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Experimental team Wednesday night by all accounts.  Interesting to see how McNultys tactics have changed since his last stint with us .

Whats the team Les Antiques?

LAOIS: Killian Roche (Killeshin); Ben Dempsey (Portlaoise), Seamus Lacey (Ballylinan), Liam Knowles (Stradbally); Sean O'Flynn (Courtwood), Mark Timmons (Graiguecullen), Simon Fingleton (Park-Ratheniska); Kevin Swayne (Portlaoise), Damon Larkin (Portlaoise); Cormac Murphy (St Joseph's), Niall Corbet (Clonaslee-St Manman's), Fionn Holland (O'Dempsey's); Mark Barry (O'Dempsey's), Brian Daly (St Joseph's), Brian Byrne (Graiguecullen)

SUBS: Aaron Cooney (St Joseph's), Micheal Downey (Ballylinan), Jack Lacey (St Joseph's), Dylan Kavanagh (The Heath), Eoin Buggie (Stradbally), Mikey Dempsey (St Joseph's), Ciaran Burke (Crettyard), Danny O'Reilly (Graiguecullen), Paul Kingston (Arles-Killeen), Cathal Doyle (Ballyroan-Abbey), Evan O'Carroll (Crettyard)

Any of ye at the game last night?

Any opinions on the new regime?

Glorified challenge match. 9 changes at half time. Saying that McNultys style is evident and the organisational level is growing.
Hard to judge the newcomers with so many changes and conditions. 
Quietly optimistic though. 

Very experimental team v Wicklow today. 6 or 7 debuts.

Any word on the game last night v Clare?

 Heard they won . Fiesty affair by all accounts.

Quote from: Junior Ex Laoistalk on January 14, 2024, 05:28:29 PMAny word on the game last night v Clare?

Laois won comfortably enough. Team for first league game will probably resemble last night's team with maybe Daly and Rioghan Murphy from the Wicklow game to be in contention too.

What was the team?

I feel for the lads playing against Wicklow with no leaders/regulars to help them. Putting the hand up to play for Laois isn't as attractive as it once was and they were always going to get a beating against Wicklow who are a division  3 team on merit with a weakened team out. Then the keyboard warriors have a pop at them too. Strange to have 2 matches on the one day or not mixing up the teams.

Keyboard warriors who probably never go to a match. Fair play to the lads that played again wicklow if  1 or 2 of them make the panel it's a positive for laois football.

Quote from: SCFC on January 14, 2024, 10:00:46 PM

Quote from: Junior Ex Laoistalk on January 14, 2024, 05:28:29 PMAny word on the game last night v Clare?

Laois won comfortably enough. Team for first league game will probably resemble last night's team with maybe Daly and Rioghan Murphy from the Wicklow game to be in contention too.

Thanks for that SCFC, that's good to hear. Fair play to all who turned out for the Wicklow game, especially the guys who weren't even part of the panel. Anyone who would do that on a cold morning deserves to be complimented..

Quote from: Butch Cassidy on January 14, 2024, 11:14:22 PMWhat was the team?

Couldn't tell you the exact team but names I heard were involved were Roche in goals, Lacey, Buggie, Ben Dempsey, Swayne, Simon Fingleton, Corbet, Niall Dunne, Damon Larkin, Mark Barry, Lowry. O'Flynn came on at half time.

Killian Roche (Killeshin);

Ben Dempsey (Portlaoise), Seamus Lacey (Ballylinan), James Kelly (St Josephs);
Eoin Buggie (Stradbally), Mark Timmons (Graiguecullen), Brian Byrne (Graiguecullen);
Conor Heffernan (Killeshin), Damon Larkin (Portlaoise);
Kevin Swayne (Portlaoise), Niall Dunne (Courtwood), Shaun Fitzpatrick (Ballyroan);
Mark Barry (O'Dempsey's), Evan O'Carroll (Crettyard), Niall Corbet (Clonaslee St Manman's)

Very good win today, that's a good Longford team. Great start for Justin and all the new additions. Ross really getting involved on the sideline, great to see.

Have to give credit where it's due and say that was a very solid performance last night. We were easily 7/8 points a better team. Their goal at the end was sloppy/fortunate and we could have had a couple more goals (James Kellys chance and the disallowed goal from Seamus Lacey being two). Obviously Killian Roche is going to get a lot of the plaudits following on from kicking 5pts but Damon Larkin had a massive game in midfield. He's powerful and more mobile than I'd previously thought. Shaun Fitz went thru a tonne of ball and used it well too. The thing that pleased the most was our willingness to be direct when facing a massed Longford defence (how do teams still put 15 behind the ball when losing by 7pts!!!???). We didn't do the whole forward and backward bullshit around midfield and there was great effort put into supporting the man on the ball. Really pleased with what I saw.. definite green shoots.

Good solid win .Scoreline flattered Longford. They weren't up to much and we were much the better side all over the pitch .

I like the look of our full back line . Dempsey,Lacey and Kelly all tigerish markers and decent at breaking forward. 
Also noticeable how physical we have become on the ball and in the tackle .
There's a plan in place and it's evident in how we keep the ball more comfortably in possession .
Early days but lots of reasons to be positive. 

good to get the win, first of the tougher games in the division to be out of the way. It looks like its going to be a very even division in terms of quality with everybody bar Waterford feeling they have a chance. Certainly the type of football played was alien to the Dublin / Monaghan game on tele later but we are where we are. we were far better than Longford who I was surprised were a bit flat but we gave them a small bit of hope with concession of two soft goals. There is an obvious change in style with less emphasis on direct goal to the full forward line and more through the hands which suits a few of our newer players. At times it was hard to figure out the shape of the team and players were constantly finding themselves in strange positions. Going forward we will probably have to modify things a bit, I can't see Roche been given such leeway again by other teams and we will need a better scoring return from the inside forwards. In fairness, we didn't really have an inside line for a lot of the times so an out ball wasn't really an option. interesting to see where Wexford are at today with their game in London before we travel their next week.

A thoroughly deserved win against Longford. A lot of twists and turns lie ahead though in a very competitive division four with 4 or 5 teams chomping at the bit to get out. We started last year with a fantastic win away against Sligo. It will be a tough assignment next Saturday evening in Wexford.

It was a game that we controlled for the most part, the only real worrying moment was when Longford scored their penalty to bring the margin back to 1. We responded brilliantly though with 1-2 without reply started by an excellent team goal superbly finished by Damon Larkin who also got 2 points in the first half and was immense. A mention to for his midfield partner Conor Heffernan who also put in a good shift.

Killian Roche was unreal scoring 5 points, 3 from play. His kickouts were also good and he pulled off a fine save late in the first half. Great to see James Kelly back he has really matured and got on a lot of ball especially in the first half. Ben Dempsey made a super interception in the first half and great to have Seamus Lacey back from injury.

The half back line were solid. Great to have Brian Byrne back from long term injury, the return of Eoin Buggie and Timmo plugging away again for another season! We may have a number of lads missing from last year but great to see some returnees. Dannny O'Reilly came on late in the second half.

Our captain Evan O'Carroll was constantly dangerous and got a beaufiful score in the first half. He was backed up well by Mark Barry and Niall Corbett. Our half forward line ran all day and are pacy.

We have good options on the bench and I also hear that Paul Kingston, Kieran Lillis and Padraig Kirwan are involved but out injured at the moment.

Fitness levels looked decent and there was a lot of running and support play. A good crowd was in O'Moore park last night, certainly up on previous years.

Great to see Justin back in charge and Ross Munnelly there beside him.

Well done to all involved.

big diff was a bit of class on the line none o the shite we had ta listen to last year. good night out, good start. no negative shitw.

Good to see a decent crowd out. The team looked like there was a structure to them and knew their roles. I thought the first half was a difficult watch to be honest with a lot of basic errors but to be expected for the first serious day out. Second half I was impressed by the way they handled being pegged back to one point. A comfortable win to be honest. Great start to the campaign

Great to get the win but we need to keep the momentum going. Last year we had a very good opening win away to Sligo but our season petered out. .
Fair play to Timmons who gave the 'assist' for our goal. There's a lad that should inspire the younger players with his committment and desire.

The signs are good and lets see where we are after game 3 or 4.

Interesting to see Laois GAA getting a mention on a Northern Ireland politics programme but it seem our Football Manager has a decision to make with regard to his future commitment to either Laois or Stormont!

The business in Stormont starts around lunchtime on Saturday. Assuming Justin attends he would need a helicopter to get down to Wexford for 6pm. Here's hoping that he sticks with us anyway.

Great start last weekend, let's hope we can back it up this evening. The McNulty political situation is going to be interesting going forward.
Great to see our new players & inexperienced players playing so well vs Longford - optimistic for 2024, hopefully promotion & being towards business end of tailteann Cup for me. Glad our experienced lads still on the panel bedding our new players in.

The McNulty situation is not going to end well, he is now suspended by his party
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-68196052 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-68196052)

Surely this could have been avoided, Stormont was back after a long absence and Laois had a match in Wexford that same day. Could it not have been possible to allow Munelley to take the reins for one game?

Good convincing win down in Wexford.

The difference to the last couple of years was very evident last night. 
There is a plan in place and strategy that all the players are following. 
Defensively we look so much more sound and the players are instructed to play to  there individual strengths. 

I thought all the subs made an impact . Murphy , Fingleton and O'Reilly all were all introduced at appropriate times .


I expected more from Wexford tbh. 

