Division 3 league Fixtures
Saturday 25th Jan 2025
Allianz Football League Roinn 3 Round 1
Leitrim 14:30 Laois
Venue: Páirc Seán Uí Eslín, Ballinamore
Sunday 2nd Feb 2025
Allianz Football League Roinn 3 Round 2
Laois 16:00 Offaly
Venue: Laois Hire O'Moore Park, Portlaoise
Sunday 16th Feb 2025
Allianz Football League Roinn 3 Round 3
Laois 14:00 Sligo
Venue: Laois Hire O'Moore Park, Portlaoise
Saturday 22nd Feb 2025
Allianz Football League Roinn 3 Round 4
Kildare 19:00 Laois
Venue: Cedral St Conleths, Newbridge
Saturday 1st Mar 2025
Allianz Football League Roinn 3 Round 5
Laois 17:00 Antrim
Venue: Laois Hire O'Moore Park, Portlaoise
Saturday 15th Mar 2025
Allianz Football League Roinn 3 Round 6
Laois 18:00 Clare
Venue: Laois Hire O'Moore Park, Portlaoise
Sunday 23rd Mar 2025
Allianz Football League Roinn 3 Round 7
Fermanagh 14:00 Laois
Venue: Brewster Park, Enniskillen
Personally I would see no reason why we cant be in div. 2 next year.
Anyone know who is in with the panel this year many newcomers or retiring,not comitting or travelling?
Game missing there.
R1: Leitrim (A) 25th Jan 2.30 Pm
Ballinamore
Anyone know how we fared against Carlow in the challenge game today?
Heard it was a Poor first half and decent second half . Won comfortable enough in end.
Lee Walker back playing for Carlow.
He must be gone back to O'Hannrahans so....
Just looking back at the laois team that played Down in the Tailteann Cup final, Roche
Kelly. Fingeton. Timmins
Lacey. Byrne. Buggies
Larking Heffernan
Dunne. O'Carroll Swayne
Barry. Lowry. Kingston
Are these players all available to play in the upcoming div.3 league if not what will the team be like to play Leitrim in the first round on the 25th of January, very little news coming from camp.
Dunne's abroad for the year, so is Lowry I think. O'Carroll did his cruciate.
If that's the case 3 of the forwards are gone, with the new management coming in last season and making good progress getting out of div.4 and getting to the Tailteann Cup final it would be all for nothing if going down to div.4 again, good games to look forward to in div.3 over the next couple of months just hope we are competitive and discover a few new players and stay in div.3. Will settle for that.
Those are all big losses, especially O'Carroll. Still Id say we should have enough to avoid relegation at least. Looks like a very competitive division.
Score against limerick lads ?
Laois 1-13 Limerick 2-21
Could be in trouble this year lads
Any idea of the team that started or who featured Brandon? I didn't see too many Laois lads playing Sigerson which is disappointing
Didn't watch the game butch but pretty scary conceding 2-21 to limerick I think it may be a tough year for us in div 3 and I think we be lucky to beat Leitrim in the first league game
It's fairly pointless discussing a challenge game with zero information on team, panel etc.
I'd worried about these new rules. The 2-pointers have potential to skew games especially where there is a wind factor. These new rules should have been on trial in O'Byrne Cup, McKenna Cup etc. and not in NFL - what was the point in abandoning these competitions when counties are criss-crossing the country for challenge games that the supporters don't get to attend ?
Evan O'Carroll will certainly be a huge loss.
It would be great to be in the running for promotion but I suppose consolidating Division 3 status is a more realistic objective.
Looking forward to the season ahead and to see how the new rules go.
Division 3 promises to be super competitive. Glad we have 4 games at home, and even 1 of the 3 away games is only up the road in Newbridge.
Is crucial that we don't get relegated. We need to take full points in Leitrim, local derby v Offaly could go anyway, an improving Sligo at home, away then to Kildare, home v Antrim need to grab a win and then home to Clare and away to Fermanagh. If I had to call it, i'd say we'll get 7 points in the division.
