Laois Senior Footballers 2026

[High Fielder]

Give over with the drive change from within line. It's a closed shop and always has been. It's sickening. They have presided over the worst period in Laois GAA and still they hold on. The County needs leaders and fresh ideas; not sheep

[Laois Rising]

Something is going very wrong at underage level with the development of players. With our bigger clubs they can go from having a decent team one year to a weak team the next-tends to be down to the quality of parents involved with certain teams that decides their development. Schools are hugely disappointing-outside of Knockbeg who are competitive at senior level without ever really looking like winning the competition. In other counties we see schools playing a big role in helping the progression of young players. 

The minor panel for this year is a perfect example of something amiss in the county. Crettyard have five players on the minor panel this year with probably 15-20 boys maximum in the parish of that age to draw upon and then you have a town of 20,000 plus in Portlaoise and they feeding in 2 players. Traditional strongholds like Stradbally-no players, St. Joseph's 1. What is happening in these clubs with the size of pick available to them that they are not developing and bringing through players on an annual basis.

Laois will only be strong when the likes of Josephs, Stradbally and Portlaoise are strong. Traditionally when Laois go well its when are stronger, traditional clubs are going strong too.

Tell us you know nothing about underage football in the county without telling us you know nothing about underage football in the county

Crettyard won the minor A in 2025 with the vast majority of the squad u16,they have 5/6 lads up to the age this year well entitled to be on a minor panel

Joseph's won the u15A in 2023 but through a mixture of factors didn't raise a gallop in the 2025 minor

They are struggling for numbers and if you look at their grading particularly at u13 last year, you would have know that

Portlaoise lost the minor by a point in 2025 and the issues facing the town are well documented

It's just as well you aren't in Kerry the Clifford's wouldn't get a look in because they aren't from a "traditional stronghold"

Tell us someone who reads a post but doesn't read a post properly-

I am not one bit knocking Crettyard's achievements. I was at the final and well aware of the talents of the Brennan lads etc. in the club that are coming through. I was thrilled to see a club like Crettyard winning the title along with the best of Spink and Killeshin thrown into the mix.

You actually confirmed the point I was making. Joseph's is a big area and have much bigger numbers to Crettyard, the same is true of Stradbally and Portlaoise. If these clubs were consistently producing strong underage teams-and not ad hoc- their representation should be stronger on e.g. a minor panel. The point I was simply making is that our bigger clubs are not producing strong underage teams on a regular basis. If the stronger club teams are not producing strong underage teams this will impact on your intercounty underage teams as well. What is happening in Joseph's that they are not able to maximise their numbers or what alternative approaches are they taken to rectify this situation?   

Where did I say because you are from a smaller club that you cannot be selected on a county minor team. My point is that this county minor team  looks to be following a similar pattern to that of the last few years. We are lacking a strength in depth in our pool of players. In 2025 we lost all three group games in Leinster and ended up losing to Wicklow in the bottom tier All-Ireland competition, 2024 finished bottom at the group stage of Leinster competition and ended up in tier 3 of All-Ireland series as well. 2023 finished second bottom in our group after very bad beatings to Kildare and Offaly.

There is a trend starting to emerge. Our club scene has been weak for a good few years and the impact of this in evident.     

[Podge72]

Something is going very wrong at underage level with the development of players. With our bigger clubs they can go from having a decent team one year to a weak team the next-tends to be down to the quality of parents involved with certain teams that decides their development. Schools are hugely disappointing-outside of Knockbeg who are competitive at senior level without ever really looking like winning the competition. In other counties we see schools playing a big role in helping the progression of young players. 

The minor panel for this year is a perfect example of something amiss in the county. Crettyard have five players on the minor panel this year with probably 15-20 boys maximum in the parish of that age to draw upon and then you have a town of 20,000 plus in Portlaoise and they feeding in 2 players. Traditional strongholds like Stradbally-no players, St. Joseph's 1. What is happening in these clubs with the size of pick available to them that they are not developing and bringing through players on an annual basis.

Laois will only be strong when the likes of Josephs, Stradbally and Portlaoise are strong. Traditionally when Laois go well its when are stronger, traditional clubs are going strong too.

