Underage squads 2024

[The Boy Wonder]

Whatever about pre-championship leagues/tournaments surely there is little value in plate/losers competitions.
Nobody cares about who wins these competitions and games like last night's will do more harm than good.

[redsetanta]

Good win by the U20 hurlers last night against Kildare. Next up is Wexford in Q/F.

I see Wexford got a right trimming from the cats at minor level last weekend. Are we out against them also?

[Laois man]

We play kerry next in the minor.

[The infidel in exile]

With regards to Michael Duignan at the healm in Offaly, He took an holistic approach to everything, especially at underage level, He got Shane Lowry on board, and he and a group of very rich people apparently covered ALL ASPECTS regarding finances ( between 1.5 to 2 million) that took pressure off fundraising and allowed Offaly to get EVERYTHING that was needed, in terms of physio's Doctors and Gym costs, travel, hotels etc. It breaks my heart to admit that Offaly are almost always one or two steps ahead of us, especially when it comes to professionalism at inter county level.

I have never been someone who accepts that Offaly produce more Talent than Laois, but Offaly players are less parochial than Laois when it comes to Club before County. As some of you know, I now live in the UK but I was brought up in the Hurling heartland of Laois ( West and south west Laois) But I have a football question that I hope someone could help me with. Portarlington are Currently by far the best Club Team in the County, please tell me why very few seem to be involved with the County at both underage and Senior level?

[redsetanta]

I see in the minor hurling that if we top our group we play the runners up in the other Tier 2 group. The winners of that game play the 4th placed team in Tier 1 which will likely be Wexford.

[ottoman]

I see in the minor hurling that if we top our group we play the runners up in the other Tier 2 group. The winners of that game play the 4th placed team in Tier 1 which will likely be Wexford.

I think if we come through the preliminary quarter, we have 3rd place in the Tier 1 in the championship proper, which will be Dublin.

[ottoman]

Playing Offaly now next weekend. They were beating by 4 by Westmeath.

[The real town]

With regards to Michael Duignan at the healm in Offaly, He took an holistic approach to everything, especially at underage level, He got Shane Lowry on board, and he and a group of very rich people apparently covered ALL ASPECTS regarding finances ( between 1.5 to 2 million) that took pressure off fundraising and allowed Offaly to get EVERYTHING that was needed, in terms of physio's Doctors and Gym costs, travel, hotels etc. It breaks my heart to admit that Offaly are almost always one or two steps ahead of us, especially when it comes to professionalism at inter county level.

I have never been someone who accepts that Offaly produce more Talent than Laois, but Offaly players are less parochial than Laois when it comes to Club before County. As some of you know, I now live in the UK but I was brought up in the Hurling heartland of Laois ( West and south west Laois) But I have a football question that I hope someone could help me with. Portarlington are Currently by far the best Club Team in the County, please tell me why very few seem to be involved with the County at both underage and Senior level?

[Jd]

With regards to Michael Duignan at the healm in Offaly, He took an holistic approach to everything, especially at underage level, He got Shane Lowry on board, and he and a group of very rich people apparently covered ALL ASPECTS regarding finances ( between 1.5 to 2 million) that took pressure off fundraising and allowed Offaly to get EVERYTHING that was needed, in terms of physio's Doctors and Gym costs, travel, hotels etc. It breaks my heart to admit that Offaly are almost always one or two steps ahead of us, especially when it comes to professionalism at inter county level.

I have never been someone who accepts that Offaly produce more Talent than Laois, but Offaly players are less parochial than Laois when it comes to Club before County. As some of you know, I now live in the UK but I was brought up in the Hurling heartland of Laois ( West and south west Laois) But I have a football question that I hope someone could help me with. Portarlington are Currently by far the best Club Team in the County, please tell me why very few seem to be involved with the County at both underage and Senior level?

With regards to Michael Duignan at the healm in Offaly, He took an holistic approach to everything, especially at underage level, He got Shane Lowry on board, and he and a group of very rich people apparently covered ALL ASPECTS regarding finances ( between 1.5 to 2 million) that took pressure off fundraising and allowed Offaly to get EVERYTHING that was needed, in terms of physio's Doctors and Gym costs, travel, hotels etc. It breaks my heart to admit that Offaly are almost always one or two steps ahead of us, especially when it comes to professionalism at inter county level.

I have never been someone who accepts that Offaly produce more Talent than Laois, but Offaly players are less parochial than Laois when it comes to Club before County. As some of you know, I now live in the UK but I was brought up in the Hurling heartland of Laois ( West and south west Laois) But I have a football question that I hope someone could help me with. Portarlington are Currently by far the best Club Team in the County, please tell me why very few seem to be involved with the County at both underage and Senior level?

I'd suggest that the reason is that 4 or 5 of their better players ended up in oz travelling. Young Murphy was meant to go off this year but eventually didn't(was in last year) I think two of their best backs (Bennett and Mohan)suffered cruciate injuries. I hear that all are back or will be back this year so hopefully we'll see them in with the Co in the not to distant future

[The infidel in exile]

Thank you JD, I'm not living in Ireland anymore but still try to keep up as much as possible. I'm really happy for Port, because they were like Graige, the almost flattered to decieve thus allowing the Town to dominate Laois football. I don't care what others think but when one club is winning almost everything at underage level for at least ten years. It sucks the heart out of other clubs. I'm not blaming Portlaoise, far from it as they had a conveyor belt every year. I can't remember exactly, but it was either 05, 06 that Arles Killeen and Ballyroan abbey contested the final, then Portlaoise dominated for a decade, strangely the County team began to slowly fall from grace during the same period. I'm not stating that these are intertwined but something definitely went wrong. We need Port, Joseph's, Ballyroan and I would love to see Graigue to win a Title.