For Leinster, a positive is to be on opposite side to Dublin. We will have a tricky assignment v Wexford away and Louth if we get over that- a team who ran Dublin to 4 points and ended up in All Ireland quarter final.
Likely we'll end up in the Tailteann cup. Hopefully we can have a good cut off it and see if we can get back to the final.
I don't ever remember the start of an NFL campaign where there was so little information available.
Had booked train to Carrick-on-Shannon assuming game was fixed for Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada - had to cancel when I discovered game will be played in Ballinamore.
Can't find any information on Laois panel never mind team. Are there any posters on here that are in the know ?
that prik from down actin the fuk movin the game higher up. we'l be under pressure but trust the kids lads. they;ll be alrite.
Between injury and travel the following won't be involved
Evan O'Carroll,
Niall Dunne,
Eoin Lowry,
Paul Kingston,
Rioghan Murphy,
Eoin Buggy
Kieran Lillis, (retired)
Sean O' Flynn
Unsure about Timmons and still 4/5 Port lads abroad.
Ryan Brady and Padraig Kirwin are back in with the panel.
Laois are in a similar boat to a lot of mid to lower rank teams. Plenty of players come in and out of the squad on a rotational basis year on year (I don't blame the players mind-huge commitment required and they have other things in their life they would have to d0). I remember being at a coaching workshop where James Horan was speaking and he said that you need to have players in with the county set up for three full seasons to get them anywhere near the levels and physical pitch of playing intercounty football at a competitive level. You'd love for McNulty to get that consistency of years with the players he has identified to really drive things on. Losing 4/5 players that can make a positive contribution (either through injury or travels) will really hamper a smaller county like Laois making any significant progress.
From Laois Today
LAOIS: Killian Roche; Ben Dempsey, Simon Fingleton, Trevor Collins; Padraig Kirwan, Brian Byrne, Seamus Lacey; Kevin Swayne, Damon Larkin; Danny O'Reilly, Mark Barry, Conor Heffernan; Ronan Coffey, Benny Carroll, Niall Corbet
SUBS: Conor Brown, John Brennan, Jake Darcy, Josh Hogan, Fionn Holland, James Kelly, Jonah Kelly, Liam Knowles, Cathal Lee, Aaron McEvoy, Sean O'Neill
very light on scoring forwards as many of the players i would associate as being either midfielders or play makers. looking at the extended panel that was published it clearly shows the amount of players not available. this league could be extremely difficult.
Really hope I'm wrong but that is a team very light on experience and scoring power.
Leitrim are probably in the same boat but I fear for us against the stronger Division 3 teams and would consider staying up an achievement.
Two very tough games today , hoping for a result in either . Both teams could be slightly undercooked.
So disappointed coming out of o'moore park yesterday I thought we were making some progress but no,we looked like a poor div.4 team fair play to offaly it's not long ago when london beat them they bring in new management in December and in only a few weeks they looked like a well drill team they were more athletic fitter and tactically aware of what to do,so questions must be asked about our management team and players after that performance it's just not good enough.
A positive from the 5 point defeat to Offaly was that we showed good heart and kept battling away to the end.
It took us a while to settle in our first league game as Offaly had the advantage and confidence gained from last week's win against Sligo. The new rules and a lot of players unavailable/injured this year will take a bit of adjusting to.
They came out of the blocks (1-3 to 0-0) up and 1-10 to 0-2 ahead after 30 minutes but we got 1-3 of our own then before their 2nd goal. We were unlucky though in the first half hour as a couple of 2 pointer attempts fell into the keeper's hands and one hit the post.
Offaly, in fairness, looked impressive in the attack and could now be in the hunt for promotion.
We now have a must win game up in Leitrim on Saturday. Hopefully we will improve again and get the result. Ronan Coffey had an impressive debut and Benny Carroll did well on his return. Was also great to see Trevor Collins, Danny O'Reilly, Pa Kirwan and Paddy O'Sullivan return.
