Messages

Big game Sunday. Televised live on tg4. Its a home game against Antrim. We beat them reasonably easily last year in the championship. I have no doubt that we have the players to beat Antrim. Something doesn't seem to be right at the minute within the camp but a win here could keep us from relegation and set us up for the championship. On paper at the moment our team looks solid enough. We need to get hartnett back in corner back. Not sure if he's injured? Other players that have done it at this level in the past need to find form. Now is the time lads.
Its also a huge game for the management. This game will tell a lot of them also. We need to win simple as.

Good to see the u20s going well. They have a nice team. Missing the likes of duggan, burke, keyes and mahony against kildare too. Leinster will be tough though with some good teams in there.
The minors were hammered by tipp last night which isnt good but i dont have any specifics in terms of who they were missing etc. Think St fergals have a schools final today U16.5

 Only see a report for the football on laois today. Throw up the link here if ya wouldn't mind pls

did the u20s play carlow in the development league at the weekend or was it postponed? When are they playing again? Any word on how the minors are doing?

Big game saturday evening. Tipp have been rocked by Paudie Mahers retirement. They will also got a little set back against Kerry.
They will have a different team out to the one that played Kerry though and they will come all guns blazing to portlaoise on saturday evening gunning for the win.
They are in transition though and are down brendan and paudie maher and bubbles from last year along with a couple more so I do think they are a little vulnerable.

How are we fixed? There is very little coming out from the laois camp. Cheddar has been quiet. The walsh cup wasnt great but i suspect there was a lot of heavy training going on at the time.
Hopefully we are in good shape personnel wise and we dont have many injuries going into the game. Anyone have an update? Cha will be a loss but hopefully he'll be back later in the league.
Otherwise i do hope the management team have targeted this game and are ready to give it an almighty go. I dont think a win is beyond us if we are right and it would be some start to the year.
Heres hoping, Laois ABU

Is Paddy Purcell taking a year out ?

No. He's back though don't know where he was yesterday possibly covid related. Ciaran mcevoy missing with a broken finger along with injuries to cha and pj scully. Good to see Cheddar attempting to increase the depth of squad. But we seemed to be lacking in the S&C department.
In other news the u20s played out a competitive draw with a strong Limerick outfit
yesterday. James duggan scored 3-02. Surely worth a look at senior level.

Positive to see u20s competing well, a bit of hope for this team although i wouldnt get carried away. Galway will be very strong and KK are always so hard to beat. Limerick were munster minor champions at this level but they have Colin Coughlan, Cathal O Neill and an amazing talent in Adam English on the senior panel so they may not have been playing against us. What sort of a team did we have out do you know. Any dreaded non committals? An effort should be made to get D Dooley involved if at all possible. Probably no chance of it.

I think we have suffered in recent years by not having enough forwards. P Purcell was an all star nominee as a forward last year. so there's no way i would play him midfield. If we can get him on the ball near the goals like we did against Antrim and Waterford he can cause serious damage. We need him to do that. I would play Jack Kelly in midfield too, we have enough for the half back line and jack can both be defensive minded as well as play in good ball and get a few scores from midfield too.

This team would be exciting.

E Rowland
D Hartnett
S Downey
D Conway
P Delaney
L O Connell
R Mullaney
J Kelly
F C Fennell
W Dunphy (Could swap with picky)
C Dwyer
B Conroy
P Purcell (Roaming between half and full forward lines, getting onto breaks and heading for goal)
Picky
R King

No sweeper, trust the backs to mark their men. Rowland to bomb huge puckouts down reaching between half and full forward lines and i think we have the forwards there to cause trouble. If opportunity is there Rowland should give the puck out to Downey, take it back and strike from 14, ball should be landing around the 21 (worked well last year).

C McEvoy unlucky not to be in the team. Corby to be impact from the bench. Dowling/Scully inside forward options. Keyes an option for half forward line.
Is Lennon injured? Has played v little since 2019. Pity about the non committals but we should still have a strong outfit when all available.

Looks like A Dunphy, L Cleere, C Collier, M Kavanagh.
We will only be missing one starter from the Waterford match last year which is positive but the four names above will still be big losses unfortunately.

Additions C Dunne, A Corby, J Walshe, L O Connell, M Dowling
P Purcell not training at the moment not sure what the story is there. Cha is recovering from injury so will prob miss the first few rounds of the league.

