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I've heard that the proposal has changed slightly after a proposal made by O'Dempseys. Instead of four groups of four in Senior with a team from Pot 1-4 in each group, there will be no group stages this year and it will be the same structure as this year. The only difference will be that this years quarter finalists will be seeded and the senior b teams plus Park Ratheniska will be unseeded. There will be a senior b again and the loser of the senior b quarter finals will be in a relegation semi. The losers of that will go down and the winners will play in another play off, loser going down and making it three going down.

There has also been a slight change to the relegation element for the 2027 season as well after a proposal from Stradbally. I am not totally sure about the change here but I think it is to make a round robin of the teams who end up in relegation trouble rather than straight knockout.

He is and will be again next year. Not sure why he wasn't playing last night as I thought his suspension was rescinded. Has he got an injury?

Well lads, started this back months ago because I was sickened with the gulf between your best and worst teams in the Championship. Looks like the county board are in agreement and have presented in my opinion a good, tidy and viable way to reducing the number of teams.

Talking to a couple lads from Ballyfin, they are nearly relieved to have gone down because they say that nearly every game in the past two years is like groundhog day and next year they will get a good crack at winning something and will certainly compete.

I am actually posting this to get a feel of what the want for this is like in clubs. I am hopeful most will realise trying to cling on to senior status by keeping it at 16 really is cowardly in my opinion and anyone with a bit of ambition should be striving to leave their mark on the championship not just a game of survival, but I know that type are out there. Let me know what everyone thinks, only a few weeks out from the vote now.

What are the thoughts of the Laois Gaa proposal to reduce to 12 teams again?

Seems to me that it is a fairer proposal this time. As I have said before I would frankly take any proposal that they put forward but the previous proposal of no intermediate promotion was ludicrous really. That was never going to get off the ground.

They have accepted that it'll take a couple years to be where they want and that's probably best. As I've stated before, if you deserve to be senior, there's nothing to worry about because you will be there. Hope clubs see the bigger picture in all this.

Look lads apologies for naming someone shouldn't have brought it to that level. I have the utmost respect for almost every referee and that's genuine but will never see eye to eye with him, only one. Won't mention it again.

Clifford Ward is definitely the worst referee in the championship absolutely horrendous today, if Killeshin had of lost that game today 100% blame him...

I didn't see this game but I won't agree with anyone's opinion on the worst referee unless it's Mick Tarpey. End of discussion.

Good to see a lot of closer games this gameweek, clearly a difference in standard there. Thought Emo Stradbally was the gane of the weekend. Stradbally are underachieving year after year, they'll be very disappointed.

the championship really needs to be reduced to 12 teams at the minimum. the standard has been very poor so far.

I don't know if ballyfin would be far off getting relegated to the Junior A this year, Nevermind the fact they're senior. This format has let them down and let all other clubs down too. Think it's reached breaking point.

This weeks matches.

The heath vs Clonaslee - Heath by 2
Stradbally vs Emo - Emo by 1
Crettyard vs O Dempseys - Ods by 11
Ballyfin vs Rosenallis - Rosenallis by 5
Arles Killeen vs Killeshin - Killeshin by 2
Portlaoise vs Joseph's - Joseph's by 3
Courtwood vs Ballyroan - Ballyroan by 4
Portarlington vs Graiguecullen - Port AET by 2

I think you'd have to create a new competition (Premier Intermediate) as a start.
You couldn't drop teams 13-16 and bring up the intermediate winner.

You're probably right, what time of the year would this proposal be put forward to the clubs?

Getting any of the clubs who are in danger of falling into category 10-16 to agree to it would be the issue.

I think you'd have to create a "Premier" Intermediate grade like in Hurling.

Top 2 in intermediate plus the bottom 4 in Senior go there (6).
This would leave 12 Senior + 6 premier intermediate.

The following year the regular intermediate finalists plus the senior bottom 3* go to Premier. Winner promoted to senior.
Leaves 10 & 10 (I think).

*To get rid of 3 teams from 12.
I would go with 4 groups of 3.
Top two teams in each group to quarter finals. Seeding applies.
Bottom team in each group into a losers group of 4.
Winner of this group survives. The other 3 are relegated.

My sums could be wrong!

Sums seem to add up to me! That's another good solid proposal, needs to be flexibility in what the proposal is to get it off the ground, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Apart from a solid proposal what is the best way to get across to the 10-16 clubs. I've spoken to people from clubs definitely in that bracket and they are desperate for change as they are sick or survival year in year out with not even a hope of a Micky mouse senior B!

Laois teams never go on runs in Leinster currently. This change would you'd imagine increase chances of this.

Bottom line is players won't remember that year you lost 4 games and scraped over the line, they'll remember getting hands on silverware and having a good crack at Leinster with their club. The worth in 'senior status' is long gone and people need to get out of the past.

Im just going to put forward an idea of how the championship could be cut to 12 teams in one year (ideally I would cut it to 8 but can't see that happening in the immediate future).

Play the first, second and third round like normal. Quarter finalists are safe and play for the championship. Senior B quarter finals are all relegation finals. 4 teams relegated from that. I think for the fairness of intermediate you can't just take away promotion for a year so another team from senior has to go.

Your senior B semi finals are also relegation semi finals. Losers go to a relegation final where loser is the 5th team relegated.

I realise that promoting in theory the 17th best team and relegating in theory the 12th best team some might disagree with but you can't just strip promotion from the intermediate championship. It'd only take a year or two for teams to be in the exact right spot for their level. 12 teams would only be the start but if it's to be voted in at all 8 would be too extreme in my opinion.

Anyone have thoughts on this proposal?

Round 2 Winners

Portarlington v GraiguecullenBallyroan-Abbey v CourtwoodArles-Killeen v KilleshinPortlaoise v St Joseph's

Round 2 Losers

Stradbally v EmoBallyfin v RosenallisThe Heath v Clonaslee-St Manman'sO'Dempsey's v Crettyard

So the losers round is knockout and winners go to play losers from winners round?

Spot on Joey

The worst thing Laois GAA could do is nothing.

The second worse thing, in my opinion, is try to gradually bring the numbers down.

Be brave. Cut to 12 in one go; if not 8.
It'll hurt one or two clubs for a few weeks but they'll get over it.

Messing about with 15 or 14 team senior championships serves nobody.

Totally agree, for example if it was this year 4 losers on next loser round down straight, at least down to 12. If that was this year for example the loser of Emo and Stradbally would be relegated this year and they probably both aren't in the bottom 4 teams, but what harm. If you're good enough you'll get back up senior . If you're not, you don't deserve to be there simple as.

Ripping the bandaid off benefits in the long run because messing around year by year would mean years of odd championships, better off getting loads down now and starting fresh.

Don't think this forum could've aged much better after this weekend. An average winning margin of 11.5 across the matches. This has reached breaking point, think more and more will realise something has to be done.