Carlow in a few weeks will be interesting.  Not sure where they are in development etc . Beat an under strength Tipp team and a poor Waterford outfit last night .
We never get too worried about Carlow .

Very comfortable win in Wexford in front of a huge crowd. Certainly didn't expect it to be so easy.

Great to see a lot of different scorers for us during the game. Shaun Fitzpatrick had a fantastic game with 1-2. Evan O'Carroll is really playing a captain's part with super scores, great workrate and even a bit of great defensive work to snubb out a Wexford goal chance.

Workrate is key this year. Fitness levels are high and players are working hard for each other and supporting each other. Very pleasing to see. Most of the scores for Wexford were hard earned.

Killian Roche was superb again with 5 frees, the best one being the last one way out near the sideline. Seamus Lacey was powerful in defense. Damon Larkin had to go off injured at half time and we really missed him in the 2nd half. He is becoming a huge player for us.

We had a couple of missed goal chances as well so we were full value for the 10 point win. Excellent performace all round.

Carlow up next at home in round 3.

It was a very open game in Wexford, the conditions and the pitch were good and that dreaded wind that often ruins games down there wasn't present. Both teams didn't really employ any heavy defensive tactics so their were plenty of shooting chances on both sides, Laois were fair more economical. Really strong performance in the first half, team played a very high pace game, snappy passing and avoiding going into contact at all times. A few noticeable things was that team attacked mostly down the stand side where Brian Byrne and Kevin Swayne operated, Shaun Fitz had a roving role which suited him and Niall Dunne did a lot of running to show for ball, much of it appeared to be a game plan to make space.

The second half was much more even, the little spurt of scores at the end tipped the second scoring in our favour. We did go flat for a period and a few of the players took some very sloppy options especially with poor shooting. I thought we got slightly leggy and should have made a few changes to freshen things up. There are a few issues to sort out which never is a bad thing, we still have issues with teams running at us through the centre, glen malone the wexford wing back clipped over three points nearly unopposed and Evan of all people ended up stopping a goal. There is a small lingering doubt that we might be vulnerable to pace up the centre. Roche got off some good short and medium kickouts but we were well beaten in terms of fielding high ball on both their and our own kickouts once we were high pressed, probably short a fielding centre fielder. The carlow game will be a different proposition and probably will be a tougher test.

fare play to justy. great committment and a great example to players to foolow. hes put neck on line for them n Laois.

I would say it was actually a pretty stupid thing for him to do. Is this what everyone involved has to do now, put their jobs at risk and put Laois over everything else in their lives? If a player finds himself in a difficult personal situation this year, is he expected to chose Laois over his work or family commitments? Will players be expected to put their jobs at risk to play or train? That is what the manager is basically telling them they should do.

Did he not trust the players to understand he couldn't make it on Saturday due to exceptional circumstances, but he would be available every weekend thereafter? Does he think that's a sign of weakness or something? I can't make sense of it. He's an elected representative in a nation with a world-record parliamentary impasse, and when it finally gets sorted out and they return to work he leaves early on the first day back? He shouldn't have been anywhere near Wexford imo.

With all due respect I would totally disagree with steven seagal's post above. As a keen follower of NI politics it's my opinion that the SDLP leader in the NI Assembly, Matthew O'Toole, should have stood up for Justin in this instance. The issue initially arose when Justin was appointed and resurfaced last week with the news of the NI Assembly recall. Ok, I accept the argument that his role with Laois impinges on his responsibilities as an MLA. This was not a big issue while the Assembly was not sitting. However the Assembly recall was at very short notice and it would not normally sit on a Saturday. Justin's early departure from Stormont did not make one whit of a difference and Matthew O'Toole would have been wiser to back him on this occasion. It's Justin's call as to where he goes from here and the best of luck to him whatever he chooses.

He will go as an Independent and that will free him up for Laois. His party are in a precarious position, so he holds all the aces, and they may yet be forced to cave in and let him do what he wants. He clearly wants to be a part of Laois, and I'm sure most Laois GAA followers will want that too.

The above is what is likely to happen in the short term. The most unlikely scenario is that he will vacate his MLA seat. Long term, who knows what political future he will have after this. Some will admire him and some will never forgive him. It won't matter to him anyway because he'll be writing his own cheques when we win Sam   8)

I think it was a very foolish move on his part, and not surprised he was suspended by his party. Stormont has not been active for 2 years and in its first day back he could not be bothered to stay for the full session, instead headed off to the other end of Ireland for a Div 4 football match. If I was someone who voted for him I would not be impressed, he was happy to have his £46k salary and £120k expenses for the last year, so feels disrespectful.
Surely between himself, his backroom team and county board they could have come to an understanding to allow Ross or someone lead the line for one game. All they have done now is making a mountain out of a molehill and I don't see it ending well.

How would we feel if Laois got to the Leinster final and there was some menial party meeting he deceided to attend instead, it would feel like he was not fully committed (not a great analogy as we would be over the moon to be in a Leinster final  ;D  but you get my point)

His expenses are there for all to see so Im sure voters will not be happy.
http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/your-mlas/members-salaries-and-expenses/members-expenditure-2022---2023-april-2022---march-2023/members-salary-information-2022-2023/ (http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/your-mlas/members-salaries-and-expenses/members-expenditure-2022---2023-april-2022---march-2023/members-salary-information-2022-2023/)

Quote from: steven seagal on February 05, 2024, 08:53:21 PMI would say it was actually a pretty stupid thing for him to do. Is this what everyone involved has to do now, put their jobs at risk and put Laois over everything else in their lives? If a player finds himself in a difficult personal situation this year, is he expected to chose Laois over his work or family commitments? Will players be expected to put their jobs at risk to play or train? That is what the manager is basically telling them they should do.

Did he not trust the players to understand he couldn't make it on Saturday due to exceptional circumstances, but he would be available every weekend thereafter? Does he think that's a sign of weakness or something? I can't make sense of it. He's an elected representative in a nation with a world-record parliamentary impasse, and when it finally gets sorted out and they return to work he leaves early on the first day back? He shouldn't have been anywhere near Wexford imo.

A lot of valid points in this. He was a marked man regarding his politics. Silly thing to do.
On the bright side he has us looking like a football team again.

The SDLP will see the folly of suspending Justin. Instead of allowing this furore to arise they should have stood by their man and simply said that the issue would be addressed this week. As a result Justin McNulty is taking unjustified flak from all quarters. Of course the leadership of the SDLP, Colum Eastwood and Matthew O'Toole, would not lace the boots of their predecessors John Hume RIP and Seamus Mallon RIP.

It was reported that Justin was seeking legal advice. Was Justin even granter a hearing before his suspension ? I think his critics should hold their fire until we know the full facts.

I do hope that High Fielder is proved correct, that Justin remains as an independent MLA and continues to manage Laois footballers. He did a very good job (yes, he got things wrong at times) in his last stint and had made a good start this time around. He would be a huge loss to Laois were he to go.

Justy stood bye Laois and Laois need to stand by Justy. Fall in line boys

Another good win for the footballers.
Seems to be a world of difference between the set up this year and what went before it.
It would be great to be in the running in the latter stages of the league and get promotion. Carlow a big test but based on the last two games we are well placed to get the win.
I was a bit apprehensive with Justin's appointment but all it's going well.

Quote from: georgedoylesrightleg on February 06, 2024, 01:24:09 PMJusty stood bye Laois and Laois need to stand by Justy. Fall in line boys

Here here and the results compared to last year are already showing he is a worthy manager for us at this present time

Quote from: georgedoylesrightleg on February 06, 2024, 01:24:09 PMJusty stood bye Laois and Laois need to stand by Justy. Fall in line boys

Oh I am all in favour of JM, he has clearly got the squad motivated and we have instant improvement over the chaos of last 2 years. I just think this could have easily avoided that is all and might end up in a situation where he has has to give up the Laois role. If he attended Stormont for the entire session and Ross took the reigns for the Wexford match there would have been nothing about it.

We are spending too much time questioning McNultys decision to make the trip to wexford. 

People who addressed his decision and described it as foolish and stupid etc clearly don't know the man .
This whole episode will be forgotten in a couple of weeks .

The improvement in organisation from the debacle of past couple of years is clearly evident. From what I hear and see the lads involved this year are loving the environment. Himself and Munnelly have brought a freshness to the set up.

Let him do what he has to do and his dedication to Laois is there to be seen.  Time to get behind him and forget about the outside distractions.
I am pretty sure he has .

Laois Senior Football Panel 2024
Aaron Cooney (St Joseph's)
Brian Daly (St Joseph's)
Mikie Dempsey (St Joseph's)
James Kelly (St Joseph's)
Jack Lacey (St Joseph's)
Cormac Murphy (St Joseph's)
Kevin Swayne (Portlaoise)
Damon Larkin (Portlaoise)
Kieran Lillis (Portlaoise)
Ben Dempsey (Portlaoise)
Conor Brown (Portlaoise)
Conor Heffernan (Killeshin)
Eoin Lowry (Killeshin)
Killian Roche (Killeshin)
Brian Byrne (Graiguecullen)
Danny O'Reilly (Graiguecullen)
Mark Timmons (Graiguecullen)
Eoin Buggie (Stradbally)
Liam Knowles (Stradbally)
Mark Barry (O'Dempsey's)
Fionn Holland (O'Dempsey's)
Niall Dunne (Courtwood)
Sean O'Flynn (Courtwood)
Ciaran Burke (Crettyard)
Evan O'Carroll (Crettyard)
Shaun Fitzpatrick (Ballyroan-Abbey)
Aaron McEvoy (Ballyroan-Abbey)
Ryan Brady (Ballylinan)
Seamus Lacey (Ballylinan)
Simon Fingleton (Park-Ratheniska)
Niall Corbet (Clonaslee-St Manman's)
Dylan Kavanagh (The Heath)
Paul Kingston (Arles-Killeen)
Padraig Kirwan (Emo)
Rioghan Murphy (Portarlington)

We really must get out of Division 4.
It's a very poor standard of football and we need to be playing better teams. Carlow offered very little last night and yet it took us 25 minutes to score against them.
They handled Evan well but other lads like Dunne, Swayne and Larkin all stepped up well.