Offaly looked well ahead us in terms of attacking shape, fitness and pace especially in their forward line. not surprising with Mickey Harte involved over there as he always took the league very serious plus they have a lot of players involved in the Sigerson. it could be a very tough league for us, the next round will probably give a better indication of where we will be at, defeat to Leitrim and we are in serious bother.
on the game itself the our goalkeeper coming forward could develop into a major issue. obviously he is been brought forward to kick two pointers but he is not the quickness and definitely when the ball is either turned over or fails to go dead from a shot he is struggling. last year with most teams operating a blanket defence there were never forwards too far up to cause these issues for him but with the new rules and the three forwards and the solo and go its risky.
3-08 to no score in favour of Laois after 23 mins. Whatever cobwebs Laois had last week are well and truly blown off today
Quote from: Joeythelips on February 08, 2025, 02:59:29 PM3-08 to no score in favour of Laois after 23 mins. Whatever cobwebs Laois had last week are well and truly blown off today
Good to see, should be no bother staying up anyways, this will leave us level on points with Clare, Antrim and Fermanagh.
Allianz Football League Division 3
Full time
Laois : 3-20(29)
Leitrim: 0-6(6)
That leaves us level on points with Clare, Antrim and Fermanagh but ahead on scoring difference.
| Teams | |P| | W| | D| | L| | +/-| | Pts| |
| Kildare | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 4 |
| Offaly | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 4 |
| Laois | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 18 | 2 |
| Clare | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 2 |
| Antrim | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Fermanagh | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -14 | 2 |
| Sligo | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -13 | 0 |
| Leitrim | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -36 | 0 |
Table after round 2
haha pioacher ya gowl. off n shite. the kids be ok lads, give dem time.
I think games against Leitrim can be written off as they are going to lose every game in this division by double digits. The vast majority of the panel are young lads straight out of the u20s. Leitrim did brilliantly last year in division 4 and had that little luck as well against Wexford to get them up. However, the team they have this year would struggle to finish even mid table in division 4 and that is the reality of the situation.
What was great to see was they set plays and player positioning that McNulty implemented. Laois created numerous scoring opportunities in the opening half through very clever movement of the ball and clever positioning of players before making their runs. Leitrim were at sea trying to defend it. How it fares against better opposition will be interesting and I'm sure teams will do their homework on that Laois performance to find ways to negate it.
The 23 point winning margin will do us no harm at all in a scenario where 3 teams finish on the same points come the end of round 7. No less than 11 players got on the scoresheet for Laois on the day against Leitrim.
Certainly didn't expect it to be so easy but lads applied themselves very well and the 3 goals were worked well early on. It gave the substitutes a bit of game time, some of which are new enough to the panel.
For me, the standout player for us was Pa Kirwan who got through a lot of work, took his goal well and got a fine 2 pointer in the second half.
Sligo next Sunday should be a cracker. It looks set to be very close, hopefully home advantage can get us over the line.
Sligo is a proper test of this team. Sligo need the points as well as another loss for them puts them in the relegation battle. It would be nice to see Laois coming out on top in home games again when facing competitive teams. Our last appearance in Division we were relegated on our home form. Lost to Limerick, Westmeath and Longford and drew with Antrim in O'Moore Park. Started poorly at home in the league again the first day out. I'm not sure why we struggle so badly at home but it would be nice going to O'Moore Park and seeing a Laois team perform and beat a team of similar or higher rank.
Laois 0-23 v 0-16 Sligo
AN impressive result, well done lads. Big game against Kildare up next.
grate stuff yesterday. no messin bout, job done and out the gap. trust de kids
Great score to put up. Mark Barry flying yesterday.
Kildare will be a right test next. Can never beat them hoors enough and they feel the same about us!
Job well done. Barry stepping up, especially in the absence of Carroll. McNulty deserves great praise with how he has set this team up to play to the new rules. Might be showing our hand a small bit and teams will figure out how to counteract how Laois set up but for now it is going to keep us in Division 3 for next season and plenty to build upon.
Kildare steamrolling through games at present. They showed mercy to Leitrim in the second half. It could easily have been 15 points more a beating. Be great if Laois were to stop them in their tracks next day out.
