Messages

Davy would be brilliant for Laois. Serious hurling brain and would drive standards. Other than Dublin, not too many other jobs that will be available this year. KK would never hire an outsider. I suppose Waterford might look at him again but can't see it.

I see that John has announced his retirement.

I'm sure he won't be happy with how things have finished up with the Laois footballers. However, he has given incredible service to Laois minor and U21 hurlers and footballers and senior footballers for the best part of 20 years. Never gave anything less than 100% and was a key man for us for many years. Thanks and good luck John. His passion and drive will be missed by Laois and I'm sure he will continue to be an important player for Rosenallis for a few years yet.

I agree. I think our minor and U20 setups have been pretty good in recent years and needs to continue. However, I am not convinced the skills coaching from U10-U14 are where they need to be in the clubs.our basics are off, even with the teams that are doing relatively well. When the game gets fast we don't seem to be able to execute the skills.

I'm baffled sometimes about the constant harrowing on about Eddie Brennan and his tactics . We scraped by the Westmeath in the Joe McDonagh final and then a Great one off performance against Dublin that hasn't been replicated since .

In his second year we lost all our league matches apart from one . Failed to win any championship matches  .. the euphoria of that Dublin match needs to be put to bed . A lot of lads living off there reputation from that day .
Brennan isn't all that and that has been clearly proven in his recent spell with Cuala that ended less than harmonious .

Yesterday was difficult to watch . Cheddar will do the right thing now but that man owes Laois nothing.

You have to be joking? Laois walked the Joe McDonagh the year we won it and played great hurling in every game. You clearly don't remember the final:

https://www.gaa.ie/hurling/news/laois-claim-joe-mcdonagh-cup/

Unfortunately, the tactics that were employed could only logically produce one outcome. Cheddar had an inherent belief that there was a "gap" and set the team up accordingly. It's very hard to win if you're trying not to lose.

We have good players but we need high intensity and a positive attitude.

Yep, I think that was the difference under Eddie Brennan, he had that winning attitude and the set up such and player obviously responded to that. He was able to get the best out of the players, they bought into that and we played our best hurling in years. We could be playing with a hurricane at our backs and Cheddar would still play a sweeper.

At both codes Laois need to search out and create a management/coaching set up that will get the players to buy into it. It cant be easy for players slogging their guts out at training sessions when deep down they know they are going no where.

What was so good about Eddie apart from beating Dublin?

The way we hurled. Our touch and tactical setup was better. We were far more positive and looked to be improving. Cheddar is no tactician and his teams always look low on energy and sharpness. He is a great man and would love to see him involved with hurling development in Laois. He also took the job which few others were willing to do.

If westmeath can beat us by 18points do we deserve to stay up.?

No. This fantasy that we will improve by playing the better counties is nonsense. We have gotten worse under cheddar. Westmeath outfought us, outhurled us, outpaced us and out thought us. They were much better. This system is awful. If Kerry win they have to beat Tipp to play in the provincial championship and we will stay up! The first year after winning the MacDonagh is usually a decent one. The subsequent ones less so (e.g, Carlow and now Laois). The weaker counties should get a shot at the stronger counties but should only have to be exposed to a couple of hammerings a year. That does not help anyone to get better.

For Laois, we need more top class hurlers. When we are missing a few of our better hurlers as we were for large parts of this year we are not competitive.

Good luck to Westmeath. They looked the part tonight.

Whilst it's easy to blame the tactics

Offaly had the same tactics as Laois in the second half with the breeze

The difference was that they were a lot more accurate from distance


The were sharper,had a better first touch and were more assured in their passing.

The team with the better hurlers normally wins and that's what happens last night

Clare are as good as Offaly and Tipp,be interesting to see what Galway are like,not as strong as previous years,a win against them could see us into an All ireland semifinal v Tipperary

I agree fully. No doubting that this team should be very proud of beating Wexford and Kilkenny and how they fought during the match. No problem with physicality and heart.

I was more disappointed at the quality of our play than the result last night. I remember when we lost the 2013 final, Pat Critchley made some comments after the match that I was reminded of again last night. If you are not better at the basics, you can't expect to win. And the basics need to be thought and perfected well before a player is minor. I think Zoom said u12 is when the skills are fully formed. I see it with all Laois teams that our touch, ability to catch high balls and win rucks is well behind the top teams. Offaly were just a level up as were KK in 2013. What do we need to do to get the standards to that level, early in a players development? When we work that out we will start winning these matches. Offaly have a similar sized hurling population as us. If they can do it so can we.

Set up was shocking in first half with the breeze.

However, we were not really at the races. Offaly skill level and pace was far superior to ours.

Would have been nice to get a redemption shot against Wicklow!

Westmeath as good as any of the teams left in the competition. Could go on and win it.

I think the lads on the podcast are making some good points. The current system is doing nothing for us. I would prefer to see us getting a mix of matches 'at our level' - Antrim, Westmeath, Offaly, Carlow, Kerry AND a couple of shots at the bigger teams every year, if we earn it. 8 hammerings a year is doing us no good and certainly wouldn't inspire people to join the senior setup. Yes, if we are good enough maybe we can qualify to play only top tier matches but this might never happen, despite the optimism of some die hards. I think the points being made were about thinking differently which I agree with. I'd love to hear what the players think but I suspect they are not loving this.

100% agree. He had them flying. Would take him back in a heartbeat.

Sad to see the fight gone out of them. Hopefully they can get a few back and rally for the Westmeath match. No point in being up with the top teams if you can't compete though. Must be soul destroying for everyone involved.

[Currently involved with the Harps underage set up]

Who is Brendan Phelan ?

School teacher and was previously involved with Laois camogie.  GDA experience in dublin and with relevant qualifications . Currently involved with the Harps underage set up.  A person whose had enough mediocrity and has taken it upon himself to try and implement sound underage structures. Fair play to him.

Harps underage setup seems impressive. Best of luck to him, hope he gets the support he needs from the CB and the clubs.

That was a very disappointing result last night, especially given how well we had played in the first half. Wexford weren't up to much really but upped their intensity after the break and we didn't match it. Some good performances but unfortunately just couldn't convert enough of our chances and barely made a goal chance to speak of for whatever reason. Not being hard on the lads, these things can happen in a game, but just felt we should have gotten the win their talent and hard work deserved. Between this and last Sunday we could really be riding the crest of a wave this morning. Instead we're again looking at what might have beens. The hurlers across Minor, U20 and Senior have no interest in what might have beens.

Tend to agree. Last night in particular was very winnable. Two missed frees in last few minutes and lost by a point.

However, if I was Wexford I would be much happier for the future. A lot of the basic skills and first touch was in abundance on the Wexford team but was absent for many of the Laois players. We got turned over maybe 100 times in the match because we dropped the ball or couldn't rise it after multiple bites at the cherry. Top counties don't seem to have this disease. Don't want to be too negative as there was plenty of strong displays and a few future Laois hurlers on view but we need to have higher standards on the basics.

Hard luck to Laois they came very close to Dublin. No dig at cheddar here but we've never beaten a team in the league or championship that are so called the top 9 came close a few times like Galway or Dublin bet cheddar can never seem to get over the line and beat a big team he's there for so long now. Eddie Brennan took 2 years to beat a big team (Dublin).

In fairness, we were missing our best forward in Picky and a few more besides. Ross King and Podge injured badly during the match. We need everyone to have a chance so I wouldn't be too hard on them.