Probably our least impressive performance of the league so far .
Improved in the second half but Carlow are a poor outfit  . We dominated their kickouts in the second half with Roche competing for the majority of them .
Swayne and Larkin the standout players and good to see Kingston and Lowry back in the mix .

Decent crowd in fairness .

Another fine win last night v Carlow in front of a sizeable crowd in O'Moore Park. Anytime you win by double digits is a good day out.

Conditions were poor with the rain and the  town end side of the pitch in particular was in a bad state with a lot of players slipping and sloppy underfoot conditions. We were playing into the town end in the first half and it would have contributed to our slow start with a couple of poor shots and frees going astray.

We had a purple patch though in the last 10 minutes of the first half with some lovely scores to get 5 points in a row to pull level with Niall Dunne grabbing two of them which will do his confidence no harm at all. Carlow did deserve their lead at half time, 0-6 to 0-5 having started well and they kicked some good scores.

The second half was very impressive from us. A good range of scorers, Shaun Fitzpatrick stepping up again with 2 points, Kevin Swayne getting a good goal after a great ball by Eoin Lowry, a fine team move for Damon Larkin's goal, Mark Barry chipping in and of course Paul Kingston and Killian Roche. Brian Daly got a nice score near the end.

Good competition for places with the subs doing well. Fine defensive work again and good organisation with Carlow only adding 3 points in the 2nd half.

We are motoring well so far and go to Tipperary next Sunday.

Looking forward to Tipp next Sunday. We are where we are as regards Division 4 football and there's no point in lamenting the quality of opposition. It's not too long ago that Carlow gave us a bit to think about in a Leinster semifinal in Croke Park.  I'd give the lads a lot of credit for sticking to the plan when we went 5-0 down, and to be very fair, it looks like there's a bit of a plan and structure in place. Yet again Shaun Fitz was excellent, he's getting on a tonne of ball in games and always looks like he can make something positive happen. We look pretty fit and mobile and there's a lot of honest hard graft being put in on all lines. And for the first time in many years there's a bit of size about the team. Damon Larkin was influential again, Kevin Swayne was a ball of energy and workrate, and I thin in Ben Dempsey we have a really good prospect. He's very mobile, always trying to get forward, and a solid defender. Getting Rioghan Murphy back will also improve the team. In all, there's nothing to be critical of, and plenty to be positive about. We have a young, fit and hungry team who look fully bought in. Looking forward to Thurles!

You can't ask anymore from the team than winning.

They have done as much as is possible and promotion should be all we are looing for right now.

If/when that's achieved they can then turn their attention to the Tailteann Cup.

Great to see the public getting behind the team and special mention to Laois Gaels for the efforts in making the match nights that bit more special for Laois juveniles.

I see only 5 players from the team that lined out last Saturday evening were on the starting 15 that played Down in the Tailteann Cup a fews months ago that's some turned aound of players,so fair play to management and players to 3 wins from 3 ,next Tipp win that and we are almost there.

No point getting too excited, Laois won first few games last year also, but it does seem like there is a proper buy in from all to what new management team want from them and a plan in place.
Get promoted, beat Offaly, give the Dubs a reasonable rattle and get to Taitleann cup final seems like goals that are within reach this year. 

Quote from: Joeythelips on February 19, 2024, 09:19:10 PMGet promoted, beat Offaly, give the Dubs a reasonable rattle and get to Taitleann cup final seems like goals that are within reach this year. 

Think that's spot on. Promotion is a must, would be nice to turn over Offaly, you'd be hoping if we got a shot at Dublin that McNulty would have us better organised than our last couple of meetings and would be nice to go well in Tailteann Cup.
At the moment it's not really clear who'll be the better teams in the Tailteann Cup but you could certainly wind up with teams like Kildare, Cork, Louth, Clare, Westmeath in there who are all very decent (by our standards).

Just back from Thurles very poor performance from Laois against extremely limited opponents the amount of times posession coughed up was alarming at times under very little pressure ref was hard on us only positive was the result

Got out of jail a bit today. Couple of missed goal chances for Tipp and a missed penalty.
Dug in well though. Sign of a team going well to win while not performing to their usual standards.
Thought the subs made a huge difference. Lowry was brave, showing for ball, O'Flynn brought unbelievable pace and energy around the middle and Lillis steadied things and kicked a fine point.
Shaun Fitz, Evan and Brian Byrne were good throughout.

Won today but disappointed with our performance two many turn over giving away silly frees didn't moved the ball fast enough and  our approach play offensively was quite poor our subs made a difference still lots to work to improve for the management team, London up next.

Good win on Sunday. Sometimes you just have to grind out a win and I heard only last night that we have never beaten Tipp in semple before. The performance was not good but signs of a well drilled team was that we got a result. Dempsey is a good corner back really aggressive and sticky.two half backs were ok but not really driving forward,but maybe that's what they're told to do Timmons good in tackle and really thundered into the last 15 mins. Midfield hadn't their best day out. Just looke a bit off the pace. Lillis made a noticeable difference when he came in with a bit of cuteness and calmness on the ball. I thought our half forward line all did well considering he workload they had as midfielders struggled. The two outside lads ran themselves in to the ground Swaine in particular was popping up everywhere in the first half and Dunne appears to be growing into his role and is always available for an out ball and used it well (bar one disaster which could have gotten Fitzpatrick killed)
Evan was very good.and Barry is probably playing a role not suited to him as he's popping up on the full back line defending rather than close to goal. Our subs did well with O Flynn really catching the eye. I think he had a hand in the last three scores. Overall it's a more positive result than negative. Great Laois crowd down there too which is great to see and I happened to be talking to a player since and he said that the players noticed it too

Poor stuff on Sunday, make no mistake about that. I know a win is a win but that was a hard watch for most of the game. On the positive side the 6 backs, and keeper obviously, look to be well settled and set up for the year. BD and MT were solid throughout. Our midfield had a quiet day but that's on the back of 3 really good performances previously, so no big problems there. Honestly thought two of the 6 forwards, who shall remain nameless, could have gone at half time though.. their contribution was minimal. Evan was good again and you could feel the energy leaving the team when he got the black card, the flip side of that I suppose is everyone got a big lift when he came back in, coupled with a few good subs at the same time. A worry is that we looked lethargic again in the first half, very similar to that bad 20 min spell vs Carlow. That needs sorting as we hopefully near a league final. Final point, this craic with Killian Roches crusades is exciting, and profitable. He's causing a real conundrum for opposing keepers on their kick-outs, and long may it continue. It actually makes sense what he's doing and we got massive joy from it particularly against Carlow and Longford in the 2nd halves, BUT...I'd like to see him stay put when we're a point up with 2mins left!! Tipp went for broke and had 3 vs 2 in our half and our keeper was STILL up contesting a kick-out. In general though, we're benefiting big time from this, and even if/when it goes wrong once we should persist with it. IT WORKS! Overall, great to stay winning, plenty to work on, and still looking like twice the team and setup of the last few years.

Quote from: Jd on February 27, 2024, 08:39:59 AMGood win on Sunday. Sometimes you just have to grind out a win and I heard only last night that we have never beaten Tipp in semple before. The performance was not good but signs of a well drilled team was that we got a result. Dempsey is a good corner back really aggressive and sticky.two half backs were ok but not really driving forward,but maybe that's what they're told to do Timmons good in tackle and really thundered into the last 15 mins. Midfield hadn't their best day out. Just looke a bit off the pace. Lillis made a noticeable difference when he came in with a bit of cuteness and calmness on the ball. I thought our half forward line all did well considering he workload they had as midfielders struggled. The two outside lads ran themselves in to the ground Swaine in particular was popping up everywhere in the first half and Dunne appears to be growing into his role and is always available for an out ball and used it well (bar one disaster which could have gotten Fitzpatrick killed)
Evan was very good.and Barry is probably playing a role not suited to him as he's popping up on the full back line defending rather than close to goal. Our subs did well with O Flynn really catching the eye. I think he had a hand in the last three scores. Overall it's a more positive result than negative. Great Laois crowd down there too which is great to see and I happened to be talking to a player since and he said that the players noticed it too

setle, we only played tip once befre in semple

Well there you go. Great answer

Have to say we were very fortunate to come away with the 2 points but we'll take it!

The strength of the panel is key. Eoin Lowry, Kieran Lillis and Sean O'Flynn made key impacts when they came on. It was pleasing that we found a way to win with those 3 late scores. Great team spirit.

Evan O'Carroll is massive for us. Our main man. We struggled for sure when he got the black card.

Shooting will have to improve the next day. A lot of scorable chances missed v Tipperary. We have to be more ruthless as the season goes on.