Tell us you know nothing about underage football in the county without telling us you know nothing about underage football in the county

Crettyard won the minor A in 2025 with the vast majority of the squad u16,they have 5/6 lads up to the age this year well entitled to be on a minor panel

Joseph's won the u15A in 2023 but through a mixture of factors didn't raise a gallop in the 2025 minor

They are struggling for numbers and if you look at their grading particularly at u13 last year, you would have know that

Portlaoise lost the minor by a point in 2025 and the issues facing the town are well documented

It's just as well you aren't in Kerry the Clifford's wouldn't get a look in because they aren't from a "traditional stronghold"

Tell us someone who reads a post but doesn't read a post properly-

I am not one bit knocking Crettyard's achievements. I was at the final and well aware of the talents of the Brennan lads etc. in the club that are coming through. I was thrilled to see a club like Crettyard winning the title along with the best of Spink and Killeshin thrown into the mix.

You actually confirmed the point I was making. Joseph's is a big area and have much bigger numbers to Crettyard, the same is true of Stradbally and Portlaoise. If these clubs were consistently producing strong underage teams-and not ad hoc- their representation should be stronger on e.g. a minor panel. The point I was simply making is that our bigger clubs are not producing strong underage teams on a regular basis. If the stronger club teams are not producing strong underage teams this will impact on your intercounty underage teams as well. What is happening in Joseph's that they are not able to maximise their numbers or what alternative approaches are they taken to rectify this situation?   

Where did I say because you are from a smaller club that you cannot be selected on a county minor team. My point is that this county minor team  looks to be following a similar pattern to that of the last few years. We are lacking a strength in depth in our pool of players. In 2025 we lost all three group games in Leinster and ended up losing to Wicklow in the bottom tier All-Ireland competition, 2024 finished bottom at the group stage of Leinster competition and ended up in tier 3 of All-Ireland series as well. 2023 finished second bottom in our group after very bad beatings to Kildare and Offaly.

There is a trend starting to emerge. Our club scene has been weak for a good few years and the impact of this in evident.     

Turn up for the minor final which is on before the senior and then claim to know all about underage in the county

It shouldn't matter a shite whether you are from a so called traditional stronghold in the county or not

That type of antiquated thinking went out in every other county surrounding us with the dodo

A laois team made up of the traditional strongholds would do much better than any current laois team at any level ?

Laughable if you think that's the case

Ger Brennan did a trawl recently of 240 Dublin players across all the levels to see if he could unearth 4/5 prospects

And this is a county with infinitely more resources and a huge player base than what's here

The player base at development level needs to be broadened not narrowed

The other issue is across the board

The number who won't commit

And the desperate state of the schools in both codes

[County Man]

Massive game v Sligo on Saturday evening. Still 10 points to play for so hopefully we can win. We beat them last year in O'Moore Park.

Looking back on the first 2 rounds - we should have won against Limerick but squandered a few goal chances. Daragh Galvin was very lively that evening and did well against Wexford also.

Limerick gave Down a good run for their money in round 2 so we can take encouragement from that.

While Wexford thoroughly deserved their win, it was an off day for us. Rioghan Murphy did very well for us as did Kevin Swayne. I wonder if Swayne can be moved forward a bit and maybe bring in Alex Mohan to defence.

We need to be more clinical upfront and start delivering a few 2 pointers. Hopefully Evan O'Carroll will be fit to start, he has been decent on his return this year as has Paul Kingston.

Wexford were very impressive on the evening. Hopefully we can respond well on Saturday and put in a strong performance.

[Laois Rising]

Something is going very wrong at underage level with the development of players. With our bigger clubs they can go from having a decent team one year to a weak team the next-tends to be down to the quality of parents involved with certain teams that decides their development. Schools are hugely disappointing-outside of Knockbeg who are competitive at senior level without ever really looking like winning the competition. In other counties we see schools playing a big role in helping the progression of young players. 

The minor panel for this year is a perfect example of something amiss in the county. Crettyard have five players on the minor panel this year with probably 15-20 boys maximum in the parish of that age to draw upon and then you have a town of 20,000 plus in Portlaoise and they feeding in 2 players. Traditional strongholds like Stradbally-no players, St. Joseph's 1. What is happening in these clubs with the size of pick available to them that they are not developing and bringing through players on an annual basis.

Laois will only be strong when the likes of Josephs, Stradbally and Portlaoise are strong. Traditionally when Laois go well its when are stronger, traditional clubs are going strong too.

