Having seen St.Lomans a few times they are a very experience side
winning 6 westmeath c/ship in the last 10 years and competing in
the leinster club c/ship as well,they defend in large number and break
very fast they tackle hard as well, O'Toole and Heslin two class forwards
hard to know how this Port team will do playing in there first leinster c/ship.
St. loman's are probably stronger now than anytime that they were in the last ten years. Outside of Heslin who is a marquee full forward their middle third is dominated with players with senior intercounty experience. If you look at players of the calibre of Flanagan, Regan, McCartan, Dempsey and O'Toole each of them is currently or has been in with Westmeath at some stage recently. This is Portarlington's biggest test and a good barometer of how good the actually are.
Quote from: Laois Rising on December 03, 2021, 11:00:19 AM
St. loman's are probably stronger now than anytime that they were in the last ten years. Outside of Heslin who is a marquee full forward their middle third is dominated with players with senior intercounty experience. If you look at players of the calibre of Flanagan, Regan, McCartan, Dempsey and O'Toole each of them is currently or has been in with Westmeath at some stage recently. This is Portarlington's biggest test and a good barometer of how good the actually are.
Didn't they not play each other in a challenge match couple of weeks ago with Lomans coming out on top? Open to be corrected here. Would be great to see Port get a game in Croke Park if they get over the line on Sunday.
Disappointing result for Park Ratheniska today. I thought they would win that one with the home advantage. Been a great year for them overall though.
Found out against an organised side and will struggle up senior. But a great year for them but the hard work only starts now
Super win for Port today. I have to say, I fancied St Lomans coming into this despite all the bookies giving Port the edge. Think they had five or six Westmeath county players, with of course John Heslin being the stand out name in the programme.
However, Port showed serious mettle down the stretch when it looked like Lomans were getting on top. Colm Murphy got through a lot of ball inside and he set up a good few scores for the likes of Foster, Ryan, etc
Their full-back line looked very assured, as they have throughout the year. Lomans looked to kick long into Heslin near the end but Cathal Bennett seemed to always come out with the breaking ball and is definitely one for the future from an inter-county perspective.
Hopefully their goalkeeper is fit to play the next day as they will need his composure from kick-outs. I don't see there being any reason Port can't go and beat Kilmacud Crokes, who looked ordinary enough in their win over a poor Meath outfit. Beating a Dublin side in Croker would be some feat.
Quote from: town1980 on December 04, 2021, 05:10:02 PM
Found out against an organised side and will struggle up senior. But a great year for them but the hard work only starts now
You've an awful bitter side to you when it comes to poor auld Park
Is it down to them pulling all those kids and adult players from the Town?
Brilliant performance from Port
Them scoring 1-05 in the first 7 minutes similar to the County final was a fair burst
Port v Naas in a Leinster final is not beyond the bounds of possibility
Great game in O'Moore park today
Portarlington to lose their full back just before the game
and their no.4 getting a black card in the first half,
and if that wash't enough to lose their goalkeeper with a leg injury
in the second half and then to go a point behind, but they showed some courage
to come and kick the last 3 points and hold out for a great win
Well done Port .
Fair play to Port. Unbelievable mental strength to get over the line.
Made the mistake of listening to it on Midlands radio 3 who don't even pretend to be impartial. Spent more time talking about Gerry Buckley's book about former Westmeath players than they did about the Port performance after the match.
I can't imagine it would make much economic sense but would be great to have a Laois only radio station. Bring back LCR.
Quote from: blueandwhite1 on December 06, 2021, 11:12:50 AM
Made the mistake of listening to it on Midlands radio 3 who don't even pretend to be impartial. Spent more time talking about Gerry Buckley's book about former Westmeath players than they did about the Port performance after the match.
I can't imagine it would make much economic sense but would be great to have a Laois only radio station. Bring back LCR.
I had meant to post something similar. I was driving home from the west yesterday and had to listen to it. Jesus, it was like listening to Radio Mullingar. After the final whistle was a disgrace. They ran through how well 7 or 8 Lomans lads had played in defeat and then proceeded to plug some book about Westmeath GAA!
And it's not the first time either. They love Offaly and are mainly a Tullamore based operation.
Gerry Russell saying 2mins gone here in O'Moore Park and super fball. They seem to dislike laois bring back Jack Nolan🤣
Quote from: The PRO on December 06, 2021, 11:29:48 AM
Quote from: blueandwhite1 on December 06, 2021, 11:12:50 AM
Made the mistake of listening to it on Midlands radio 3 who don't even pretend to be impartial. Spent more time talking about Gerry Buckley's book about former Westmeath players than they did about the Port performance after the match.
I can't imagine it would make much economic sense but would be great to have a Laois only radio station. Bring back LCR.
I had meant to post something similar. I was driving home from the west yesterday and had to listen to it. Jesus, it was like listening to Radio Mullingar. After the final whistle was a disgrace. They ran through how well 7 or 8 Lomans lads had played in defeat and then proceeded to plug some book about Westmeath GAA!
And it's not the first time either. They love Offaly and are mainly a Tullamore based operation.
For sure. Offaly, Mullingar and Laois last seems to be their prioritization. I don't ever remember it being any different. Would only listen to it as a last resort but businesses in Laois should never bother advertising with them.
Quote from: Laois man on December 06, 2021, 11:41:12 AM
Gerry Russell saying 2mins gone here in O'Moore Park and super fball. They seem to dislike laois bring back Jack Nolan🤣
Gerry Russell: "Will it be a red card or a yella card?"
🤣🤣
I believe Oasis were inspired to name their debut album after hearing Gerry's famous commentary. Definitely Maybe.
Wide Wide Wide, it's a goal
Brilliant for Port to be heading to Croke Park. What a buzz there is around the town this week!