Still plenty of positives. 4 wins from 4, very much in the driving seat for promotion. Ben Dempsey, Brian Byrne and Shaun Fitzpatrick had good games again.

At this point, we have the next 2 games at home v London and Leitrim. Hopefully good support shows up again like against Carlow and Tipperary and we can continue our winning ways.

I see Cahir Healy named centre back for London. I'm sure the Laois people will give Cahir a great reception this evening, one of the most dedicated players we've ever produced.

Laois by 6

Laois came through the match as predicted. I take it Cahir got a good reception. He made the trip from London every other weekend for the county not so long ago.

Poor enough game. London offered very little in attack and once the first goal broke them open it was a foregone conclusion.
Good to see the starting team mixed up a bit. Of those getting a chance, O'Flynn did very well and Dicey was quite good too.
We look almost certain to go up now but it would be nice to win the league final too. I think Longford might win that dogfight for second.

Footballers yesterday very poor centre of defence wide opened midfield non existent Murphy and Dempsey must be brutal if Lillis is first option off bench  could be a very short summer
Pitch in terrible state could no one tells Leitrim to warm up on terrace side as stand side was badly cut up only positive we are almost assured promotion don't think Offaly be shaking in there boots looking at that yesterday

Early season fitness and new management bounce is probably wearing off now. Promotion to division 3 achieved which is great but the rest of the year could be a hard watch... hope not.

We were very poor Saturday evening but Leitrim probably wanted it a bit more. You saw the reaction at the end they treated it like an all Against the wind I think our keeper struggled a bit and kept kicking the short ones to the wettest place on the pitch where lads were struggling to hold their feet. A good few turnovers came from that.that kick has to be on the chest. We looked a bit exposed when Leitrim just lorried the ball in long and they probably left a few goals behind them. A poor result but hopefully not too costly

kelly loss masive, flynn no cornerback. time to fire in bitta pace n youth now n stop bringin in tried trusted n failed from subs

We were poor Saturday and Leitrim and there followers were up for it.  Lacked urgency throughout.

Paul Kingston is our most natural forward by far. The rest are hit and miss. O'Carroll for such a talented footballer gets involved in too much nonsense throughout and I don't think it helps in any way. 

Niall Dunne and Kelly are definitely missed . Bringing on Lillis at midfield to gain some  influence was a strange one . Doesn't have the stamina anymore for that position even for 15/20 mins. More of a nuisance in the full forward line if anything. 

We will be in Division 3 next year but  the Offaly game in a few weeks in OMP will tell a lot about this team. 

Bar the Leitrim game it has been a solid league campaign. With promotion pretty much in the bag I wonder were the squad put through a hard training week prior the Leitrim game. It might explain the performance, especially the last 15-20minutes where Leitrim were the far more energetic and lively team by the end. The test of this team will be the Offaly game and ensuring that they reach the latter stages of the Tailteann Cup where we show competitiveness against whoever we may face. 

Quote from: Laois Rising on March 23, 2024, 02:39:21 PMBar the Leitrim game it has been a solid league campaign. With promotion pretty much in the bag I wonder were the squad put through a hard training week prior the Leitrim game. It might explain the performance, especially the last 15-20minutes where Leitrim were the far more energetic and lively team by the end. The test of this team will be the Offaly game and ensuring that they reach the latter stages of the Tailteann Cup where we show competitiveness against whoever we may face. 

A hard training week 🤦🏻�♂️. Who would do that. It's like something from 20 years ago. That would increase injury risk. They lost. Not good enough on the day. It's more likely that we were fitter that most early in the season and things are levelling out now.

Great to see us hitting 5 goals today in a game we were always going to win. The most important thing is that we kept going strong when we had a big lead, Laois teams in the past had a tendency to sit on a lead and more times than not got caught out when the opponent fought back.
On to Croker next Saturday and a great experience lying ahead for some of the squad who haven't played there before, that kind of thing is invaluable to young players. Let's hope we play to our best and give ourselves a great boost for the up and coming championship.
Well done all concerned...

Congratulations to our footballers on promotion to division 3.

Fermanagh, Kildare, Clare, Sligo, Antrim, Offaly, Laois and Leitrim will make up division 3 next year.

Didn't make it to today's game but 5-19 is some scoring!

Our full forward line of Mark Barry, Evan O'Carroll and Paul Kingston are very strong. They were excellent against Leitrim last week also with some fantastic scores especially in the first half.

My take on last weeks game was that Leitrim were ravenous, it was a championship game for them. We had the safety net of today's game and still could have got a draw with Mark Barry's free striking the post.

Ryan O'Rourke was brilliant for Leitrim last week so he will take watching in the division 4 final. Hopefully we will bring a crowd to Croke park because Leitrim certainly will! Back in 2019, they brought a massive crowd to their division 4 final v Derry. I'd be very confident that we will win next Saturday.

Looking ahead to championship, we have Offaly on April 13th. That should be a cracking local derby and a really good test. The aim would be to win that, try to give a good account of ourselves v Dublin and then have a good run in the Tailteann cup in May/June.

Credit where it's due. Promotion in his first campaign and back to Div 3.

Hopefully we have a decent run in the Tailteann Cup this year.

Hope we get the win on Saturday and bring home a trophy. Living over here in Mayo and as Jimmy Sloyan would put it, I couldn't stand another loss to a team picked by Andy F*cking Moran! Twice in two years is enough.

A division 4 title is as it gets for the time being, we are still a good way from a division 3 or a Tailteann cup.

In da final tomorro n not a peep, if we're not miserable n moanin we're not talkin. besta luck to lads tomorrow, National final in croker, tis wha tis about. hope plenty o young lads get run out, this is there chance now n gettin time in them is almost as important as anything else.

Best of luck lads today  . Great to get promotion and I think we will do Leitrim today.  I think the conditions will suit us better and there's definitely another kick in this Laois team .

Good luck to the lads in a little under two  hours now.
Think the new players, Fitzpatrick, Dempsey, Heffernan have added a lot.
Hope the likes of Dunne, Fingleton and Murphy get some game time in Croker.

Good performance. Could easily have won by 20 points plus if we'd been more accurate with point chances and clinical with goal chances.

Offaly will be a huge step up from any of the Division 4 teams we've played.

Well done to all involved. We seem to have some decent strength in depth with the likes of O'Flynn, Daly, Corbet not even used today and Kirwan and Burke hopefully to return from injury.

Br great if the hurlers could make it a double tomorrow!

Good day for Laois football and well done to all involved. Nice bit of strength and depth on the panel.

Evan O'Carroll was excellent throughout, kept his composure and led the line like a true captain.
I thought Dempsey and Kelly were  tigerish throughout and gave little away in defence.

We were wasteful at times and some of the shooting was erratic but in fairness we kept at it. 

Offaly next which will be a much tougher test . Mcnulty alluded to it afterwards that championship will always be where the judgement lies.

Good to get a win in Croke Park after that very poor performance against Down last year,the things that impress me about the team is there pace and the way they used the width of croke Park and the work rate of all the players,so well done to all the management team and now looking forward to the big championship game against Offaly

Great to look forward to the championship with some positivity. Offaly will rightly be slight favourites but we are well able for them if we are at 100%.

Get through that and it bonus territory

Dominant performance and blew Leitrim away in the second half. You'd have got good odds on Dempsey scoring the first goal. The change from last year is immeasurable. Totally different.
In saying that they won't get the same space against Offaly or other teams in the championship.
A great weekend for Laois gaa. Be great to do the double over Offaly.

Quote from: Joeythelips on February 19, 2024, 09:19:10 PMNo point getting too excited, Laois won first few games last year also, but it does seem like there is a proper buy in from all to what new management team want from them and a plan in place.
Get promoted, beat Offaly, give the Dubs a reasonable rattle and get to Taitleann cup final seems like goals that are within reach this year. 

1st goal done with the bonus of a trophy. Based on what we have seen in the league Offaly will be a tough task but if we play to our best we can win. After that its a freehit against the Dubs, but no doubt McNulty will have a game plan if we get there and (bar a miracle) then give it all for the Tailteann Cup.

25euro for one game sat night then they wonder why there's small crowds at games.

25e to go ta game in the road aginst the biffos. fcuk it if you cant pay dat.

15 for the terrace as good as view.

This laois team need our support, very few supporters came to our league games so I hope we get a good crowd tomorrow evening, Offaly always bring a big support when it a big local Derby game.

Not broadcast anywhere for those out of the country?

Writing on the wall when Lillis is a starter subs must be terrible where from here I don't know lots of the players have not the basic skill 

Terrible.
That's a very poor Offaly team so leaves us miles off the level needed for Division 3/Tailteann Cup.
Obviously the sending off cost us but an awful lot of the scores including the two goals we conceded were self inflicted.
Very few positives to take from tonight. Fitzpatrick possibly our best player. Evan starved of ball. The other 4 forwards were terrible.
I think one of our greatest ever players Mark Timmons is almost done. 

This years division 4 was very poor. Today proved that. Has Justin McNulty ever won a Leinster Championship match?

We were lucky that we weren't beaten by more today because if Offaly won by 10-15 points it wouldn't of flattered them at all . They easily could of had at least 5 goals pulling up too .
That's a very average Offaly team and you could say they were missing arguably their entire first choice full forward line in Cian Farrell , Anton Sullivan and Nigel Dunne today due to injury/suspension .
In a way it could be a blessing in disguise that we don't have to face into playing Dublin in the wide open spaces of croke park . We could honestly be hit for 10 goals if Dublin really wanted to

Incredibly flat performance. Lucky in some ways not to lose by more but from where I was standing Kelly's red card looked harsh. Hyland dropping like a stone didn't help him.
Coughing up the two goals like we did was infuriating.
Thought we might have gone to the bench sooner.
The lads will probably benefit from a week or two back with their clubs before regrouping for the Tailteann Cup.

