Laois Senior Hurlers 2023

[burdizzo]

And the minors on midday in O'Moore Park. Impossible to get to both - even if anyone was so inclined.

[Spiritof86]

Laois have the players, but they don't have the athletes.

That's what their manager Willie Maher is saying after seeing the O'Moore County finish their Division 1B campaign with five defeats from five games.

From Midlands  Radio 3 .

[Laois man]

Big game sat v westmeath I think we will win it. Any update on Scully or King are they back fit? Stephen Bergin must be near a starting place got 3 good points last Sunday.

[burdizzo]

I assume Mossy Keyes is injured?

[Ogie]

When does the Ballinakill fan club stop getting its way with this team ?!

[Home Boys Home]

Jury is very much out on this management set up. I don't see much evidence of any particular game plan so far, hopefully it will come together soon. Very worrying last weekend looking at 40-50 yards of space in front of our full back line while our wing backs chased the Dublin lads around the field and went 30 minutes or more without touching the ball.  Badly need someone like Niall Corcoran and Tommy Fitzgerald involved.

Some strange selection decisions too, both on starting team and subs. Some lads have hardly been given a chance, Colm Stapleton , James Duggan, Fionan Mahony Jordan Walsh Ciaran Byrne spring to mind. Stephen Bergin only got a look in for the first time last week in a dead rubber, was our best forward and then taken off ! Maybe they are not showing enough in training, but when you see the team and subs you wonder.

The constant referring to our lads lack of conditioning is starting to smack of excuses, there may be some truth to it but once is enough to say it to the media. With a small pick it is going to be harder to have a panel who both have the athletic and hurling qualities. The loss of physical lads like Sean Downey, Cha and Lee Cleere hasn't helped. I assume since Willie has placed such a big emphasis on this he has put in place a system to rectify the situation, and all players now have individually tailored  S&C programs with set targets and a system of accountability ?   

I can see a few retirements at the end of this year and I am not sure Div 1 is the place for what would be a young team looking to rebuild.

[burdizzo]

Could just be a dummy team, either.

[marty34]

Jury is very much out on this management set up. I don't see much evidence of any particular game plan so far, hopefully it will come together soon. Very worrying last weekend looking at 40-50 yards of space in front of our full back line while our wing backs chased the Dublin lads around the field and went 30 minutes or more without touching the ball.  Badly need someone like Niall Corcoran and Tommy Fitzgerald involved.

Some strange selection decisions too, both on starting team and subs. Some lads have hardly been given a chance, Colm Stapleton , James Duggan, Fionan Mahony Jordan Walsh Ciaran Byrne spring to mind. Stephen Bergin only got a look in for the first time last week in a dead rubber, was our best forward and then taken off ! Maybe they are not showing enough in training, but when you see the team and subs you wonder.

The constant referring to our lads lack of conditioning is starting to smack of excuses, there may be some truth to it but once is enough to say it to the media. With a small pick it is going to be harder to have a panel who both have the athletic and hurling qualities. The loss of physical lads like Sean Downey, Cha and Lee Cleere hasn't helped. I assume since Willie has placed such a big emphasis on this he has put in place a system to rectify the situation, and all players now have individually tailored  S&C programs with set targets and a system of accountability ?   

I can see a few retirements at the end of this year and I am not sure Div 1 is the place for what would be a young team looking to rebuild.

What's a game plan?

All teams now play like Limerick.

Short puck outs, work through the lines then score.

[LaoisAbu20]

God that was hard to watch. Some awful decisions made by players throughout the match, waiting till the last 5 minutes to go for goals, taking pot shots instead of securing scores and just a half hazard work rate. Westmeath have really surpassed us in regards to working the ball through the lines, work rate. and passing the ball to the player in the best position and creating space. I did think the referee made some questionable  decisions but the games was there for us to take.

