Laois Senior Hurlers 2021

[Saffrongael]

Delighted for everyone connected with the team. There is a lot of talent in that dressing room and it's good to see it coming through in the end. Good to see them trying to work goals when it's on and the shooting was a bit better (although still plenty of work to do on that score). Delighted for them and hopefully we can see a further improvement next day out.

I thought the referee was pathetic - the sin binning was ridiculous, the sending off was not justified and But then he let a clear foul go in the lead up to Laois' second goal. Really poor.

Sean Cleere hasn't the first notion

[Laois man]

Why is there no score club updates on the WTS app. All other County club score updates are on it.

[Joeythelips]

Oh good Jesus yee are here raving how great it is to stay up when Eddie has us beaten Dublin competing with Tipperary ffs will yee cop on its a pure shambles with supporters buying into mediocrity if I'm wrong look at Eddie's results ,,talk about the county board me arse look at the tripe been written ffs

No one is saying this is better than when Eddie was in charge, he did a super job and it is a shame he is not still in charge, but thats not the players fault. People are delighted as it looked like this season would be a huge disaster and setback for Laois hurling where they don't win one game and get demoted in both league and championship. I don't think any Laois supporter would like to see that.

Although it was not a Tipp or a wexford we beat, it was true knockout championship and Laois played brilliant hurling in the first half, it almost fell apart but in fairness the lads who had to play a decent spell down 2 men battled manfully and pulled the result out of the fire. If Im honest I did not see the first half performance coming and it was nice to see Laois take the shackles off.

[Laoisred]

Have to agree with Joey, the first half performance came from nowhere in terms of recent form. Played at a different level to anything we've seen this year. And they were set up better from the off as well. Well done to the players and management who reacted well to a very heavy Wexford defeat.
A good performance the next day v Clare, Cork or whoever and carry that display into WM. Would be a positive way to end a difficult season.

[burdizzo]

Waterford.

The best we could've got?

[SCFC]

Waterford.

The best we could've got?

It probably is but it's a huge step up. At the end of the day, they are last year's All-Ireland finalists.

[Laoisred]

It would be a little easier if they are still missing their 4 best hurlers the next day - Prunty, De Burca, Barron and O'Mahony.

[Joeythelips]

It is a huge step up from Antrim, but it would be nice to see Laois play in the same aggressive attacking manner as they did in the first half against Antrim and see how far it gets them. Im sure last years All Ireland finalist's will be expected to beat Laois comfortably but it will be a good test of where our boys stand. 

[redsetanta]

Great result and a really gutsy performance. They fought like dogs and there is room for improvement.

Paddy Purcell will be sore after taking a couple of big hits. Great leadership from him and his goals were very important, particularly the second one.

PJ Scully impressed too and he's grown into his roe with the county. Two great sideline cuts, one from either side of the pitch. Like the rest of them he never stopped running.

Waterford a big step up but like Clare last year we just need to be confident and do the same again. As Cheddar says ' Foot to the floor hurling for 70 minutes.

[G@@]

https://www.laoistoday.ie/2021/07/11/cheddar-ive-to-give-incredible-credit-to-each-and-every-laois-player/

Since taking on the Laois hurling manager's role for the second time, it's been a tough run of games for Cheddar Plunkett.

As the only Liam MacCarthy Cup manager in his first season, in the middle of a global pandemic that seriously disrupted collective preparation, he's also had to put up with a lengthy injury list and one that made a tough league schedule even harder.

The poor performance against Wexford in the opening round of the championship and the subsequent heavy defeat had Laois as hot favourites to be relegated back to the Joe McDonagh Cup.


But on a glorious afternoon in Parnell Park on Saturday, Laois put in a thunderous performance in a belter of a game to beat Antrim 2-27 to 2-21.

It saves their status in the Leinster championship for 2022 and sends them forward to a Round 1 All Ireland Qualifier next week against Cork, Clare or Waterford.


On a day when they saw an 11-point lead pulled back to two, while losing Sean Downey to a sin bin, Ross King to a red card and conceding a penalty, it took great Laois character to see out the game.

The win was hugely significant in so many ways but that character on display was roundly praised too by Cheddar when he addressed the media afterwards.

"It was all about winning," he said. "The result obviously meant that Laois play championship hurling next year and gives us a chance to get reorganised and refocused and bounce back into a Leinster hurling championship next year.


"This has been a very, very tough year. A new management team came in in a pandemic. In my time and I've been involved with teams a long time, it's probably the biggest injury crisis of key players of any team I've ever been involved with.

"One day we'd have somebody back – we actually had Picky picked to play right half back and we lost him yesterday and that would just show you the difficult things we've had to work with this year.

"But I've to give incredible credit to each and every Laois player. Their commitment, their digging out the win, their digging out the ball and making sure we stayed on the front foot.

"Antrim had a chance and maybe if they'd have scored it they had momentum behind them at that stage, they definitely had numbers behind them, I think they were playing with two extra men around that time.

"If they'd to score it, it might have been tighter at the finish. But you've got to credit Laois, they came out with ball after ball.

"I think when a team is playing with that much fight, you always have hope. When we played Antrim in Corrigan Park, we learned an awful lot that day about what makes Antrim tick.

"We got some of those things right today. I think that stood us well. Our organisation and the way we played was a little bit different but it was very close.

"It's just brilliant to stay in this championship but I'm really, really aware and very clear what the team needs to do to step up and be competitive at the top level. I hope we get the time in the rest of the year and the start of next year to prepare for that level of competition because it's very different than what we're playing at.