[The real town]

The setup in laois is second to none the center of excellence looks super.location in heart of the main town in Laois couldn't be in a better place.everything is in place. Laois has a bigger population than offlay and growing.good coaching right people involved they have the perfect training ground.we should be able to compete but we are not. Our minors footballers are in  bottom tier for the last 2 years. Go to underage games regularly so talking to a lot of people from my club and it's not good what I hear. Still too much politics involved.

[The infidel in exile]

Thanks for your input Portbush, as I said, I no longer live in Ireland but when I lived there I was involved intensely with underage teams, done some refereeing and other stuff with underage teams.

I respect your point regarding the centre of excellence, and effort that goes into bringing Gaa forward in the County.

Regarding the differentiation in population, if you check the demographics, the native population is if anything dropping, it is purely based on emigration, and I am not in the least bit racist but it in no way strengthens the Indigenous sports.

I am mainly a Hurling fan, but followed the County Footballers to Tralee, Ballybofey, and Sligo etc. The problem is deeper, Rural areas are the bread and butter of Gaa, Portlaoise has a population in the region of 24.000, but they have offered Laois Hurling basically NOTHING in 25 years, Yes they done a lot for football, But a dear friend who lives in Portlaoise and has two currently going to secondary school, told me that the Schools have ZERO interest in Gaa. His Daughter is on the County under16 and Minor teams, but that was totally down to Him and his Wife getting her involved at a young age and they were blessed that she loves Gaa. But let's be totally honest, The four biggest towns in Laois are all mainly football areas. Portlaoise, Portarlington, Graigue, and Mountmellick. So it's heartbreaking to see how so few are involved with Hurling and Football.

When the County Town has at least three schools, and not one can produce an A level Football team, and basically no Hurling teams, it a total disgrace.

[Laois Rising]

Thanks for your input Portbush, as I said, I no longer live in Ireland but when I lived there I was involved intensely with underage teams, done some refereeing and other stuff with underage teams.

I respect your point regarding the centre of excellence, and effort that goes into bringing Gaa forward in the County.

Regarding the differentiation in population, if you check the demographics, the native population is if anything dropping, it is purely based on emigration, and I am not in the least bit racist but it in no way strengthens the Indigenous sports.

I am mainly a Hurling fan, but followed the County Footballers to Tralee, Ballybofey, and Sligo etc. The problem is deeper, Rural areas are the bread and butter of Gaa, Portlaoise has a population in the region of 24.000, but they have offered Laois Hurling basically NOTHING in 25 years, Yes they done a lot for football, But a dear friend who lives in Portlaoise and has two currently going to secondary school, told me that the Schools have ZERO interest in Gaa. His Daughter is on the County under16 and Minor teams, but that was totally down to Him and his Wife getting her involved at a young age and they were blessed that she loves Gaa. But let's be totally honest, The four biggest towns in Laois are all mainly football areas. Portlaoise, Portarlington, Graigue, and Mountmellick. So it's heartbreaking to see how so few are involved with Hurling and Football.

When the County Town has at least three schools, and not one can produce an A level Football team, and basically no Hurling teams, it a total disgrace.

I think this is a very 'nail of the head' comment. If the GAA's hurling taskforce are serious about growing hurling in weaker counties then it is looking at each of the weaker (tier two) counties and identifying specifically what can be done to grow the game there. In Laois, it is apparent that Portlaoise is the 'golden goose'. It should be possible to build back hurling in Portlaoise that they at the top of the food chain at juvenile level in hurling and feeding in a minimum of three/four starting players to each of the county underage teams. With the numbers in the town this is not an unrealistic ambition. If you look at what the Harps have achieved in the last decade thanks to the efforts of some excellent and committed club people there is no reason that Portlaoise cannot do something similar with potentially far greater numbers of juveniles at their disposal. The likes of James Duggan and Cody Comerford breaking through at senior level is fabulous to see. If we had 3/4 Portlaoise area players doing the same it would make a massive difference in the future to the county teams fortunes.

   

[The infidel in exile]

Thank you for your reply Rising, You made some constructive comments that on the surface area correct. Let's take the Harps as a compass to evaluate what you said. Firstly I assume that the Durrow lad's mainly go to Haywood (Hurling school), and the Cullohill lads probably Fergals( Hurling school), so from 1st year, those who are interested, are out on the field Hurling everyday, with Abbeyleix, Ballinakill, Ballypickas, and maybe a couple of Colt/Shanahoe lads. Same with Fergals, Rathdowney Borris/ killcotton, Galmoy, and Ballacolla lads.

My argument is that when kids go to schools steeped in GAA, it follows on to better hurlers hence better Clubs, and with all these elements combined, you get better competition.

Portlaoise schools are the antithesis of Haywood, St Fergals, Mountrath and Knockbeg etc. I am convinced that it has had a negative effect on clubs like Clonad, Ballyfin and the Heath, purely because the whole focus falls on the Club to find, nurture, train and basically everything else, and if we are going too be totally honest, it's really hard for small rural clubs to get enough players, let alone good ones to fill a team. Portlaoise have ALWAYS BEEN A FOOTBALL TOWN, Hurling will always be a distant second.

I will leave you with a thought. I actually believe that within five years Portarlington will have a stronger minor Hurling team than Portlaoise.A town that only started taking underage Hurling seriously less than five years ago, are already not far behind the Town.I don't blame the young lads, I blame the school's and the club, for having little or no interest in the small ball, it really saddens me to think of men like Taylor and Rigney and Critchley having to look at what has become of Portlaoise Hurling.

[oneshot]

no port won't have a stronger team than portlaoise in a few years time. the young players they have now are playing with mountmellick. football is number one in port theres no great love for hurling there lads that are over underage hurling there will say the same.