Need to get up to speed in the next few weeks with Tipp, Kilkenny and Waterford out to impress in the first three league games. Be great to be really competitive in these games.
We have competed well in Championship games vs Dublin Clare and Waterford in the championship in recent years but we need a bit more consistency of performance overall in the league too. Its not the be all and end all obviously (look at Antrim in the league last year and where they ended up)
We'll know more on Sunday

I started this page in October 2015 to highlight a few issues that were ahead of us. The main point at the end of it was that there is no plan! That was 6 years ago, how many years will I revisit this before we have a plan??

Overhaul of structures
What structures? Are there structures in Laois hurling?
Im not aware of them. It was once said that Laois had the best underage hurling structures in Ireland. I don't believe that to ever be true but I know the setanta programme had some success and at the time it was something that physically was in place. Is the setanta programme dead in the water? I haven't heard of it in years? Whats replaced it? Before we start talking about having minor and U20 teams feeding into our senior co set up we need a basis from which our underage development squads are being fed. They need to be improved across the board. That in turn will improve our minor squads and so on.

Is the will there?
I haven't seen a county executive in laois with the drive to push our county up the ladder. Are the right people in the right positions, I don't think so. Don't get me wrong, I am not here to bash the co board, they are giving up huge time to fill these positions for little reward. But I look at Offaly, there is a desire there at the moment to get back to where they once were. They have realised that what they have been doing for donkeys years isn't enough or good enough. They have a long way to go but they seems to be driving all things Offaly in the right direction. If the keep doing it and build on what they are already doing it they might just get there in time. Have you ever seen that ambition in laois? When Cheddar brought his blueprint for laois hurling to the co board it was thrown out the window. I would question the co board, why did they do that, what is there alternative plan? NOTHING!! That's what. It's a real shame. We need a Michael Duignan type figure at the top with progressive fresh blood working under him. I think for a major plan for a revamp would need a good number of people, maybe more than what is on the committee now. The people at the top need to be able to delegate a bit more. The workload is huge especially for people with jobs, family's other commitments etc. There are really genuine and intelligent people in laois. Liam O Neill – what a chairman he would be or director of hurling? There would be plenty in support him in his role.

Finances/Investments
Most other counties that have a chance of winning something have big backing. Sports direct in cork, JP in limerick, Teneo in tipp etc. Our co board have shown a surplus of 500k at this year's end which is impressive. More can be done here I believe, there are outside investors that have the interest in laois to give us a dig out. They would need to see a long term achievable plan and back something that is worth backing. I have heard of a couple of firms that might do this but I won't speculate. There needs to be a finance committee focussed on seeking out these possibilities. I heard Peter O Neill saying that too much money was being spent on co teams in other counties and that it's not possible for counties like laois to compete with. I would actually agree with him to an extent, are the training camps in carton house and fota really required? Probably not but there is a balance there where you are losing ground on the more professional approach. Its another conversation really but the likes of Dublin footballers have definitely benefitted from the professional environment that they are in. O Neill suggested that he would prefer to use the money to develop the underage structures. I would agree but also say "WHY DIDN'T YOU DO IT THEN"?

Director of Hurling
Would love to see this. If we don't have the money, does it need to be a paid position? Is part time an option? Better than nothing I say. Imagine the work Cheddar would do here, he was never a man for money. Someone like him sitting down putting pen to paper and thinking long and hard about where we need to go. Then thinking about how we are going to get there. After that its about getting the right people involved in the right places and overseeing the whole thing through.

Players
One of the biggest disappointments in laois is the lack of love for the county from some players. The fact that they don't see the point is terribly sad. Something drastic needs to change here. It's beginning to become a cultural problem that is slowly being accepted as the norm. It will soon be out biggest problem and challenge. Some will say "sure what can be done, if they won't go you can't make them". To say this is a cheap and easy way out imo. It won't be easy but we need to create a cultural change within the county. Starting with the youngest age groups at a "setanta" or equivalent programme and in still a love for playing for laois. There are ways of doing it, changing the psyche. After that I have written on another thread about getting players currently not involved to buy in. You won't get them all but in laois its worse than anywhere else. It needs to change.

Goals/Ambitions
Im sure the question has been asked and answered in the past. But what IS our ambitions for hurling in Laois. What are our goals for 5/10/20 years down the road? Once they are established the next question is how are we going to get there? After that its all about rolling up the sleeves and deliver on those goals but implementing what you said you would do.
This is a long winded way of saying PUT A PLAN FOR LAOIS HURLING IN PLACE AND FOLLOW THROUGH ON IT!
I have made just a couple of suggestions here, can you come up with some more?

