Official Laois Thread 2007

[youbetterbelieveit]

nah mick brennan, he played under`21 for laois, i think he is round the leixlip area, maybe he is just gone off the radar in laois.

[Josey Whales]

With all due respect lads dark horses for what?- you aren't top 5 in my opinion and i would say you are invisible rather than dark. I don't think dublin are world beaters  eitherand i think we'll fall short again but laois haven't  aprayer of lifting sam next year and you can quote me on that.
No offence lads - but i just don't think you have enough talent to land the big one- ther eis a world of difference between winning leinster and winning the all-ireland. aside from tom kelly- clancy- brennan and munnelly and if beano was back to form who else have you got?
Kerry have a better bench than most of the first 15 selections in the rest of the country- that's the standard required to win Sam and i can't see how a team that gets annialiated in the leinster semi one year could all of a sudden lift Sam -you need about 8 players in my view.

[haze]

ah well i'll be the first to say Laois are unlikely to win the All Ireland next year but for anyone to say Laois need 8 players is totally off the wall...

Laois could certainly do with a full back to release Rooney back to the half back line and it would be nice to discover one or two devasting inside forwards (the majority of top counties all seem to have at least one). After that i suppose maybe a half forward of the Brian Dooher or Paul Galvin mould would certainly help these players are just not in the county.

If Laois need eight players, Dublin wouldnt be too far off that figure either... dont forget in the end ye did lose to Mayo just like us..

and how can how can anyone list off Laois best players without mentioning either Joe Higgins (best in county), Fergal Byron or even Aidan Fennely. Laois are probably the 5/6 strongest county in Ireland and apart from a drubbing from Dublin last year we actually played up to our potential.

I'd fancy Laois to give the Dubs a right lash in the Leinster final if we get there and hopefully then the record will be set straight

[laoislad]

You beat me too it haze was just about to mention Higgins and Byron
I never said Laois will win the All Ireland i just meant that we are dark horses and maybe someone is gonna come from nowhere this year so why not Laois we have as good a chance as anyone outside the top 2 (Kerry,Tyrone) We are defo in top 5/6 in country
On a personal note i'd be happy with Leinster and i think odds of 7/2 i think? are too good not too put a bet on

[Josey Whales]

The joy s of working nights...................

7 players in my view

2 wing backs
a midfielder
2 half forwards
2 inside forwards

I doubt Dublin need 8 - we need about 3 - a full back and 2 forwards- but there is no guarantee we'll find the replacements. We may have lost to Mayo but the management have to take their fair share of the blame for that by making changes only they saw. I still believe its Kerry's to lose hopefully some of their players will stay in Oz.
Remember i'm talking about winning the All -Ireland-actually lifting it not kust getting there. I still believe Laois bought far too much into believeing their minor winning teams are still superstars the best player ross munnelly never played on any of them.

[laoislad]

Do you think Dublin are that much better than Laois? Come on Josey you can't go on last years result either
Im not saying Laois are better than Dublin either but to suggest Laois need 7 players and the Dubs only need 3 is a bit extreme
In my opinion Kerry and Tyrone despite lasts years horror show from Tyrone are top of the tree and my money would be on Tyrone next year
After that Armagh just edge Dublin Mayo Laois and Cork in no particular order and  after that you have your Galways Meaths etc

[Josey Whales]

Disagree- there is no guarantee Tyrone will recover from injuries as well. Some of them were serious injuries and it could take a couple of years to get back to their previous form - so I don't agree with you on that. Kerry have the luxury of guaranteed entry into the last 8 every year because the standard in the province is rubbish. that's a hell of an advantage.
I appreciate you don't agree with my assessment of Laois- but i think you're very weak in the half back line and the half-forward line and I think other teams have targetted that.. You've a good full back line- good keeper- good centre back- good midfielder and 3 good forwards when on form- but i thought even Mayo over-ran you in the engine room. Colm Begley was an awful loss as e was probably worth 3 players in that department.
I'm well aware of our weakenesses and the scoreline last eyar was a bit of a freak- but i still think if the teams played tomorrow Dublin would have the edge whetehr we can maintain that in the coming season remains to be seen.