After our below par performance Against Offaly it was great to get 2 wins in the last 2 weeks full credit to our management team and players against Sligo we came with a plan and got some lovely scores all the lads worked their socks off and put in a great shift, so over to Newbridge this Saturday evening against a strong Kildare team in front of a big vocal crowd should be a great test for our team if we can pick up one more win in our remaining games we should be safe in div.3 for another season.
Really there was some scintillating football played against Sligo especially in the first 30 minutes, lads seemed to coming out of all angles to produce a score. Excellent movement and shooting, was great to see.
We kept them at bay then in the second half with Josh Hogan impressing - setting up a score and getting one of his own.
So the bitter rivals Kildare this Saturday evening. All we can ask for is another good team performance to follow on from last Sunday and see where it takes us. Hopefully we can a bring a bit up support to this derby. Should be a good occasion. They'll be out for revenge after our marvellous win last June.
sintillating begod.
Anyone at the Kildare match? Was it as bad as the scoreline suggests?
it was poor really poor, perfect setting , huge crowd and then a complete non event of a game. no niggle or anything to get things going. I was hoping we would put in a performance but Kildare were miles ahead of us in terms of fitness, size and pace. they really bullied us especially in the forwards and kick outs in the first half were like kicking a ball against a wall. the game was over quickly after their very fast start and just petered out, you could say harshly it was played in relevant silence and the crowd drifted off before the end. we ran the bench with not much improvement. probably a bleak summary but Kildare are organised this year and are probably too strong for this division and for us in our current state with so many players unavailable. they have big games coming up against Clare and Offaly which probably will decide the division and give them a better idea where they are at but Flanagan has them going well. they do foul a bit but more cutely further up the field and did kick a lot of scoreable chances wide,(thankfully).
On the team itself, they blitzed us early enough with a fast start, the defence were under massive pressure. They scored with a minute of the start with a very Dublin like back door cut, something they repeated in the first minute of the second half and looked for it on numerous times during the game. in fairness we turned them over a few times in contact in defence but had no out ball and ended playing some hairy hand passing movements at times. Simon Fingelton's interventions saved us from a few goals but we just seemed to be very passive at times when they were shooting.
the kick outs were a massive problem, it was either Damon or nobody, they physically dominated us in this area. hopefully we wont meet someone again as big as Feely but high hanging kick outs into a wind were clearly to their advantage . it was noticeable that there half backs , Hyland in particular purposely ran ahead of the kick out into our half before it reached centre field assuming they were going to break it back into that area. we went short on a few but many were near the side line with the arc and left our defenders in a trap situation and easily pressed. one to Swayne didn't get outside the arc and ended with a handy free for them. the forwards unfortunately couldn't get separation from their defenders who were very tight. a mixture of lack of pace and physicality at times. Mark Barry in particular was marshalled well legally or otherwise and had one of his quieter games. Brian Byrne did a portion of time at full forward for reasons I still don't understand as we gained nothing from it.
I still think we need another win or even a draw to be safe, the injuries to benny Carroll and James Kelly will weaken a light enough panel if they are for a long period of time. A lot for the management to ponder but I don't think we will meet a team as strong as Kildare in the remaining fixtures.
A grand evening for a game, great crowd, fine pitch but we were no match for Kildare.
It could have been even worse - Kildare were denied 3 goals - good defence and the crossbar.
With the wind in the 2nd half Laois should have went for 2-pointers as often as possible to cut the gap.
Having said that I'm not a fan of some of the new rules especially the 40m arc and the 2-pointers.
It has radically changed the shape of the game - so much of the play is back and forth outside the arc.
And the goalkeepers should be put back in their box so that man to man marking is possible.
Antrim are visitors next Saturday - we drew on their last visit in 2022 when Laois relegated to Division 4.