The senior hurlers/opportunity

I am a cheddar fan. His enthusiasm and love for hurling and laois cannot be matched. After the fiasco of Eddie leaving I felt Cheddar was a good appointment. He is not another teddy Mc or Eamonn Kelly type journey man. He has put a very impressive backroom team in place with Franny Forde considered one of the best coaches around. Cheddar will have his ducks in a row and if he gets buy in he will have the team very well prepared for battle. Last year against Wexford was a shambles.  I am all for trying new things but the game was over after 15 minutes and the plan just didn't work. It looked like this was the first time they had tried this system. Surely a league match or a few practice matches would have shown the management this wasn't going to work? However, Cheddar listened to the players and changed things up. We beat Antrim and we really could have beaten Waterford who are probably the second best team in the country in my opinion. In that game we were totally outclassed in the first half and it looked like we would take another beating. Far from it though as the lads showed some character and class to battle back to lead with 5 mins to go. Cheddar and his management made a few changes that got us back into the game and they deserve credit for that. He also made a couple of big calls before the game having lost R Mullaney and L Cleere. Moving F C Fennell back on Dessie Hutchinson was an inspired move as fennel did as good a job as anyone on one of the best forwards in the country.
A great win against Antrim followed by an outstanding and impressive performance against Waterford sets us up nicely coming into 2022. Wexford and Dublin are not that good, Kilkenny are workmanlike but they haven't got the players they had before to scare you and Galway wont be bad but will be in a bit of transition. I genuinely believe that if we can get a few more to commit and get a full buy in from the panel that we could get a couple of wins, get out of the group and have a right crack at leinster. Following that what are our goals over the next two/three years? For me it should be getting to a leinster final. Imagine the hysteria that would bring to the county. Laois people showed in 2019 that they are crying out for a team to follow and I don't think a leinster is beyond us!

Non committals/regrets

This is a well flagged and massive issue in the past, currently and in the future for Laois hurling and football. I struggle to understand it. People will throw out the 'ah sure why would they bother' 'sure laois are at nothing' 'the commitment is savage'. I look at it as such an honour, it's a huge privilege in most other hurling counties. Clubs and general public in Laois don't help and many would discourage lads from going in. Its an awful shame. I appreciate it curtails their social life but most intercountry players are finished by the time they are 32. They have a good 40 years to socialise after that. They only get a few years to have a proper go at it. I really believe that the ones that haven't committed will look back with a huge amount of regret when they finish hurling. They will carry that regret for a long time. They are putting the effort in with their clubs so it's literally only another couple of months that they would do with the county anyway. I would also question why we have so many defections in laois compared to other counties. Im not talking about the likes of limerick or Kilkenny but the likes of Carlow and Offaly hurlers have very few that don't commit. Eddie Brennan commented that 22 players had not committed in 2019, that's staggering.
Im not sure if there is an answer for this but I would question if the management and in particular the co boards efforts to get lads on board and keep them on board. Everything that needs to be done should be done, im talking along the lines of helping with job opportunities(locally), college scholarships, transport to training, expenses etc. David Dooley was in with laois seniors last year until he was told he couldn't play. One of our most promising up and coming prospects was lost to rugby, could more have been done to keep him with the u20s for the year, he could have made the difference against Kilkenny. I wish him well in whatever he chooses to do in the future but hopefully we will see him in the blue and white of laois again.

Leigh Bergin, Gearoid Burke, Joe Campion, Colm Stapleton, Cathal Dunne, Aidan Corby, Mark Dowling, Robbie Phelan, Liam O Connell are just a few I'd like to see involved

Letting them live a little

Eddie Brennan was a breath of fresh air for the players when he was involved. Letting them have a few pints after the McDonagh success and after the Dublin match was well documented as a positive move and one that the players really appreciated and to be fair the were professional enough not to take the piss. For all Cheddars good traits I think he needs to rejuvenate the panel and bring a bit of a fun element into the set up. I heard of hour upon hour long meetings going over tactics sucked the life and good out of the players at times last year. You would wonder about it considering how they played against wexford.