Isn't Russell a Laois man? He seems to have a long history of being biased against us....years ago it was Offaly and Vinny Claffey/The Millinnnnnneeeeium Man.
He appears to have moved onto Westmeath in more recent times!
Quote from: Keyser Söze on December 07, 2021, 04:32:53 PM
Isn't Russell a Laois man? He seems to have a long history of being biased against us....years ago it was Offaly and Vinny Claffey/The Millinnnnnneeeeium Man.
He appears to have moved onto Westmeath in more recent times!
A Clonaslee man I believe.
Another wonder point from John Heaslin😭😭 Gerry Russell at his best.
"A yalla card"
What's the story with the games in Croke Park. Will tickets be on general sale for it?
Give Gerry a break lads. It the likes of Gerry with his unique style and others like him that make local radio far more entertaining than the national broadcaster with their dull, bland non committal phrases. Long live the local radio commentators of Ireland and long live Gerry Russell. Absolutely!
You mean his own style shur he loves offaly and westmeath. 🤣
Quote from: SpeculativeEffort on December 09, 2021, 05:11:24 PM
Give Gerry a break lads. It the likes of Gerry with his unique style and others like him that make local radio far more entertaining than the national broadcaster with their dull, bland non committal phrases. Long live the local radio commentators of Ireland and long live Gerry Russell. Absolutely!
Couldn't agree more! Gerry Russell or Ger Canning??
Quote from: SpeculativeEffort on December 09, 2021, 05:11:24 PM
Give Gerry a break lads. It the likes of Gerry with his unique style and others like him that make local radio far more entertaining than the national broadcaster with their dull, bland non committal phrases. Long live the local radio commentators of Ireland and long live Gerry Russell. Absolutely!
Agreed on the local commentators. The likes of Jack Nolan, Joe Troy (even for an Offaly man!), Killian Whelan, Liam Spratt etc are brilliant. I just can't agree on Gerry though. He can't describe a game at all and last Sunday his bias towards Lomans was a disgrace for a radio station that is supposed to cover both of the counties involved in the game in question.
Quote from: Giovanni on December 09, 2021, 09:49:13 PM
Quote from: SpeculativeEffort on December 09, 2021, 05:11:24 PM
Give Gerry a break lads. It the likes of Gerry with his unique style and others like him that make local radio far more entertaining than the national broadcaster with their dull, bland non committal phrases. Long live the local radio commentators of Ireland and long live Gerry Russell. Absolutely!
Couldn't agree more! Gerry Russell or Ger Canning??
Ger Canning is nothing but a dose, I can't bear to watch a game he is commentating on. Every second sentence is "back once again" or "back once more", constant use of stupid words like, impishly, niftly, latitude.
Should have been retired in the 90's.
Seamus Mulhare refereeing Naas semi final on RTE next Saturday. Double head with Port game.
Quote from: Smellyball on December 12, 2021, 03:15:12 PM
Ger Canning is nothing but a dose, I can't bear to watch a game he is commentating on. Every second sentence is "back once again" or "back once more", constant use of stupid words like, impishly, niftly, latitude.
Should have been retired in the 90's.
Canning is a dose alright, unless it's The Munster Hurling Championship, he really shouldn't be commentating. He looks down his nose at every other championship, a right prude.
As for Russell, he's tough to listen to, but not as bad as canning.
The only RTE commentator half decent is Darragh Moloney, can make a poor game half entertaining.
All about personal choice. I wouldn't be a big fan of Maloney, not mad about the sound of his voice. Maybe it's too much fittest family. I think some of the Radio 1 commentators are much better. I like Adrian Eames and Pauric Lodge.
Quote from: redsetanta on December 16, 2021, 01:47:12 PM
I like Adrian Eames and Pauric Lodge.
Good call. Pauric Lodge is excellent. Brian Carty (and I've met him, he's a gentleman) is just a very difficult man to listen to.
Best of luck to the Port lads today. They put in the work over the last few years at juvenile and now there realising the potential that everyone knew was there.
Need to run hard and fast for an hour plus. Bodies back to shut down space but get forward too. They do this in Laois but this will be a massive step up.
I think though that this is a group of players who won't hide from the challenge of playing in Croke Park.
I'd give them a right chance.
I don't expect Port to be any way overawed and while they obviously need to respect Crokes they have nothing to fear. Stop Mannion and you have a lot of the job done. They are good but not a patch on other recent Dublin champions.
Theres a Leinster Champonship here for Port; notihng to fear in this semi-final.
You can feel the buzz of anticipation among there supporters.
No shame in that for Port.
Played some lovely football but ran out of legs. They'll be back.
Worryingly, Port were unable to live with Croke's pace and power. Could argue their football was actually better for large parts but second half it was noticeable how strong KC were.
They did to Port what Port do to rest of us in Laois.
That's the difference and it'll take us a long time to get that right ad a county.
Great effort from Port but probably should
should've been more ahead at half time. That ultimately cost them. Two or three of their big guns never got going. Young Coffey in particular seemed to let it pass him by. He'll bounce back I've no doubt.
If Colm Murphy as suggested isn't joining up with Laois next year, he'll be a huge loss.
I've always been of the opinion that inter county participation can only enhance what you do with your club. With a couple of years strength and conditioning at a serious level under their belt, who knows where Portarlington could end up. Swerving the county and focusing only on the club won't improve them. Portlaoise found this out already
Quote from: High Fielder on December 19, 2021, 10:25:32 AM
I've always been of the opinion that inter county participation can only enhance what you do with your club. With a couple of years strength and conditioning at a serious level under their belt, who knows where Portarlington could end up. Swerving the county and focusing only on the club won't improve them. Portlaoise found this out already
Couldn't agree more. The more lads a club could have operating at senior county level the better.