Really poor performance and were on the back foot from the start. Offaly brought a  bit more in terms of pace and intensity that we have been used to and exposed our weaknesses. Damon Larkin's injury robbed us of our only mobile, pacey option and then the sending off allowed them the space to carry hard up the sides as we had retreated back to try limit the damage. We never really got a handle on Egan or Pearson carrying forward. Did well to get level but then gifted them two terrible goals, can't understand why we went short on the kick out as they high pressing and also when a pod of four players had started to position themselves near the stand to receive. At times we were terribly unstructured and the substitutes didn't offer much though you would have to wonder what Murphy is doing wrong looking at some of our forwards. Mcnultys dreadful  record in the Leinster Championship continues .

Quote from: Saint88 on April 13, 2024, 10:57:59 PMHas Justin McNulty ever won a Leinster Championship match?

One out of five after last night.
Should be a good few changes for first game in T Cup. The likes of Daly, O'Flynn and Rioghan Murphy must be wondering what they have to do to get a run. Looks like Dempsey, possibly Byrne and Larkin will be injury concerns for next game.

Truth be told, the game was effectively over as a contest once the red was dished out so early on. Once Offaly learned to push up on the Laois kick-out with the benefit of the extra man, they forced the errors and reaped the rewards.

I wouldn't be too critical of anyone involved given we played over 50 mins a man short, but some of our forwards do have a tendency to drift in and out of games in a worrying fashion. Personally, touching on what some other commenters have alluded to, I think Rioghan in particular and Niall Dunne should be in from the start the next day along with Shaun Fitz in the half forward line. I don't think we'd necessarily lose much defensively with that combination either, but you'd have three forwards well capable of scoring who are also used to doing the grunt work. Kevin Swayne could potentially then drop back to midfield with Conor Heffernan or Damon if back fit. Just a hypothesis but something I'd like to see given a chance. We also have Sean O'Flynn not getting minutes which is odd because he's always flying in the club championships and can double as a sticky man marker as well a lad who carries ball mightily well.

In reality, there's no real harm done from losing this so I wouldn't be sounding the panic button or being snide towards any of the players involved. It was a bad day, we take our licks and move on. Offaly will go to Croke Park and ship a 20 point beating from the Dubs. To be honest, given our performance against them last year I think we're doing well avoiding any more psychological damage a beating like that could do to us.

Surely there's more psychological damage in getting a hiding from Offaly at home than getting expectedly beaten by Dublin.

We got a reality check yesterday. You can't expect a manager to come in and miraculously lift a county that has mismanaged its development of players of the last 20years. It's impossible. In the Tailteann Cup we will beat most division 4 teams and maybe some division 3 teams but as soon as we meet quality we're gone.

Quote from: Saint88 on April 14, 2024, 06:57:28 PMSurely there's more psychological damage in getting a hiding from Offaly at home than getting expectedly beaten by Dublin.

We got a reality check yesterday. You can't expect a manager to come in and miraculously lift a county that has mismanaged its development of players of the last 20years. It's impossible. In the Tailteann Cup we will beat most division 4 teams and maybe some division 3 teams but as soon as we meet quality we're gone.

A bad beating for sure and a realisation of where we are in the pecking order. Offaly, a team who lost 4 of their 7 games in Division 3, tore us apart basically.

I would hope McNulty uses the TC to try and blood some new players. It is never a good sign to have a player like Timmons in such a crucial position, I get its more a reflection of the quality of alternatives rather than Timmons himself as is a great servant to the county but there needs to be some future planning in place.

Team I'd like to see next day (assuming those injuries and Kelly suspended).

Roche

J Lacey, S Lacey, Fingleton

Buggie, O'Flynn, Shaun Fitz

Heffernan, Swayne

Dunne, Lowry, R Murphy

Barry, Evan, Paul K.

Hopefully Kelly's suspension could be overturned.

Plenty of time to regroup and focus on the Tailteann Cup. Priority for the year was league promotion and progressing and challenging in the latter stages of the Tailteann Cup. Saturday was poor but ultimately the Leinster championship was not a priority this year. Losing to Offaly doesn't hurt as bad as it would have 20 years ago knowing that they will probably suffer a right hiding against Dublin next day out. In fact, we probably did ourselves a favour losing on Saturday. 

Looking back on the game v Offaly, we can have no complaints with the result, they throughly deserved their win.

In the opening 20 minutes we were hesitant and not tuned in. Offaly went 0-7 to 0-2 up. We were unlucky with Damon Larkin having to go off and the sending off of James Kelly which looked harsh to me, a yellow card would have been enough. We did extremely well to get level by half time, good character shown there.

Overall the gap between Division 3 and 4 showed amd in fairness, Offaly have some fantastic players. Next year for year 2 of Justin McNulty's reign, it will be vital that we stay in division 3.

As for the remainder of this season, lets try have a good run in the Tailteann Cup. I believe the draw for it is in 2 weeks with the first of the 3 group games on May 11/12th. There is plenty to play for yet.

In a group with Fermanagh, Wicklow and Carlow. Decent draw but can take nothing for granted.

Looking forward to the Tailteann Cup and hopefully, like last year we can have a good run at it.

We'll have Carlow at home to start, a team that have not beaten us in league or championship since 1988. We played them in the league back in February and had 11 points to spare.

A week later, we go to Aughrim to face Wicklow. They will be going for 3 competitive wins in a row against us having beaten Laois in last year's division 4 and in the Leinster championship of 2022.

Round 3 will take place in the first weekend of June. We will face Fermanagh in a neutral venue. We got the better of them last year in the Tailteann Cup in Enniskillen so it should be a good battle again.

If we manage to top the group we would have a home quater final. Second place would gain us a home preliminary quater final.

Laois did get a huge slice of luck with Fermanagh's best player getting red carded early in the game last year. Had it been 15 on 15 for the entire game I'm not sure we would have won out in the end. Wicklow game is a 50/50 game and Carlow are not at the races this year so we should pick up a victory there.

Losing to Offaly in the manner that we did was a good reality check for the players-after the Leitrim win we definitely had an inflated sense of where we were at. Sligo's dismantling of Leitrim in Connaught really showed how weak Division 4 was this year and how far off the rest the country teams like Laois and other Division 4 counties are. Laois have a big gap to bridge next year if they are compete for promotion from division 3 with the likes of Sligo and Kildare in 2025.

Laois are very capable of making the Tailteann Cup quarter finals. McNulty will have the team well prepared and hopefully we will be competitive against whoever we face. I still don't think we have enough players with real pace which will be a problem later down the tracks if we get to Croke Park and have to face a side like Sligo or Down.   
   

Not sure if there's much evidence that McNulty is a good coach. His teams are physically fit & strong. If he's playing against a superior team he puts bodies behind the ball. But outside of that he it limited. We're lucky Carlow are in our group and going so bad but Fermanagh & Wicklow are playing better football. We should get through because 3 qualify. Next year we need a good football coach in the setup or we will struggle.

Fixtures and Dates for the Tailteann Cup 2024


Group 1:
May 11/12
Kildare v Longford,  Leitrim v Waterford;
May 18/19
Waterford v Kildare;  Longford v Leitrim;
June 1/2 (neutral venues):
Kildare v Leitrim,  Longford v Waterford.

Group 2:
May 11/12
Sligo v Wexford,  Antrim v Tipperary;
May 18/19 
Tipperary v Sligo,  Wexford v Antrim;
June 1/2 (neutral venues):
Sligo v Antrim;  Wexford v Tipperary.

Group 3:
May 11/12
Fermanagh v Wicklow, Laois v Carlow;
May 18/19
Carlow v Fermanagh; Wicklow v Laois; 
June 1/2 (neutral venues):
Fermanagh v Laois;  Wicklow v Carlow.

Group 4:
May 11/12
Down v Limerick;  Offaly v London;
May 18/19 
London v Down;  Limerick v Offaly;
June 1/2 (neutral venues):
Down v Offaly;  Limerick v London

Another embarrassing result in Portlaoise today we have almost reached the bottom after140 years of playing football in the county after  producing some of the greatest players I have seen in the country John Conway,Bobby Miller, Atch Whelan ,Curly Prendergast the Browne's the Dempsey's the Turleys Joe Higgins Beano and too many more to mention. The first game I attended was in 1968 v Lomgford and after watching the footballers the last few years I despair

We let that one slip yesterday.

They were well on top but credit to Carlow. The county must be buzzing after the fighting performances of both their footballers and hurlers.

harsh ta call it embarasing, worse ta name dem lads gone. young team had job done, lost momentum wit subs n got caught. tailtin more bout bloodin young lads than anythin. learn n move on

Quote from: Blueforever on May 12, 2024, 04:53:09 PMAnother embarrassing result in Portlaoise today we have almost reached the bottom after140 years of playing football in the county after  producing some of the greatest players I have seen in the country John Conway,Bobby Miller, Atch Whelan ,Curly Prendergast the Browne's the Dempsey's the Turleys Joe Higgins Beano and too many more to mention. The first game I attended was in 1968 v Lomgford and after watching the footballers the last few years I despair

Crap result for sure but some of the great names you mentioned above played on the day Carlow last beat Laois in 1988. Gerry and Colm Browne and Leo Turley, Sean and Martin Dempsey so maybe a bit of perspective needed.
McNulty got it badly wrong yesterday taking off lads who were playing well like Dunne, Barry and O'Carroll. There was no need to do that.
Wicklow away next week will be no easy task.