Definitely agree that it's hard to have a game plan in the modern game but at thé same time you would think we could have had someone man marking Doyle. Again as I've said before, the half back line is a weak link for us, and it looked like Westmeath did their homework and exploited the cracks in our defence. I thought Podge Lawlor was out of his depth and that Liam senior should have been started instead. The same issue of our half backs roaming up the field to score creates a vacuum of space for Westmeath to take advantage of. Would really make you question the coaching of the backs

Westmeath were a good bit taller than most of our backs and yet we were trying to catch the ball instead of breaking the ball down. The two goals were shambolic, and showed just how far we've fallen behind,it also seems like the lads are struggling to read when to tackle and let the westmeath lads just run right in. Thought the full back line was sluggish today and I thought thar Rowland panicked with the puckouts after the goals went in. Don't understand why Jack Kelly comes back to take sidelines only to hit it where he's suppose to be whilst also creating a gap in the middle for westmeath to do as they like. Felt like Purcell ran out of steam within 10 minutes of the second half and perhaps should have been taken off.

I thought Phelan put in a good shift but doesn't get much support when he's on the run,with no one running off his shoulder or creating space. To be fair Ross King put in a good shift when he came on. Would have like to have seen some quicker substitutions. I'm beginning to question Willie Mahers judgement and tactical abilities. It felt like when the going got tough we just gave in, instead of breaking the play and regrouping to take on Westmeath. When the momentum was on our side Westmeath had no problem breaking the play. Again the game was there for us, but the individual nature of some players on our team meant that players went for scores that were not on instead of passing the ball to players in a better position and  securing the score. We just lack that ruthlessness to go for goals, like we should have punished westmeath in the first half when they were messing around with the ball in the backs. As the auld lad likes to say, goals win hurling matches. Definitely a hard day to be a Laois supporter.

[burdizzo]

Yeah, there were a couple of times goal were on, but lads went for their own score instead of passing it to a team mate - James Keyes' miss being the most glaring example. He did well enough, in fairness, but that was greedy on his part, and it wasn't the only time today, either. It's funny, though, I thought they were slightly the better team overall, but towards the end they looked like they were a bit 'leggy' and perhaps not fit enough. There was a period mid-way through the second half where they had a bit of momentum, but wasted a lot of chances. I just felt if they could get ahead, they might might kick on, but instead, as soon as they got level, Westmeath sucker-punched them w/ a goal, and that just drained them.

[blueandwhite1]

Laois were dominant for large periods but couldn't make it count.

3-23 was the problem though. We need a strong and settled spine. Full back and centre back are big problems. Delaney and Shanahan are fine hurlers but not suited to those positions.

[TheGiantSquid]

Anyone want to talk about the blind favouritism it seems from one of the selectors towards his own clubmen? I surely can't be the only one to think this?

[Laois man]

A poor weekend on the hurling front minor well beating by a average kilkenny team we only got 2 points from play😭kilkenny hit 3.12 from play and were down to 14 men for a long time. We gave away a good few scores by short puckouts crazy shit you need a serious team to work the ball through the lines probably why are coaches making the game awkward for these chaps. How did hour senior allow Westmeath score 3.24.Jesus we got some lovely score especially in the first half forwards were moving well and our inside had the beating of them. Our backs gave away 2 shocking goals and our half back line gave away a lot of scores from play and lazy silly fouling. Massive game in 2 weeks v Offaly had for lads to stay going and getting beating every week. But we had lads starting on sat that are not up to that standard. Where is Colm Stapleton a hard working honest player getting no game time Ross was sharp when he came in. After playing 6 games we still have no full back and no half back line why? It's hurtful to go down but westmeath have another year now in div 1 getting beating every week. I could be wrong but laois are in div 1 9 or 10 years and how many games if any have they won? Croke Park may have a long at the league set up. Hopefully the Joe Mcdonagh cup will be good to us but there is a tough 6 weeks ahead.

[Keyser Söze]

I was researching something and came across this.

Prophetic.

We've had some stream of fellas giving interviews talking about how bad we are since!!

https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Hurling%3A+Butler+is+boss+in+Laois.-a095397261

[Giovanni]

It's true for you.