[laoislad]

Disagree- there is no guarantee Tyrone will recover from injuries as well. Some of them were serious injuries and it could take a couple of years to get back to their previous form - so I don't agree with you on that. Kerry have the luxury of guaranteed entry into the last 8 every year because the standard in the province is rubbish. that's a hell of an advantage.
I appreciate you don't agree with my assessment of Laois- but i think you're very weak in the half back line and the half-forward line and I think other teams have targetted that.. You've a good full back line- good keeper- good centre back- good midfielder and 3 good forwards when on form- but i thought even Mayo over-ran you in the engine room. Colm Begley was an awful loss as e was probably worth 3 players in that department.
I'm well aware of our weakenesses and the scoreline last eyar was a bit of a freak- but i still think if the teams played tomorrow Dublin would have the edge whetehr we can maintain that in the coming season remains to be seen.

Game on so see ye in Leinster Final

[laoislad]

LAOIS Team v Kildare- M Nolan; N Donagher, C Ryan, R Stapleton; P O'Leary, T Kelly, P Begley; P Clancy, B Quigley; G Kavanagh, C Conway, D Murphy; M Tierney, B McCormack, R Munnelly.

[laoislad]

Laois 1-11 Kildare 0-07
Good win think it's Louth next

[The PRO]

Senior Football: MJ Tierney (Ballyroan Gaels)
Inter Football: John O'Loughlin (Mountmellick)
Junior Football: Kieran Delaney (Park/Ratheniska)
Junior B Football: Tom Gormley (Mountmellick)
Under 21 Football: Cahir Healy (Portlaoise)
Minor Football: John Scully (Stradbally Parish Gaels)

Senior Hurling: Pat Mahon (Rathdowney/Errill)
Inter Hurling: Dermot McGill (Ballyfin)
Junior Hurling: Gearoid Walsh (Kyle)
Junior B Hurling: John Kavanagh (Borris in Ossory)
Under 21 Hurling: John Brophy (Harps Gaels)
Minor Football: Willie Hyland (Clough-Ballacolla)

[Heshs Umpire]

nah mick brennan, he played under`21 for laois, i think he is round the leixlip area, maybe he is just gone off the radar in laois.

Plays for the Abbeyleix club. Won senior medal last year with the Ballyroan Gaels (Ballyroan/Abbeyleix) amalgamation. Good player but doubt if he is senior county standard. Think he might have been out of the country prior to that.
On the awards winners, I think Gordon Lawlor should have edged the intermediate football.

[haze]

definitely agree that gordon lawlor should have won the award. While John O Loughlin is one for the future, Lawlor deserves it for his years of service alone

[Bud Wiser]

I see Greg Ramsbottom has left Round Towers this week and is playing with Stradbally this year.


On the subject of Laois being in the top five, they are and have as goood a chance of winning Leinster as anyone else, especially the Dub's.   Laois footballers didn't loose to Dublin last year, the manager did, he made an arse of it and he knows it.  He said Fergal Byron and a few of the lads got together and demanded different training methods and different tactics and he stood back and let them at it.  He then said he was taking a more personal involvement in the training after the defeat ! And so he should have.  If I was getting a hundred grand and a four bed house under my arse for free I'd be taking a personal interest all the time. He was either the manager or he wasn't.

On the current team debate, I am sick and tired listening to those saying we are too light, need more players and a general copycat rant that is going on for the last year or two.  I hope Pillar is of the same opinion that our lads are still as weak physically as they were when they won the Leinster Final and that the training they are now undergoing will not see an older, wiser and stronger outfit this year.  I would rather have an age group that are on the way up than some of those who are unfortunately on the way out any day.  Like I say, we had two bad games of football last year IMO, the game against the Dub's and the first game against Mayo.

In the game against Mayo I saw players in the kick out landing zone walking away with their back to Fergal Byron when he was approaching the kick out.  I saw players walking aimlessly around the field as if they were out looking for mushrooms and yet they could have and should have won that game.  If Donie Brennan was good enough to come on for the last three minutes he was good enough to come on for the last twenty but all in all we were two kicks of a ball away from an All-Ireland and the Dub's can't seem to handle that.

[Heshs Umpire]

Not great yesterday. I suppose a win is a win. Impressed with Wooly, Clancy and Madigan. Our beloved neighbours next Sunday, should be a bit more intensive.