Young team my foot we were playing Carlow for Christsake  this team managed to get hammered by Offaly who were in turned hammered by both Dublin and London of all teams until people wake up and see we have a major problem we will never solve it as regards losing to Carlow in 1988 there were some tremendous footballers on that team like Tommy Dwyer Johnny Nevin and the likes who would have got ther place on any team in Ireland

difrent team to one playin offaly. much younger. patience.

Running out of Patience,

People talking about patience ? If we sit and be patient we will only continue to regress even further . It's clearly obvious that we are getting worse and worse every year and every game that passes.
Our team at the start of the year was weaker than last seasons team . Our team at the moment is even weaker than the start of the year . Our team for next season will be weaker again .
 We are progressively getting worse in my opinion year on year . We haven't actually even hit rock bottom yet either ( when Timmo , Lillis , P Kingston , OCarroll all eventually go )
What's coming in is worse than what's going out . There is certain names creeping into the team sheet now regularly that I wouldn't even class as anything more than average club players
On yesterdays game we threw it away badly at the end but tbh over the course of the game Carlow could of easily scored about 6-22 instead of the 2-17 they got . That's a Carlow team that lost 4-19 to 0-8 to a division 4 Wexford team a few weeks ago in the Leinster championship . Carlow have lost the likes of Jordan Morrissey , Shane Clarke and Josh Moore since too to weaken them even further
It's honestly very hard to be positive when all I see in front of me is a constant battle for us to try and keep our heads above water . Division 3 next year could be tough if we aren't careful

i said be patient wit these yungf lads.dont twist words.

Poor enough in Aughrim today but a win is a win and we have a kinda free shot in the Fermanagh game now.
Hard to pick out performances. Kelly was good on Quinn, shows how much of a loss he was in the Offaly game. Evan worked hard. Murphy was brave throughout. But thought Kingston and Barry were way off it.

fingalton gud too. we have problem closin out games n needs workin on badly n quickly

Good to get out with a win in Aughrim to get our Tailteann cup campaign back on track. We can give Fermanagh a crack to attempt to top the group on the June bank holiday weekend and get staight to a quater final. If we don't win we will still advance to a preliminary quater final.

A defensive game on Sunday where the result was in doubt right to the end. Rioghan Murphy was excellent again as he was against Carlow. Simon Fingleton had a fine game also. We didn't concede any goal opportunity to Wicklow but we had a goal chance ourselves early in the second half, Mark Barry with a decent effort which was saved.

The area to improve on is to try limit our mistakes and reduce turnovers. It is good that we have a minimum of 2 more games so hopefully we can improve again the next day out.

Watched it on GAA Go, decent enough I thought aside from the fact there was no co-commentary and no analysis done. James Kelly, Brian Byrne, Simon Fingleton, Evan O'Carroll and Rioghan all very good.

There's been a small bit of shite spewed on this forum lately about younger players not being good enough. Compare the team from Sunday to the one that got the shite kicked out of them in Aughrim in 2022 or the one that got us relegated to Division 4 back in 2017. Some far less notable names on the team sheet perhaps, but we've added some great pace and mobility in the likes of Shaun Fitz, Rioghan, Fingleton and Heffernan that the likes of JO'L and Lillis weren't offering us in the not so far away past.

This team is nicely balanced and competitive at Tailteann cup level. I would not be surprised if we beat Fermanagh wherever that may be but we will most likely eventually get caught in the longer grass by more quality opposition like Down or god forbid Kildare if they get their act sorted.

The important thing should be to keep that nucleus of recent u20 graduates together and build their minutes. Right now those lads are doing just fine.

Well said.

McNulty has recognised the need for pace in the team and building a sound defensive structure. Two attributes that were solely lacking in Croke Park last year against Down. It's going to take time and we as supporters need to be patient as it will take two to three years for the younger players to fully develop as proper intercounty standard footballers. You cannot build up the strength and conditioning required or gain the necessary experience of playing in high tempo, competitive championship games overnight. I think plenty of lessons have been learned from the Carlow and Offaly games. Still plenty to work on having watched back to Wicklow game but plenty of positives in the performance too. Fermanagh and Carlow was a very competitive affair so I do not expect us to be too far off them in the final group game. A home quarter final would be very welcome and avoiding the likes of Sligo, Kildare and Down at that stage of the competition. If we fail to top the group and we manage to progress to a quarter final then it is one of those three sides away that we would have to play.   

Was anyone at the Fermanagh match? Decent scoreline but came out the wrong side of the result.

Home match against New York next week and if we win that an away quarter final against either Kildare, Sligo or Down awaits.

A brave, spirited team performance yesterday against Fermanagh that just fell short in the end. On a warm afternoon in Longford, the lads left everything on the pitch.

Rioghan Murphy brought great energy for the whole game and won the penalty that was brilliantly converted by Mark Barry. Evan O'Carroll's goal was superbly taken with a great direct ball in by Damon Larkin who had an excellent game. We turned Fermanagh over a number of times throughout the game and they really had to earn their victory.

Paul Kingston chipped in with scores of the highest standard. I was impressed with both Dylan Kavanagh and Seamus Lacey's contributions also.

So New York next week in the preliminary QF. It could be a chance for some of the panel members to put their hand up for selection for what should be an away quarter final the week after. The panel has definitely been strenghtened in advance of next year's division 3 with lads well able to contribute when brought on. Yesterday I thought that Mikie Dempsey in particular did well when coming on.

I'd love a go at Kildare in a quarter final. A local derby, a decent crowd and a championship atmosphere. Obviously they would be favourites but I'd love to see where we're at. They only really saw off Leitrim in the last 10 minutes in the 2nd game yesterday in Longford and I'd be hopeful that we could really test them.

New York are no mugs. Saw them beating Leitrim last year. But we should have enough. I'd like to avoid Down in the quarter final if we get there. Would prefer Sligo or Kildare. I think Kildare might be a bit better than us but at least it would generate a bit of interest.

Should easily beat New York and then regardless of who we draw it is a tough task to go away from home and defeat any one of Sligo, Kildare or Down. Playing Kildare in perhaps Dr.Cullen Park would be the best outcome. You'd image a local derby in a fairly full grounds would bring some proper championship atmosphere.I 'd hate to see this team bow out of the championship up in Newry in front of a small Laois contingent of supporters. 

Seems like a long gap between the 2 matches on Sunday. Is there a reason for this? Would be nice to hold onto the crowd for the ladies match.

Very sobering reality today. Ladies get hammered by Cork and the Lads barely get over New York. This is a reflection of the work done over the last 15 years in this county. Both groups are doing their best but we aren't producing players anymore. We need to get better people in at board level. That's where it all begins.

Reckon it was more a case of New York throwing it away as opposed to us actually winning it. Thought they kicked some outrageously bad wides in the second half and there was one clear goal chance where it was harder to miss the target than slide it past Roche 😅

Mark Timmons saving our bacon yet again. Thought the ball had just snapped past him when it popped off the wet sod but the wily old fox got a claw to it and finished with aplomb. What a player and what a servant to Laois.

We move on, albeit unconvincingly. Main thing was to win. Mission accomplished. Hopefully Sligo next. Kildare always have our number and Down, well...

Kildare it is. Probably the best option rather than a long trip to Down or Sligo with little or no support. It'll be in Carlow or Tullamore I presume? Hard to see us turn them over.

Quote from: SCFC on June 10, 2024, 11:38:27 AMKildare it is. Probably the best option rather than a long trip to Down or Sligo with little or no support. It'll be in Carlow or Tullamore I presume? Hard to see us turn them over.

I thought the teams who qualified directly (Kildare, Down, Sligo and Fermanagh) got a home tie.
Kildare is the toughest draw but hopefully this Laois panel has one decent kick left in it.

Tullamore Sunday 1.15pm apparently. 

Carlow would've suited our football base much better and would've lent itself to a better atmosphere, but hey ho, it is what it is.

Quote from: Joeythelips on June 10, 2024, 02:11:28 PM

Quote from: SCFC on June 10, 2024, 11:38:27 AMKildare it is. Probably the best option rather than a long trip to Down or Sligo with little or no support. It'll be in Carlow or Tullamore I presume? Hard to see us turn them over.

I thought the teams who qualified directly (Kildare, Down, Sligo and Fermanagh) got a home tie.

Kildare are homeless!

Wow...I wont lie I was not expecting that. I did not see it but listened to (biased) commentary lol. Sounded like Laois were full value for the win.
Anyone at it or watch it? No match report on RTE website yet as they don't give a s**t about the smaller counties it seems.
Purges some of the memories of the last time I was at Kildare v Laois in Tullamore in 2009. Well done lads.

Antrim man si had an interest in this. Laois were full value for the win. Solid defensively and much more threat in attack. I saw the last twenty minutes but they were a good bit better than Kildare in that time. I didn't like what I saw as we have to play you next  ;D

Thought it was a very poor game for long spells.
But the longer it went on, the more Laois realised that it was winnable.
The goals were obviously crucial but so too was Kildare's inaccuracy. They kicked some unbelievable wides.
Great to win it though.