Watching Laois v Flourbags last night it was like men against boys and the criminal neglect of underage in Laois this past 20 years results like this will be commonplace Kildare and Offaly have a proper underage structure in place and they are disappearing in the distance we are in a group with Carlow Wicklow and Longford and Wexford and unless some plan is put in place for the underage players this is where we will stay cannot blame players or management for last night's disaster they are doing there best
Yes, it did look like men against boys last night but there were positives to take from it.
And remember we did not have experienced heads to match the like of Kevin Feely etc.
Kildare are a level above us at the moment but we should not despair. It would have been easy for lads to drop the heads but the lads kept plugging away – evidence of good management.
We've got a good picture of where we are over the last 2 games. Where we were mobile and able to control possession against Sligo it was the opposite against Kildare. Next week we have Antrim and a more level playing field.
If I recall correctly our Under-20s have acquitted themselves well in the last few years against strong Kildare and Meath opposition. With a bit of luck last year they would have beaten Meath. We should be capable of getting enough points in our remaining games against Antrim, Clare and Fermanagh to retain Division 3 status. Given the personnel changeover that would be a step in the right direction.
lads still bit raw, not kildare we meassure against yet. last 3 games are the ones. injureies a worry. wake on forwards.
there's not alot you can do when you can't get your best player's in the county to play. the lads are doing there best.
It was a tough evening in Newbridge last Saturday evening in front of an attendance of 7000. Kildare were sharp and pacy and they smothered our kickouts. We had a number of wides early on so we never got any momentum going.
All is not lost though. We have a real chance to bounce back against Antrim next Saturday which would put us back in the hunt for promotion. Kildare appear to be too strong for this division having hammered Fermanagh by 15 points in the opening round in Newbridge. 2nd place is all to play for though, Fermanagh beat Offaly at the weekend.
If we can produce the display that was seen v Sligo, we should grab the two points v Antrim.
who are dese best lads in hte ocunty dat arent playing
dont be worrying bout promotoin, we're better in d3 for now
Our underage is doing as well as can be expected. Things have progressed and now all counties have excellent structures in place at underage level. With that being the case the bigger counties population wise will have the advantage and that is bearing true with Meath, Dublin and Kildare hoovering up the majority of underage (U20 and minor) titles. However, that isn't to say that we cannot compete and when a particularly strong group come through together, Laois can still challenge for a Leinster title at minor or U20. We have no right to be ahead of the likes of Wexford, Westmeath etc. as that is a slight on the work being done at underage level in those counties.
As for Saturday night, with the new rules, the importance of having ball winners around the middle was most evident. Kildare dominated this sector and it gave them the platform to drive onto an easy victory. Unfortunately, I do not see any quick fix as we simply do not have that type of ball-winning player to come in around the middle. Thankfully, Antrim won't have the same weapons at their disposal as Kildare and we should be able to break more 50/50 around the middle. Expect a bounce back from Laois next day out.
Well no wonder hurling and Football is at such a low ebb if the last post is anything to go by we will never solve a problem if we refuse to admit it exist looking at all the school results most of the Laois schools play in c and d competition our 2 biggest towns are a wasteland as regards Gaa can't for the life of me remember Mountmellick in a minor final Portlaoise won minor footballfinal last year after many years and many year since the have won minor hurling as regards population Offaly have won both minor and under 20 hurling and Football within last 5 years because the got there under age structure right
From LaoisToday:
"The boys are all hurting, they're hugely disappointed. It's never nice to get a thrashing, it's still a thrashing by your neighbours and your rivals killed there and we know, the team knows, they didn't do themselves justice tonight and now the job is right to find out for next week."
Justin calls a spade a spade. Hopefully we get back on track against Antrim - they will be travel down with confidence.
Justin is certainly maximising all he can with this Laois team and at the same time putting pathways in place to develop the players who are willing to dedicate themselves to this Laois set up. Josh Hogan must have felt 9 foot tall after the Antrim game. McNulty praised his efforts and talked about how he can progress further as a footballer. Inspiring leadership and management by McNulty. When Billy berated players from the sideline when frustrated, McNulty encourages them to stick to the progresses and structures put in place and the players are responding to that. Who would have thought after the debacle of 2023 that Laois would be where they are 18 months on. We have a limited squad, lacking in real star quality which many fancied to go back down with Leitrim. We are already safe with two games to go and even have an outside chance of promotion. Would be a set of very favourable results but it is not beyond the realms of possibility.