"More important than anything we have a game against Westmeath to stay in Division 1 of the league. We've a game next Sunday but also that other game against Westmeath is hugely important to us so that's going to be our focus."

Their intensity from the first whistle was what really set the foundation for the win as Laois raced into an early lead – and never trailed.

"You can play all the tactical systems you like but without that level of real workrate – and these are all cliched words I hear them the whole time – but they are really, really important. And without that you can do all you like, you're not going to get it.

"I thought Laois, to a man, brought it, including the people on the sideline, including the people who went in brought that.

"But I've seen that in some games – second half up in Corrigan Park, second half in Nowlan Park, there were snatches of the whole team collectively going toe to toe and going for it. I thought we got the 70 minutes of it today and that's what made the difference."

The Portlaoise man added that there needs to be a level of realism within Laois as to where the county stands.

"I'd be surprised by some of the commentary," he added.

"We were playing Division 1 teams – All Ireland-winning teams, that's who you're playing. Laois were playing at one stage with 11 of the top 20 players missing, probably 11 starters. You saw what happened Waterford when they were missing Prunty and Barron. You just can't do it at this level.

"This is no disrespect to Antrim or Westmeath, Carlow, Laois. All of us are in this together. You've got to make really dramatic improvements to beat these (top) teams.

!Let's look at the facts, let's look at our record, we haven't beaten a top team – with the exception of Dublin three years ago in the championship – in God knows how many years.

"We haven't beaten them and yet people are saying this is their third defeat, fourth defeat. People need to wise up about the gap Laois hurling needs to make up – at minor, U-21, any level to be competitive against the top teams.

"We're going to do our bloody best with this team and give them every opportunity to win these matches but it is a vast gulf ... they are the facts and you cannot dodge those.

"I think it would be really helpful for Laois hurling if we dealt in reality and in facts of where we are and how can we get up to there, rather than the number of defeats."

Very interesting interview.

[Giovanni]

I have the feeling that Cheddar really believes this and, on this basis, his starting point is to limit the damage when he is playing the so-called bigger teams.

However, I don't think he's right on this. I genuinely feel that this current bunch of players are at a level that is similar to Wexford, Clare, and Dublin. This is not to say that we should be expecting to beat these teams but it does mean that we should expect to be competitive. There was no disgrace in losing to Tipp by 4 points and there would have been no disgrace if we'd lost to Dublin by a point in 2019. The main point is we were competitive and, if anything, the the quality of player is better now than it was then. The gap just isn't that big and I don't like the narrative that we're all in this together with Westmeath and Carlow. That's not to disrespect those teams but we've got to believe that we should be at the top table. If we don't we're never going to make it.

[town1980]

Last year running tipp close this year it's unreal to beat Antrim ffs it's no different than jumping around the place after winning the joe mcdonagh cup jeez Christ simple as Eddie is a v v v bad loss to Laois hurling know disrespect to cheddar but we have. Regressed totally

[burdizzo]

In fairness, the old form was back in the first half on Saturday.

But let's face it, we got a fair old hiding off Dublin under Eddie last year, too. And only managed to beat Carlow in the league - and that by one point. And we probably only got so close to Clare because they had a lad sent off. Nevertheless, Giovanni is right - we should be setting our sights higher than the Joe McD counties, and I do think there was a bit of a sparkle under Eddie that's only been evident this year against Antrim. But, y'know, sad and all as it was to lose Eddie, he was never going to stay. I know the county board gave him an easy way out, but he sort of became quite a hot property after we beat Dublin.

[Joeythelips]

Last year running tipp close this year it's unreal to beat Antrim ffs it's no different than jumping around the place after winning the joe mcdonagh cup jeez Christ simple as Eddie is a v v v bad loss to Laois hurling know disrespect to cheddar but we have. Regressed totally

Again you post males no sense, 'Regressed totally'?? How exactly, we get that Eddie Brennan was excellent and really got the best out of the group but we are still in the bloody championship despite all the setbacks this year. Laois are the only county to have taken on a new manager during the pandemic so straight away its no normal season for them, they had had a host of injuries to deal with and losing a run of games culminating in a bad championship beating at the hands of Wexford. Not easy for the group to take and given how well Antrim performed in the league it looked like we would be dropping back to JMcD cup.

Yet they showed what they are made of and although there will be plenty of sore bodies and tired limbs after that, they have to pick themselves up and take on last years All Ireland finalists a week later who lets face it will be expected to slaughter Laois. How about we get behind these lads who are giving it everything rather than moaning about things.

[portlaoisekid]

Last year running tipp close this year it's unreal to beat Antrim ffs it's no different than jumping around the place after winning the joe mcdonagh cup jeez Christ simple as Eddie is a v v v bad loss to Laois hurling know disrespect to cheddar but we have. Regressed totally

Again you post males no sense, 'Regressed totally'?? How exactly, we get that Eddie Brennan was excellent and really got the best out of the group but we are still in the bloody championship despite all the setbacks this year. Laois are the only county to have taken on a new manager during the pandemic so straight away its no normal season for them, they had had a host of injuries to deal with and losing a run of games culminating in a bad championship beating at the hands of Wexford. Not easy for the group to take and given how well Antrim performed in the league it looked like we would be dropping back to JMcD cup.

Yet they showed what they are made of and although there will be plenty of sore bodies and tired limbs after that, they have to pick themselves up and take on last years All Ireland finalists a week later who lets face it will be expected to slaughter Laois. How about we get behind these lads who are giving it everything rather than moaning about things.

Well said