Kildare forum would make you laugh silly. They were expecting to waltz their way to a handy victory.

Side point but I'll go for it. McNulty deserves credit for how he has integrated younger players. We have a fine nucleus of recent U20 graduates (think Swayne, Heffernan, Rioghan Murphy, Fingleton etc.,) built into the side now and they make a very positive difference to our overall performance and energy levels. We lacked this for a long, long time. 

Kildare supporters live in a bubble you would swear they were contesting All Ireland finals ever few years at least we know how good(or bad) we are 

Didn't really expect it myself but it sure was well deserved. Kildare are a good team but we worked them out tactically and the longer it went on the more confident we got.

A win like that is worth 10 training sessions and we should be full of confidence on Sunday against Antrim so here's hoping. We've already had a run out in Croke Park this year so it won't be new to anyone and that will be a help.

Antrim will be confident too after their brilliant comeback against Fermanagh so it makes for a good close contest. If we can cut down on some of the silly mistakes and wayward passes we could find ourselves in the final and finish off a great year for Laois football. Well done all concerned..

delited. said to back the kids n we did n look where we are n shaun fits ta come back to. that was powerful stuff. all yoyu can ask for. off ta croker ta fcuk.

Hard to believe we haven't beaten them since 2005.

Glen Ryan must hate the sight of Laois as a certain Barry Brennan ran rings around him in 2005 in what was arguably one of Laois's best performances as they gave Kildare a hiding in Croke Park.

Fast forward to yesterday and the win was the final nail in his managerial coffin.

Great to get the win but Antrim won't be easy. They went to Brewster Park and won which Laois couldn't manage in the group game.

It would be a great year if we manage to get over them and into the final.

Quote from: redsetanta on June 17, 2024, 10:55:19 AMHard to believe we haven't beaten them since 2005.

Glen Ryan must hate the sight of Laois as a certain Barry Brennan ran rings around him in 2005 in what was arguably one of Laois's best performances as they gave Kildare a hiding in Croke Park.

I think you mean 2003.....

05, we made shite of dem in semi

2005 alright. 21 points to 9.

Quote from: georgedoylesrightleg on June 18, 2024, 09:41:40 AM05, we made shite of dem in semi

Oh yes, jeeze, I had forgotten about that. Barry had one of his most impressive outings that day and as you said, roasted the great Glen Ryan...

Team Announced for Semi-Final

(https://www.limerickleader.ie/upload/2024_06_21/448829086_855110399985502_1696140270430934174_n-1718962026191.jpg)

Great to finally get a championship victory against Kildare. Unlike 2005, we were completely written off last Sunday so to win in the manner that we did was very sweet indeed. Well done to both players and management.

Niall Dunne had a brilliant game and got through so much work. The win will bring a lot of the inexperienced players on and we seem to have a good mix of experienced players as well. What a goal from Evan O'Carroll and some monsterous frees from Killian Roche.

Hopefully we can bring a bit of colour and support to Croke Park tomorrow against Antrim and get one step further than last year. Of course Antrim are aiming to get one step further as well so it should be a fierce battle. Best of luck Laois.

I take it everyone is still en route home from Croker given the lack of discussion here  ;D

Some poor shot selection and execution at times, but a very, very professional and polished performance. Some wonderful direct kick passing, a tight defensive shape and some great scores, particularly one from Mark Barry on the run in the first half caught my eye and a mark by Niall Dunne which was one of the sweetest strikes I've seen in a long time.

Truth be told, it could have been more than five in the end. Hard to single out any individuals given how well everyone played. This was a tireless, hard-working performance from everyone involved. What a difference a year makes, eh?

Brilliant performace - McNulty was excellent in his last spell with Laois and appears to be better now and more tactically adept and dynamic.

Great performances today by Roche, Kelly, Fingleton, Timmons, both midfield, Evan, Byrne, Barry and more. I'm delighted to see the new and fresh talent in Laois making a great, positive contribution.

It looks very positive for Laois - in a final now and loads of progress this year. I really hope Justin McNulty stays for at least 3 years and more. I've nothing against Billy Sheehan but we needed a very good all-round manager at the helm and Mcnulty is perfect in that regard.

We saw the progress and momentum that Sugrue was showing some years back - we need that consistency and momentum in Laois to bring us back to being competitive in a Division 1 - 3 context.

Great football being played out there, a joy to see. We showed great character to battle back after some poor luck with the timing of their goal. Proud of the team 1000%.

Bin sayin it all long, the kids r alrite. Delited for them today.

What a fantastic performance, the Kildare win was clearly no fluke as Laois were full value for their win. Hard to single out players given everyone played so well including subs that were introduced.

The most pleasing aspect was what seemed like the turning point in the second half where we missed our goal chance and Antrim went down the pitch to score one themselves and go 3 points ahead. Instead of feeling sorry for themselves this Laois team doubled their efforts, subs were introduced and they basically dominated the last quarter totally.
Very impressive, well done to all involved.

Quote from: Chrimtain on June 23, 2024, 10:28:24 PMIt's been encouraging to see good young players coming into the team over the last few years. Kelly, both Dempseys, Fingleton, Lacey, Heffernan, Larkin, Burke, Swayne, Fitzpatrick, Murphy and Dunne have been a breath of fresh air.

I wonder is there any chance that some of this year's exiles might return for next year's campaign. Would be great to see some of Greene, O'Sullivan, Piggott, Collins etc back.

With some of the exiles back, consolidation of our place in Div. 3 might be possible.

It's really forwards and midfielders we need especially a scoring midfielder if we are to avoid the yo-yo effect in the league especially. We are still only hitting around 12-13 scores on average and getting goals has been huge plus this year. 

That's the big difference this year. Our ability to score goals.
Very hard working win yesterday and clearly all players are playing for the team.
Not a great watch at times but we are in a building process so whatever it takes.
They can go into the final with a bot of confidence.

big difrence is on the line n pace on field.

That was an exceptional performance by every player and sub on that field and by the management yesterday, they got it spot on. Slow start but we learned from it and sized them up fairly quickly. We showed great ability not to be flustered by our mistakes and kept to the plan all through, when we lost a good lead we battled on and scored some great goals to put us back in command again.

Delighted for Brian Byrne, a guy who missed a lot of football last year due to a bad injury but to see him there yesterday back to his best was a joy to behold. The way he finished his two goals was brilliant after some clever work by our forwards. That quick pass that puts a guy in the clear and creates a definite scoring chance is something we have been lacking for quite a while.

All round it was a great performance and hopefully we will go all the way now against Down and make up for that horrible beating they gave us last year.

Full credit to all concerned it was really heartwarming to see a laois team play to such a high standard on the big occasion. Great to see lots of young players on the panel, Div 3 is going to be very important next season for the team but we are going in the right direction. I would be very scared of Down they are very pacey.

True, hard to see us beating Down but I said the same about Kildare. This team are starting to believe in themselves, they're all good players so who knows where it will take us. If Evan can find a pair of boots with a few studs left in them he might be able to stay on his feet a bit longer next day    ;D :D

Last year we really struggled when teams ran at us as we were severely lacking in pace. McNulty has invested in young players who have proper speed to them and now as the season has progressed they are starting to really develop as footballers as well. They are also playing to a very definite game plan and structure. It shows what a good management team brings to the table in terms of getting the best out of players. Having won Division 4 and having reached the Tailteann Cup Final beating Kildare and Antrim will give the players plenty of confidence going into a a very competitive Division 3 next year with Kildare under new management, Sligo, Clare, Fermanagh and Antrim all in the mix as well as a refocused Offaly side. Beating Down would be the icing on the cake for a successful 2024 season after the debacle that was Billy Sheehan's reign.

     

justins a gentlman compared to that other lad. how chairman let heim away wit abusin laois peeple last year was disgrace

Can you elaborate on that please, who did he abuse last year...??

go bck n listen ta his interview aftar fermanag game.

I just did, this is all he said

"Whatever about me being abused, I don't care about that, but there was a County Board meeting there two weeks ago where clubs literally said that the team were finished this year," he said.

"Then online, it's just unfortunate the abuse that the players are receiving from people who don't even come to the games.

"We've a very loyal following. It's brilliant to see the loyal following. It's small but sure that's the way the sport is.

"I'm just delighted for the players. It really means nothing to me. They can keep abusing me all they want, it doesn't bother me in the least.

"I'm just really disappointed for our own people in the county to target our players like that," he continued.

"We were seven points up against London, we had about one hundred supporters and then all of a sudden everyone makes comments about them (the players) afterwards.

"Roll on the abuse in the next few days. We'll be ready to go again next week."

Sheehan also had a tense exchange with Fermanagh boss Kieran Donnelly, with the former feeling that Donnelly had said something to his players during the game.

"I won't get him a Christmas card and I probably won't get one off him," Sheehan added.

He sed more. Who abusd players? He sed everyone? So who?

It's great to see these young players progressing. It shows what hard work and a bit of organisation can do. 2 great victories back to back that will bring them on no end. Down will be very difficult. They're 1/5 to beat us so hot favourites but 1 things for sure, our lads will put everything into trying to win.

We should have a big crowd at the final, time to support these lads for all the effort they've put in. There's the usual crowd waiting for Laois to lose so they can have a go again. A terrible negative attitude amongst some 'supporters'. A major part in holding Laois GAA back in my opinion.