Line Balls

Just a word on this, we gave up some very soft scores especially in the league from very poor line balls out of the backs in particular last year. Needs to be worked on

Forwards/Scoring power

Against Waterford last year if we had another forward playing well we would have won. Roddy was well held and when he was we had little support for paddy Purcell and cha. Unfortunately mark kav was and will be a loss. Outside of that we need to be getting more from our other forwards and maybe unearth a couple of new ones. Of the ones that are there, picky needs to be playing up there and not at wing back, we have plenty of wing backs and hes in the form of his life for his club in the forwards. We need to get more out of Aaron dunphy who was outstanding for B/K this year putting up big scores. Would like to see Ben Conroy get a good run in the league, see what he can do. There are some promising players from the u20 set up also but some of them may want to stay with the u20s again this year as they should have a decent outfit and its probably hard to blame them.

Personnel options
GK – Rowland, Simms, (Fleming and Dunne if interested)
Backs – Cleere, Hartnett, Conway, Fennell, Downey, P Delaney, Mullaney, McEvoy, Kelly
Midfield – Purcell, Kelly, Lennon, Fennell, Keyes
Forwards – Purcell, Cha, Picky, Roddy, Willie Dunphy, Aaron Dunphy, Collier, Lyons, Conroy, Scully, Ryan

Decided to spark a bit of talk and debate about the make up of the laois senior hurling panel in 2021.
I have listed out 59 potential players for laois in 2021. I have divided them in different groups goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, forwards, lads worth having a look at, lads that we could do with but have not committed in recent years and young lads. I have no idea of the make up of Cheddars training panel so im guessing really. Would like to get your opinions on who should be there and maybe what our best starting 15 is. I have guessed the ages of all players, I shouldn't be too far out but forgive me if I am! The average age of the first 32 named below is 25.8yrs old. Also forgive me if I have left anyone obvious or maybe not so obvious out.
Goalkeepers (2)
Enda Rowland (26)
An excellent goalkeeper with a great attitude and a love for the jersey
Paul Simms (25)
A good back up to Rowland but barring injury to Enda hard to see him get in
                               
Defenders (12)
Sean Downey (26)
Not sure is full back his best position and whether he can nullify the best in the game remains to be seen. Got caught for Eamonn Dillons goal against Dublin but other than that did quite well in 2020.
Matthew Whelan (32)
A warrior for laois for almost 15 years at this stage and hardly missed a game in all that time. I don't ever remember Matthew getting a roasting for laois and he has seen some dark days. Not sure if he is soldiering on this year or not as he didn't seem to come into the reckoning in 2020. Owes laois nothing.     
Lee Cleere (22)
Struggled a bit early on against Dublin but Cleere is one Cheddar will be counting on in the coming years. An excellent competitor                                                                 
Donnacha Harnett (25) 
Have been very impressed with Hartnett in the past couple of years, seems comfortable at county level and has done well on some top players                                                   
Jack Kelly (25)
Kelly was one of our top performers in 2019. Strange he didn't start against Dublin last year and taken off early against Clare when playing well.
Ryan Mullaney (25)
Mullaney is another that has performed very well in the past couple of years. I think he is most at home at centre back but could also be used at full back.
Podge Delaney (22)
One of laois best players in 2020 and we will big performances again in 2021
Colm Stapleton (25)
In and out of the team a bit. Got his chance against Clare and did quite well but made a couple of errors also.
Ronan Broderick (25)
Unfortunate injury against Dublin, Hopefully he makes a good/speedy recovery
Eric Killeen (23)
Will be looking for more game time and fight for a place
Ciaran McEvoy (26)
Will be hoping to take his chance
Diarmuid Conway (21)
Looking forward to seeing Conway getting a chance.

Midfielders (4)
John Lennon (25)
An important cog in the wheel. Sorely missed in 2020
Paddy Purcell (28)
Again not starting Paddy against Clare when we were already missing players seemed a strange move to me. However he didn't sulk and got stuck in and played well when introduced. Laois need to be getting the best out of Paddy Purcell.
Fiachra C Fennell (23)
A great engine and pace which suits this laois team. Hopefully he can improve his end product. Has a part to play
Conor Phelan (25)
Has been used as a substitute, will be looking for a chance from the start

