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He might be 28 but he has some amount of hurling done. Between club, colleges and county.

As well as his commitment and contribution on the field one thing that stands out for me with Willie was his role in changing the structures and investment in hurling in Laois. His open letter to the county board was a turning point which brought in Cheddar etc. Although we are not there yet by a long shot, I hope that in future we will look back and see the role he and Cheddar played in improving Laois hurling.

Saw the team of the year find it hard to fathom how dowling wasnt on it being honest, was also suprised to see 8 borris lads on it but you couldnt really argue with too many either to be fair, i suppose its a bit like the all stars selections the finalist particularly the winners tend to dominate selections and contributions from players earlier in the championship tend to be forgotten, was a simular stoey with the football team, who do people have as player of the year?

Given that Borris were pretty poor up to the final I would personally give it to Ross King who was massively influential throughout the championship.

Well done to BK.
Had potential to be as good a game as the first day but I felt ref didnt let the game flow as well as he could.

Harsh on Broken I thought he did a good job was one R/E free he might have got wrong near the end where Borris got a point but looking back on the TV last night it looked like both players slipped .

Great game of hurling again and well done to Borris/Kilcotton

Harsh?? Are you joking? He was septic. Everything in the first half was a free, no flow to the game at all. Every time two lads touched off each other a free was given. That coupled with his inability to keep up with the play meant he was miles off the standard set by Lawlor. Lawlor and Stapleton are by far the best in Laois.

We didn't learn much though. Very similar to other games he has reffed. In fairness though, nobody in Rathdowney / Errill would say that he influenced the outcome in any major way.

Congratulations to Borris-Kilcotton and commiserations to Rathdowney Errill.

Two great battles but best team won out in the end.

Rathdowney sorely missed Mark Kavanagh and a fit Paddy Purcell yesterday. As someone intimated last week, the string of tough games caught up with them more.

Best of luck to BK in Leinster.

Fair enough. When I was younger, a lot of people wrote it as 'Laoise', and I suppose the habit has stuck a bit.
Also, it's often written in progrmmes as 'Laoise'.
However, I accept you may know more about this than me!

I know very little and am no gaeilgeoir. Just passing on a piece of useless info that was beat into us!

Burdizzo - apologies in advance for my pettiness 

Every time you post you remind my of my Irish teacher.

Laois can legitimately be written as Laois or Leix but never Laoise without a possessive entity or somesuch. For example contae laoise, muintir laoise, port laoise or mainistir laoise are acceptable but Laoise on its own to describe the county is never acceptable. Apologies again! I have seen some clothing with Laoise on it too which is equally wrong. Grammar police on duty.

So does nobody give Borris Kilcotton a chance then?

It's a final, of course they have a chance.

For R/E -
Tough route to final - C/B and Camross x 2.
Know how to win - 5 titles in 10 years.
Have shown great form in some of their games - played like champions
Some great hurlers

For B/K -
Hunger to win their first
Surprise element - not expected to win
Some great hurlers

Brendan Cummins?

Well now we know the final 2.

Ballinakill will be sick today. They were probably 10 points the better team but couldn't score. Converted about 20% of their chances . Felt for Jimmy Walsh, if he hadn't have thrown his hurl it would have went to extra time. They probably need another 3 or 4 scoring forwards to have a realistic shot at winning honours. Have to admire their relentless bravery though. Borris Kilcotton looked extremely flat and will have to be a different team in the final to have a chance. Huge talent but as is always said about them, they don't get the most out of it. Will suit them going into final as underdogs and won't be afraid of Rathdowney Errill who they beat last year in the championship.

The second game was a pit of intensity from start to end. Camross deserved their half time lead and Rathdowney Errill lived dangerously at times. When it mattered though, R/E went through the gears and made some important switches to shade the last 5-10 minutes of the game. Felt more like a county final than a semi. R/E had a lot of key players that didn't perform and will feel that they have to step up again in the final.

Decent crowd and 3 games for a tenner was good value. Pitch held up well despite all the games over the weekend and the rain.

What are the views on the upcoming weekend?

B/K will probably feel they have another gear in the first game and R/E will be hoping that they are playing into a strong wind in both halves the next day 

Surely ballinakill have to be favorites  for this, borris played them 3 times and couldnt beat them, ballinakill have  mcdonald from slieve margy the next day i believe, are a physically stronger team,  more dogged team and mentally are a mile ahead of the borris team who have repeatedly misfired since they joined

Certainly seem to have the edge in terms of tenacity and attitude but Borris have better hurlers around the field. If they click they will win easily but never seem to be able to. Teams that depend on one man for scores are always going to be vulnerable but there is nobody would doubt Ballinakill's drive and teamwork.

What are the views on the upcoming weekend?

B/K will probably feel they have another gear in the first game and R/E will be hoping that they are playing into a strong wind in both halves the next day 

20 years ago today Laois won their first minor All ireland at football, and produced great players. These players were also well coached. Yet we never seem to produce any decent coaches of note, although we are quick to slag off our own.

Coaching means different things. Our minors of the 90s and 00s were well coached to have very high skill levels. Individually, we had the best crop of players in the country which will get you minor trophies. What we lacked, and still lack, are strong tactical team coaches who can set up a team and train players to play to modern systems effectively.

I read recently that Tony McEntee was approached but turned it down. Pity as he's a top quality manager. Good to see they are after managers of that calibre.

Wonder why he turned it down? Are we offering Mickey Mouse money?

I'm probably being slightly harsh. I think that the current Borris team have a huge amount of talent and on paper are better than Ballinakill, but from watching them play I'm not sure if they have the same drive that Ballinakill or Camross have shown this year. That being said if they keep Cha quiet they certainly have the ability to win.

One thought I have is that it is very hard to get optimal motivation to beat the same team twice. Much easier for R/E and B/K to motivate themselves as both will be hurting from earlier defeats. Could be important in two very close games. Saying that, Camross have lost so many big games they are not short of drive.

Weather forecast is fairly brutal so could be a pair of slogging matches.