.  It would be nice to see Laois coming out on top in home games again when facing competitive teams. Our last appearance in Division we were relegated on our home form. Lost to Limerick, Westmeath and Longford and drew with Antrim in O'Moore Park. Started poorly at home in the league again the first day out. I'm not sure why we struggle so badly at home but it would be nice going to O'Moore Park and seeing a Laois team perform and beat a team of similar or higher rank.

[Joeythelips]

Laois 0-23 v 0-16 Sligo
AN impressive result, well done lads. Big game against Kildare up next.

[georgedoylesrightleg]

grate stuff yesterday. no messin bout, job done and out the gap. trust de kids

[redsetanta]

Great score to put up. Mark Barry flying yesterday.

Kildare will be a right test next. Can never beat them hoors enough and they feel the same about us!

[Laois Rising]

Job well done. Barry stepping up, especially in the absence of Carroll. McNulty deserves great praise with how he has set this team up to play to the new rules. Might be showing our hand a small bit and teams will figure out how to counteract how Laois set up but for now it is going to keep us in Division 3 for next season and plenty to build upon.

Kildare steamrolling through games at present. They showed mercy to Leitrim in the second half. It could easily have been 15 points more a beating. Be great if Laois were to stop them in their tracks next day out.

[Sideline12]

After our below par performance Against Offaly it was great to get 2 wins in the last 2 weeks full credit to our management team and players against Sligo we came with a plan and got some lovely scores all the lads worked their socks off and put in a great shift, so over to Newbridge this Saturday evening against a strong Kildare team in front of a big vocal crowd should be a great test for our team if we can pick up one more win in our remaining games we should be safe in div.3 for another season.

[County Man]

Really there was some scintillating football played against Sligo especially in the first 30 minutes, lads seemed to coming out of all angles to produce a score. Excellent movement and shooting, was great to see.

We kept them at bay then in the second half with Josh Hogan impressing - setting up a score and getting one of his own.

So the bitter rivals Kildare this Saturday evening. All we can ask for is another good team performance to follow on from last Sunday and see where it takes us. Hopefully we can a bring a bit up support to this derby. Should be a good occasion. They'll be out for revenge after our marvellous win last June.

[georgedoylesrightleg]

sintillating begod.

[Joeythelips]

Anyone at the Kildare match? Was it as bad as the scoreline suggests?

[on the hop]

it was poor really poor, perfect setting , huge crowd and then a complete non event of a game. no niggle or anything to get things going. I was hoping we would put in a performance but Kildare were miles ahead of us in terms of fitness, size and pace. they really bullied us especially in the forwards and kick outs in the first half were like kicking a ball against a wall. the game was over quickly after their very fast start and just petered out, you could say harshly it was played in relevant silence and the crowd drifted off before the end. we ran the bench with not much improvement. probably a bleak summary but Kildare are organised this year and are probably too strong for this division and for us in our current state with so many players unavailable. they have big games coming up against Clare and Offaly which probably will decide the division and give them a better idea where they are at but Flanagan has them going well. they do foul a bit but more cutely further up the field and did kick a lot of scoreable chances wide,(thankfully).

On the team itself, they blitzed us early enough with a fast start, the defence were under massive pressure. They scored with a minute of the start with a very Dublin like back door cut, something they repeated in the first minute of the second half and looked for it on numerous times during the game. in fairness we turned them over a few times in contact in defence but had no out ball and ended playing some hairy hand passing movements at times. Simon Fingelton's interventions saved us from a few goals but we just seemed to be very passive at times when they were shooting.

the kick outs were a massive problem, it was either Damon or nobody, they physically dominated us in this area. hopefully we wont meet someone again as big as Feely but high hanging kick outs into a wind were clearly to their advantage . it was noticeable that there half backs , Hyland in particular purposely ran ahead of the kick out into our half before it reached centre field assuming they were going to break it back into that area. we went short on a few but many were near the side line with the arc and left our defenders in a trap situation and easily pressed. one to Swayne didn't get outside the arc and ended with a handy free for them. the forwards unfortunately couldn't get separation from their defenders who were very tight. a mixture of lack of pace and physicality at times.  Mark Barry in particular was marshalled well legally or otherwise and had one of his quieter games. Brian Byrne did a portion of time at full forward for reasons I still don't understand as we gained nothing from it.   

I still think we need another win or even a draw to be safe, the injuries to benny Carroll and James Kelly will weaken a light enough panel if they are for a long period of time. A lot for the management to ponder but I don't think we will meet a team as strong as Kildare in the remaining fixtures.