Quote from: Blueforever on February 25, 2025, 02:45:42 PMWell no wonder hurling and Football is at such a low ebb if the last post is anything to go by we will never solve a problem if we refuse to admit it exist looking at all the school results most of the Laois schools play in c and d competition our 2 biggest towns are a wasteland as regards Gaa can't for the life of me remember Mountmellick in a minor final Portlaoise won minor footballfinal last year after many years and many year since the have won minor hurling as regards population Offaly have won both minor and under 20 hurling and Football within last 5 years because the got there under age structure right
That is a different thing to what I referred to. Our u20 and minor county teams are being funded and have a good team of people (most years) involved in the running and management of these teams. It is evident that there are huge issues with regarding to maximising and improving playing numbers and standards at udnerage level. Portlaoise is glaring and has been spoken to death on this forum over the years. Plenty of clubs need the benefit of good Gaelic development officers who can help and assist clubs to further improve coaching and getting the numbers into the club and staying interested in playing the game.
mcentee like billy, spent hole game abusin ref offishials n anyone whod listen or luk at him. a real pig of a man. another poacher. these fellas must hate the new rules. justin is a gent. never mouths, never abuses. a real steely man but a great man to have in de camp. trusts the players. we're in good place with him. trust the kids.
Quote from: Laois Rising on March 03, 2025, 12:02:41 PMQuote from: Blueforever on February 25, 2025, 02:45:42 PMWell no wonder hurling and Football is at such a low ebb if the last post is anything to go by we will never solve a problem if we refuse to admit it exist looking at all the school results most of the Laois schools play in c and d competition our 2 biggest towns are a wasteland as regards Gaa can't for the life of me remember Mountmellick in a minor final Portlaoise won minor footballfinal last year after many years and many year since the have won minor hurling as regards population Offaly have won both minor and under 20 hurling and Football within last 5 years because the got there under age structure right
That is a different thing to what I referred to. Our u20 and minor county teams are being funded and have a good team of people (most years) involved in the running and management of these teams. It is evident that there are huge issues with regarding to maximising and improving playing numbers and standards at udnerage level. Portlaoise is glaring and has been spoken to death on this forum over the years. Plenty of clubs need the benefit of good Gaelic development officers who can help and assist clubs to further improve coaching and getting the numbers into the club and staying interested in playing the game.
Are the U20 teams receiving extra funding?
Now that the pressure is off and we are safe in div.3 for another year hope the players put in a good performance tomorrow against a good Clare team I expect Clare to be in the munster football final so a win over them would put us in a nice position going into our final game against Fermanagh and set us up for a run in the Tailteann Cup.
16 clare men on the pitch with Killian Roche between the posts for Laois ;D
Expect Laois to win this well as Clare have poor away record and lost both away games.
A decent performance against Clare but they caught us in the end for a deserved win. Our midfield of Damon Larkin and Conor Heffernan were excellent. There was some fine team play especially in the first half.
Promotion is gone but we have done well to be safe in the division after 5 games. The 3 teams that have beaten us namely Offaly, Kildare and Clare are in the promotion race this weekend for the final games.
We have a chance to push on now for both the Leinster campaign and more than likely the Tailteann cup.
We are away to Wexford in 3 weeks which should be a great game and can have a crack off Louth if we advance past Wexford.
We look set then to be seed 2 for the Tailteann groups. We are well capable of getting to a quarter final at least and it would be nice if we can get to the semi finals for the 3rd year in a row with live TV action and a bit of buzz around the county.
Plenty of action ahead, looking forward to it.
another game not closed out. weve seen this before. needs workin on before we go to wexford.
Well done to the Seniors tonight. Nice to see us finishing the job after struggling somewhat in the latter parts of the league.
Nothing to fear against Louth .