Tell us you know nothing about underage football in the county without telling us you know nothing about underage football in the county

Crettyard won the minor A in 2025 with the vast majority of the squad u16,they have 5/6 lads up to the age this year well entitled to be on a minor panel

Joseph's won the u15A in 2023 but through a mixture of factors didn't raise a gallop in the 2025 minor

They are struggling for numbers and if you look at their grading particularly at u13 last year, you would have know that

Portlaoise lost the minor by a point in 2025 and the issues facing the town are well documented

It's just as well you aren't in Kerry the Clifford's wouldn't get a look in because they aren't from a "traditional stronghold"

Tell us someone who reads a post but doesn't read a post properly-

I am not one bit knocking Crettyard's achievements. I was at the final and well aware of the talents of the Brennan lads etc. in the club that are coming through. I was thrilled to see a club like Crettyard winning the title along with the best of Spink and Killeshin thrown into the mix.

You actually confirmed the point I was making. Joseph's is a big area and have much bigger numbers to Crettyard, the same is true of Stradbally and Portlaoise. If these clubs were consistently producing strong underage teams-and not ad hoc- their representation should be stronger on e.g. a minor panel. The point I was simply making is that our bigger clubs are not producing strong underage teams on a regular basis. If the stronger club teams are not producing strong underage teams this will impact on your intercounty underage teams as well. What is happening in Joseph's that they are not able to maximise their numbers or what alternative approaches are they taken to rectify this situation?   

Where did I say because you are from a smaller club that you cannot be selected on a county minor team. My point is that this county minor team  looks to be following a similar pattern to that of the last few years. We are lacking a strength in depth in our pool of players. In 2025 we lost all three group games in Leinster and ended up losing to Wicklow in the bottom tier All-Ireland competition, 2024 finished bottom at the group stage of Leinster competition and ended up in tier 3 of All-Ireland series as well. 2023 finished second bottom in our group after very bad beatings to Kildare and Offaly.

There is a trend starting to emerge. Our club scene has been weak for a good few years and the impact of this in evident.     

Turn up for the minor final which is on before the senior and then claim to know all about underage in the county

It shouldn't matter a shite whether you are from a so called traditional stronghold in the county or not

That type of antiquated thinking went out in every other county surrounding us with the dodo

A laois team made up of the traditional strongholds would do much better than any current laois team at any level ?

Laughable if you think that's the case

Ger Brennan did a trawl recently of 240 Dublin players across all the levels to see if he could unearth 4/5 prospects

And this is a county with infinitely more resources and a huge player base than what's here

The player base at development level needs to be broadened not narrowed

The other issue is across the board

The number who won't commit

And the desperate state of the schools in both codes


It's not what I said. I'm not restricting who or what club is represented on Laois teams. It's about maximising our pool of players. If our bigger clubs are going well they are feeding in bigger numbers and more high quality players to the county teams. It's logical. If you strongest clubs are at their strongest and producing players it would make sense for them to be feeding a number of players into the intercounty setup. At present, they aren't. Therefore, our pool of players is reduced significantly and you are relying on more players from a spread of smaller clubs. No problem with that-however in recent years many of the players filling out our underage county panels would be behind the calibre and standard of those in some of the other stronger counties.

You are right regarding schools but as one poster highlighted, if the school itself doesn't want the outside support or want to make GAA a priority there is very little that Laois GAA can do. Portlaoise CBS should be completing with likes of Marist College and Colaiste Mhuire who played in the Leinster A Final. Portlaoise probably slightly bigger in student size to either two and yet if they were to face either of these teams it would end in a hammering.   

[Blueforever]

Good win last night could have won by more but 2 more points on the board next up Clare away a good performance needed to build on last night s result

[The PRO]

Yeah, Clare away is a massive one now. Don't want to be needing to get a result in the last game!
Fermanagh must be very poor to lose to that Sligo team.
Some lads definitely putting their hand up for a starting jersey including Fingleton, Tyrrell, Galvin and Rioghan Murphy

[The Saint]

Something is going very wrong at underage level with the development of players. With our bigger clubs they can go from having a decent team one year to a weak team the next-tends to be down to the quality of parents involved with certain teams that decides their development. Schools are hugely disappointing-outside of Knockbeg who are competitive at senior level without ever really looking like winning the competition. In other counties we see schools playing a big role in helping the progression of young players. 