A great job Justin McNulty and Ross are doing as well. Top class management. I thought so at the time but it's confirmed now, the lads who criticised McNulty when he was last in charge were way off the mark. The results before and after he was in charge was the evidence. Let's hope we can keep him, he improves the standards and gives us a professional approach.

So 12 days away from the Tailteann final. It is confirmed that we face Down at 3pm followed by Kerry v Armagh at 5.30pm. Lets hope that some of the large Armagh following will be shouting for us!!

I'm hopeful that we'll have a decent support ourselves anyway. The players and management deserve it for their endeavours. There should be a buzz building as we get nearer to it.

Was another excellent, hard fought win against Antrim with great defensive work and counter attacking from the likes of James Kelly, Ben Dempsey and of course Brian Byrne. There were notable turnovers and interventions from Timmo and Fingleton also.

Damon Larkin made some great charges forward, and the forward line clicked with some great scores from all angles. In fact, all played well on the day.

Down are overwhelming favourites but there will be a plan in place and I'm sure all will be left on the field. It has been a very satisfactory year and we are in bonus territory. It should be a great occasion to have a big game in mid July.

Had a look at the odds there. Down 1/5 Laois 4/1.

Ah we owe down a beating after last year anyhow.

Isn't it great to be in a National Final in Croke Park in July, as for the game the Down team's running power concern me our defensive energy need to improve to cover the runs of Down from deep, I think they will target a fast start so we need to be ready. Win or lose we are going in the right direction best of luck to everyone.

Quote from: Sideline12 on July 08, 2024, 06:50:35 PMIsn't it great to be in a National Final in Croke Park in July, as for the game the Down team's running power concern me our defensive energy need to improve to cover the runs of Down from deep, I think they will target a fast start so we need to be ready. Win or lose we are going in the right direction best of luck to everyone.

Excitement is building. We're up against it as you say. Down are a very good team and the odds reflect that. We should have a big crowd up there on Saturday. Not often we get a big day out these days. The players have put in some effort all year. Winning Division 4 and getting to a Tailteann Cup final is as good a year as anyone could have expected. It would be great to top it off with some more silverware.

It's very quiet on this forum, usually a good sign that we're going well. 🤣 They'll be back if we lose on Saturday though. Hopefully Justin and Ross have a plan put together and we have a good day in front of goals. The young players are showing great promise but win or lose, it would be nice to give Mark Timmons a good send off. He's been a great servant to Laois GAA.

You'd have to give Laois a decent chance.

I think the handicap is generous giving Laois +5.

Often finals take on a life of their own. Down weren't able for Meath last year and we are far better than we were 12 months ago.

To be fair the bookies usually have it just about right so +5 points seems about right. Not that the players will be bothered about such things. My take from semi finals was that laois are a different animal this season and given they way they came back after a poor start to the 2nd half will give them even more confidence but I did think the Sligo v Down game was a slightly higher level. But thats the beauty of a final, you cant win it if you are not in it.

In the current squad, what is the breakdown of the Secondary Schools each player attended? Is Paul Kingston the only Knockbeg Alumni?

Now lads no red or black cards we need all 15 players on the pitch hope ye can get a good start and finish well, best of luck tomorrow.

Best of luck to all involved in the Laois set up today. A tough game but silverware is not easily won. It's been a great season regardless after the last few years so hopefully they do themselves justice today.
H'on Laois.

Quote from: Joeythelips on February 19, 2024, 09:19:10 PMNo point getting too excited, Laois won first few games last year also, but it does seem like there is a proper buy in from all to what new management team want from them and a plan in place.
Get promoted, beat Offaly, give the Dubs a reasonable rattle and get to Taitleann cup final seems like goals that are within reach this year. 

A good year to be fair apart from the Offaly loss. Hats off to McNulty he has come in and really turned the ship around. Hopefully we find one or two more in off season to boost the panel as there is plenty of potential with this group, they have done the county proud.

A special mention to Mark Timmons, I always think its a bad sign to have elderly statesman on board when you are trying to build for the future but this guy has consistency being one of our bet players this season and yet again lasted the full 70 in the wide open spaces of Croker against a speedy Down forward line. At 38 years of age he is something special.

Hard luck to Laois today but a marked improvement on last years game. Thought we were a bit too negative but thats understandable give last year and the higher quality players on a down team operating in Div2 next season.
Overall it.s been a great year for Laois football and I think we can look forward with more hope than we have had for a long time. Well done all concerned. Agree totally with your remark about Mark Timmons, he's a very special player and a great example to all the younger lads on how to look after your body and dedicate yourself to your club and county. Year after year when others were bailing out of the panel he stuck with it and drove others to give their all. It wouldn't surprise me to see him back again next year...

very disappointing yesterday, while Down were strong favourites it just felt that we never released the handbrake and played very conservative nearly to our detriment. After last years game and Down's higher league standing it was understandable that we were going to be defensive to establish a platform to be in the game but it only appeared near the end with a few long balls that there was game that could have been won, even if it was a smash and grab. Lacey's goal from the keepers mistake and later Barry's strike put a bit of a shine on what was an awful offensive performance in particular. I accept that McNulty's heavy defensive style in fairness got us to the final and also may have been handicapped yesterday by not having the forwards especially pacey, hard running forwards that would show for the ball to stretch Down. It would lead you to wonder how the approach or even some of the personnel were not changed when it was obvious we were playing so deep and effectively having no forwards up the field to score. Evan's point in the 15 minute was the last point from play any of the eight forward players we used yesterday scored and Heffernan's point just after the 37th minute was the last point from paly any Laois player scored. The two forward changes came in the 56th and 65th minute and to me were too late. Eight scores in 70 plus minutes was never going to win this game.     

next year will be interesting, I would imagine that the plan will be to build on the foundations of this year and stay in Division 3, avoid relegation and have a better run in Leinster depending on the draw and go for the Tailteann again. The evolving of the game plan will depend of what the panel looks like and whether we can get some of the absent players back but most importantly try find pacey forwards.

An enjoyable enough year overall following Laois footballers.
Highlights were the league final win and beating Kildare.
The two big disappointments were yesterday and the Offaly game.
I believe two of the six starting forwards yesterday will miss next year due to travelling abroad.
We never seem to have all our players available at the one time.

A commentator said that England played with the handbrake on against Spain tonight - much like Laois yesterday.
Laois had good reason to be wary after last year and in fairness our lads defended fairly well.

Croke Park is a big field to get up and down as it showed in the two All-Ireland semi-finals also.
Coincidently all three games ended in 2 point winning margins.

It would've been great to steal it at the death but we all know we're not ready for Sam Maguire competition yet.
This year has restored some pride and well done to players and management.

very dispointing is bit harsh for me. last year was very dispointing. much better place than start year. plenty to build on. plenty to be happy about. kids are alrite, now we need blood more of them.and we need pace.

thanks justin ross n players.

A management teams job is to pick a squad of players and get the best out of them. I get that at times Laois were not as attacking as you may like them to be in the final, but the reality is they were playing a side who hammered them by 22 points last season. So many players have come on an awful lot under the new regime, add a few more to that and further progress and Laois have room for even more improvement next season.

Saturday was a step top far in what has been a positive year. It would have been great to win and they had their chance but the step up might to 'Sam' might be a year too early for this current crop.


For Laois to improve they need to ensure there is not a big turnover in the squad and we keep adding youth to the panel. We also need to improve the pace and power but that can only happen if lads apply themselves over the winter months and from minor up.

Just a few reflections on the 2024 season for the Laois senior footballers.

All in all, a successful season with great improvements shown, a game plan and pride restored. 8 league games, 7 wins, a division 4 title and promotion gained to division 3. Plenty of new players blooded during the league and experience gained. A good mixture of youth and experience. Notable wins against Wexford away in round 2 by 10 points and the victory in the final v Leitrim by 14 points.

Championship: 8 championship games, 4 wins, 1 draw and 3 defeats. The only off day really was against Offaly but losing James Kelly so early in the game and Damon Larkin going off injured early in the game were 2 massive blows. Highlight of the championship has to be our 5 point win against Kildare in O'Connor Park, a first championship win since 2005 v Kildare and possibly our best championship win since 2012 when beating both Monaghan and Meath. Beating a decent Antrim team by 5 points was impressive too and getting out of Aughrim with a win. There was a fine display against Fermanagh also despite losing by a point and to run Down to 2 points compared to 22 last year showed the progress that has been made.

While Down deserved the win, the lads executed the game plan and were no pushovers.

For year 2 of Justin Mcnulty's reign, we must not get relegated from division 3. Obviously, the team will aim for promotion but it will be a very competitive division. Hopefully we can get 4 games at home. The club championships should be interesting to see if we can find some new players and hopefully some lads might return from travels etc and strenghten our cause.

For the Leinster championship, maybe we can have a go at a run in it if we're on the opposite side the draw to Dublin and if we do find ourselves again in the Tailteann, hopefully we can follow up on this year.

Plenty to look forward to anyway.

FOOTBALLERS LEAGUE FIXTURES

R1: Leitrim (A) 25th Jan 2.30 Pm
R2: Offaly (H) 2nd Feb 4.00 Pm
R3: Sligo (H) 15th Feb 2.00 Pm
R4: Kildare (A) 22nd Feb 7.00 Pm
R5: Antrim (H) 1st Mar 5.00 Pm
R6: Clare (H) 15th Mar 6.00 Pm
R7: Fermanagh (A) 23rd Mar

Does anyone know the senior football panel that's in training for the upcoming national league, can't find it on any laois gaa news.