Well done Laois. By far the better team. Definitely coached well. Wexford are really poor so I'm not really sure where we are compared to Louth. We need someone in the full forward line. There's no option in there for a long quick ball. Other than frees I'd keep our goalkeeper in goals. He's not good enough now it's man to man. He also let in one very soft goal.
Louth are beatable but we won't get it as easy as last night.
Louth have established themselves as a very solid division 2 side. We showed ourselves to be competitive against Fermanagh and Clare in the latter stages of the league and the win on Saturday was a continuation of that form. Realistically, Louth are a good bit further down the road to this Laois team. We have a sporting chance but it would still be a surprise if we were to beat them the next day out. No better manager than McNulty though to find a way to restrict Tommy Durnin's influence around the middle and put a defensive shape in place that will stop Ryan Burns scoring heavily. If achieve both of those tasks then we have a fighting chance.
Impressive win for Laois against Wexford. Lads showed great hunger from the start with various scorers (10 in total). Ronan Coffey on his championship debut really stepped up with some sublime scores, Pa Kirwan was excellent throughout, the 2 goals were well taken.
Great energy from the team, reminded me of the first half against both Sligo and Clare. If we can produce this type of performance for the whole game v Louth, we have a chance.
It is a massive ask though, Louth will be formidable opponents. They beat Meath in their last game of division 2 and ran Dublin to 4 points in last year's Leinster final.
Hopefully there will be a decent support for Laois on Sunday, it is a great test to see where we are at.
The sun is out and the championship is here, can't beat it. I think laois are in a good place and will not fear Louth one bit. Obviously Louth will be rightly favourites given they would be on a similar level to Kildare so we will be up against it but our lads are developing nicely.
More than once form has gone out the window when Laois and Louth meet.
In 1992 we beat Meath in Navan but were sickened by Louth in Croker.
In 2013 Louth hammered us by 10 points in Portlaoise.
We owe them one. Hoping we can pull off a Wee surprise today.
Louth 2-16 0-17 Laois
Listened to it on Midlands 103 site, sounded like a decent game and that Laois gave a good account of themselves, Louths second goal coming right at the the end to seal their win. Anyone at it?
Could have had a couple of goals in first half - they missed one also. Sloppy play led to their penalty early 2nd half. Twice they stretched their lead and Laois pulled it back. Turnovers in attack cost us plus the black card.
Louth were rattled at times - Laois were the better team for long periods.
Hugely impressed with Kevin Swayne's display - top class.
Went toe to toe with Louth for long periods of that game. The penalty at the start of the second half was killer. So avoidable and soft. Laois are definitely on an upwards trajectory and I can see them improving as they progress through Tailteann Cup. No one in that competition for Laois to fear. A Joe McDonagh/Tailteann Cup double is not beyond the realms of possibility.
That's a few games now we're in a winning position with 10 min to go but lost out in the end I think it's the physicality and strength of the other teams are a bit to much for us at the moment,but coming out of Newbridge all the players they gave us hope for the future they tried there best that's all one can hope for. Hope o'carroll, dunne,and lowry,come back to the panel they would add strength and maybe break through that defensive line that we are having a problem with,
fierce performance n no little pride. Abe proud o them lads. Lackin bitta bench but can only work wit lads we have. missed opportunity but lots ta build on. fingletan massive loss goin forward doh.
I was surprised with the performance and fair play to the team for running Louth so close. The signs are there that we can compete at a higher level than our league position shows.
Hopefully we can go on a similar run in the Tailteann Cup to last year.
Great effort.
It was there for the taken but we just don't have the forwards clinical enough to win games like that. Having said that, I thought we had a chance when they got the black card at the end. We were lucky they were missing key players. I don't think we would be good enough to beat Kildare unfortunately.
It was an exceptional performance against Louth. Despite the defeat, it was the best performance of the year so far. One to be proud of.
After settling in to the game and going 5-2 down, we really were on song to turn it into a 9-7 lead coming up to halftime. Damon Larkin was bossing midfield, Kevin Swayne was making darting runs through the centre, numerous forwards were delivering. Brian Byrne was unlucky with his goal chance near half time.