The minor panel for this year is a perfect example of something amiss in the county. Crettyard have five players on the minor panel this year with probably 15-20 boys maximum in the parish of that age to draw upon and then you have a town of 20,000 plus in Portlaoise and they feeding in 2 players. Traditional strongholds like Stradbally-no players, St. Joseph's 1. What is happening in these clubs with the size of pick available to them that they are not developing and bringing through players on an annual basis.

Laois will only be strong when the likes of Josephs, Stradbally and Portlaoise are strong. Traditionally when Laois go well its when are stronger, traditional clubs are going strong too.

I'd like to know what the PERCEPTION is of the 'size of pick' available to St Josephs. I honestly can't put it in numbers so can anyone throw a bit of light on it from a Census or whatever. I do know theres only 5 housing estates in the ENTIRE parish, which is a very large area, and 4 of those estates are up in The Swan. Theres 100 houses in total between those 4 estates, and it's a 25 mile round trip to Kellyville from there. Which makes me laugh at suggestions that Portlaoise moving 2 miles out to Rathleague may be an issue. There are approximately 15 kids in wolfhill school, maybe 35 kids in The Swan school. I'd imagine Luggacurren school is relatively modest too, and I believe numbers are dropping in Ballyadams.. and that's your 4 main areas in a very large parish by area. Yes, bigger numbers than a Crettyard or Barrowhouse or whoever, but don't confuse area with population. I'll take a guess here.. are there 400 to 500 houses in the parish?... I don't know. But one, I can't think of another club who's biggest population centre is a 25 mile round trip from their pitch, and two, a parish that's so big but has such small schools. All those factors have existed since day one, but every club can see new challenges post-Covid especially. 'NEW' parents aren't as inclined to drive 4 nights a week, or even 6 nights a week and bypass maybe 5 other clubs just to get to their parish club. I'd love to hear opinions, but not abuse. Thanks.

[The PRO]

Something is going very wrong at underage level with the development of players. With our bigger clubs they can go from having a decent team one year to a weak team the next-tends to be down to the quality of parents involved with certain teams that decides their development. Schools are hugely disappointing-outside of Knockbeg who are competitive at senior level without ever really looking like winning the competition. In other counties we see schools playing a big role in helping the progression of young players. 

The minor panel for this year is a perfect example of something amiss in the county. Crettyard have five players on the minor panel this year with probably 15-20 boys maximum in the parish of that age to draw upon and then you have a town of 20,000 plus in Portlaoise and they feeding in 2 players. Traditional strongholds like Stradbally-no players, St. Joseph's 1. What is happening in these clubs with the size of pick available to them that they are not developing and bringing through players on an annual basis.

Laois will only be strong when the likes of Josephs, Stradbally and Portlaoise are strong. Traditionally when Laois go well its when are stronger, traditional clubs are going strong too.

I'd like to know what the PERCEPTION is of the 'size of pick' available to St Josephs. I honestly can't put it in numbers so can anyone throw a bit of light on it from a Census or whatever. I do know theres only 5 housing estates in the ENTIRE parish, which is a very large area, and 4 of those estates are up in The Swan. Theres 100 houses in total between those 4 estates, and it's a 25 mile round trip to Kellyville from there. Which makes me laugh at suggestions that Portlaoise moving 2 miles out to Rathleague may be an issue. There are approximately 15 kids in wolfhill school, maybe 35 kids in The Swan school. I'd imagine Luggacurren school is relatively modest too, and I believe numbers are dropping in Ballyadams.. and that's your 4 main areas in a very large parish by area. Yes, bigger numbers than a Crettyard or Barrowhouse or whoever, but don't confuse area with population. I'll take a guess here.. are there 400 to 500 houses in the parish?... I don't know. But one, I can't think of another club who's biggest population centre is a 25 mile round trip from their pitch, and two, a parish that's so big but has such small schools. All those factors have existed since day one, but every club can see new challenges post-Covid especially. 'NEW' parents aren't as inclined to drive 4 nights a week, or even 6 nights a week and bypass maybe 5 other clubs just to get to their parish club. I'd love to hear opinions, but not abuse. Thanks.

Can't disagree with any of that but Joes always have three strong adult teams and are usually decent at all underage levels.
They're definitely one of the "bigger" football clubs in my mind.