Forwards (14)
Picky Maher (28)
One of the best in the business on his day. A couple of superb points against Dublin but we need a bit more overall given his talent
Cha Dwyer (27)
Not bringing Cha back into the panel in Autumn was another funny call by EB. Laois cant afford to be without the likes of cha. He is a leader in this team and we will need him at his best.
Mark Kavanagh (23)
Kavanagh is becoming an important player in this team, his scoring ability makes up for his lack of physique. Hopefully injuries are behind him
Ross King (27)
Roddy carried the can up front for a lot of last year and did as well as he could. A top player for laois and will need more support
Willie Dunphy (29)
After an epic 2019, Dunphy wasn't as influential in 2020 but still remains a very important player for laois
Eanna Lyons (27)
Will be very keen to get back hurling with laois after missing out last year. Has a good attitude and if he could become more of an aerial threat it would serve us well
Aaron Dunphy (23)
A super talent with great speed. After and excellent 2019 campaign, he didn't excel as much in 2020. Made some handling errors that you wouldn't expect.
James Ryan (27)
Ryan played well at times in 2020 and drifted out of games at times also. Will be hoping to add consistency to his game.
James Keyes (21)
Has developed physically in the past year. Took a brilliant goal against Clare. Hopefully he can improve again this year
Stephen Bergin (26)
Dogged by injury in 2020. Can play his part starting or from the bench again this year
Pj Scully (27)
Pj is back in with laois and will be hoping to push for a starting place
Ben Conroy (27)
Injured in 2019 and was in England for a lot of 2020. A top club player in laois be interesting to see if he could make the step up for laois
Eoin Gaughan (22)
Played a bit in 2020 in the absence of others. Will be hoping to make an impact in 2020
Mark Hennessy (20)
Came on for the last couple of minutes against Clare so he must have been impressing in training. Played well for laois under 20's against Carlow. Will develop in the next couple of years
Liam O Connell (24)
This is an interesting one. Ive heard O Connell is part of the panel. Not sure if he has ever even played senior with his club. Was an excellent minor until he was plagued by injury.

In and out/Worth a look (13)
Conor Cosgrove (20)
Frank Flanagan
Cian Taylor (26)
Aaron Bergin (23)
Daniel Comerford (22)
Ciaran Comerford (22)
Liam Senior (21)
Podge Lawlor (28)
Paddy Whelan (28)
Stephen Phelan (23)
Robbie Phelan (23)
Aidan Corby (25)
Stephen Finan (26)

Not available - (7) All listed below have not committed for the past couple of years for whatever reason. It's a real shame as these guys would really drive on the current panel and all could possibly start in the championship. I believe these lads will have some regrets if they don't come back and give it a go as they are all in their prime now and they are missing out on playing at the highest level with their county. Ive no doubt they were in portlaoise or in croke park supporting laois in the summer of 2019. They were incredible days to be a laois person, surley it stroke a chord with them and would have said "god id love to be out there", I have to say I was surprised when none of them were involved in 2020 after the year we had in'19. Cheddar was interviewed recently and when questioned about non committals he played it down so maybe he has got a few of these guys back in. We definitely have had a huge amount of guys that have not committed in recent years and I think I remember Eddie Brennan saying he had 22 guys decline. Id be keen to know the reason behind it and what could be done to encourage more to play with their county. Many of lads would kill for the honour!

Gearoid Burke (27) Was a steady wing back for cheddar during his last term in charge. Would be a great option to have if available this year.
Dwayne Palmer (25) Hasn't been around the past couple of years. Would provide great competition for a corner back spot.
Joe Campion (25) Hasn't committed to the county panel for the past couple of years. Would be a great addition to the laois set up as he has the physique and ability to excel.                               
Leigh Bergin (25) Didn't play any hurling club or county in the past couple of years for whatever reason. It's a pity as he was progressing into a fine hurler prior to that.
Ciaran Collier (25) Hurler of the year in 2018 and unfortunately hasn't committed in recent years. Hasn't had the best club campaigns is '18 but if committed he could find form and be a good addition to laois.
Mark Dowling (23) Camross best player in 2020 and has progressed very well. Didn't seem to get much chance in 2019 under brennan but would definitely feature if he commits in 2021.
Eoin Fleming (26) Undoubtedly the second best goalie in laois for the past few years, probably has become frustrated with lack of opportunity.                                 

Potential/Maybe not ready yet
Dunne is one that is probably ready to make the step up as under study to Rowland and learn his trade with a view to challenging Rowland for the position down the line. Id like to see burke in too as he has a lot of the attributes required for this level and training with the senior team will bring him on leaps and bounds. Dooley is an excellent prospect and considering who his father is hopefully he will choose the small ball over other sports. Maher had an excellent club campaign for rosenallis. The others are young but have potential to push on.
Cathal Dunne (20)
Ciaran Burke (20)
David Dooley (17)
John Maher (20)
Fionain Mahony (18)
Danny Brennan (19)
Tomas Keyes (18)