We never gave in during the second half and kept coming back when Louth built up a lead. The result was in doubt until they got their second goal. Overall our defense did well with tigerish efforts throughout.
Laois are really performing as a team and morale should be good leading up to the Tailteann Cup. It should be a really competitive competition this year with ourselves, Offaly, Westmeath, Sligo, Antrim, probably Fermanagh and possibly Cork and Kildare in it.
Round 1 of Tailteann Cup in 2 week's time, 10-11 May.
Have Laois been back in training ?
Any changes to the panel ? Would be good to see the likes of Rioghan Murphy and others available.
Just looking at the Louth victory Kildare, when you take our performance against Louth where we ran them very close, that would not have carried through to playing Kildare had we got over the line.
I would have had no confidence going up against Kildare and they would likely have beaten us handy, especially in O'Connor Park which has been a bit of a graveyard for Laois in recent times.
Yet against Louth we gave a good account of ourselves. How do you explain that? Mentality?
I would have been of the same mind - Laois were not ready for Kildare who really left it behind yesterday.
The fact that Louth had Durnin, Lennon and Mulroy on for the full game made the difference.
From 2009 onwards Kildare have have whipped us in Leinster with exception of the drawn game in 2015.
We had enough talent available in those games to give a better account of ourselves so mentality definitely a factor.
Hopefully we might get a good run in the Tailteann and Justin McNulty sticks around.
This team is developing and with some new/old faces does have the potential to push for promotion next year.
Quote from: redsetanta on April 28, 2025, 04:15:00 PMJust looking at the Louth victory Kildare, when you take our performance against Louth where we ran them very close, that would not have carried through to playing Kildare had we got over the line.
I would have had no confidence going up against Kildare and they would likely have beaten us handy, especially in O'Connor Park which has been a bit of a graveyard for Laois in recent times.
Yet against Louth we gave a good account of ourselves. How do you explain that? Mentality?
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i think louth had a good few players back yesterday that didn't play in newbridge. hope they win it out now.
Home to Waterford .
Away to Wicklow .
Looks like Newbridge for Offaly.
A few injuries and departures I hear .
Who is gone Les? Nice group for Laois, no reason not to be targeting finishing top, be great (but difficult) to beat Offaly
fingalton out long term wit shoulder in shite. Massive loss
Well done Louth on finally winning Leinster. We are not that far behind them and that result should give us plenty of confidence for the Tailtean Cup and the following year in the league.
The progress Louth have made shows us that having the right people in charge and a dedicated squad can go a long way to achiving sucess. They are now like we were in 2003, wining Leinster and some great underage talent coming through. Where oh where did it all go wrong for us. We did it before and we can do it again if the desire is there....
Maybe this could have its own topic. Great to see Louth win, with Dublin in transition and not dominating at underage, Leinster could be interesting over the next number of year. Louth senior and u20 champions and minors could make it a clean sweep. Anyone in the know what they did to get their house in order? Remarkable when you think their 2 biggest towns are predominantly soccer towns too. Just shows hard work, the right structures and right people in places and you'll make progress.
Good win for Laois against Waterford, bigger tests to come but Tailteann cup all about momentum
Peter Fitzpatrick as county chairman must help. Ex manager and player.
Bad loss to Wicklow by the sounds of it, Wicklow missed some good goal chances to make matters worse. Need to dust themselves off for a must win game against the Biffos.
Just looking at the Round robin table, Laois are in bad shaped regards to score difference. Given I expect Wicklow to beat Waterford, if Laois do win then Offaly, Laois and Wicklow would all be on 4 points. Does it come down to head to head results if that is the case or does score difference come into it?
Preliminary quarter-finals (4 matches): The second-placed teams from the group stage play the 3 best third-placed teams from the group stage and New York. Teams who met in the provincial finals are kept apart in separate preliminary quarter-finals. Four teams are eliminated at this stage while the winners advance to the quarter-finals.
At worst Laois will finish 3rd in Group 2. The 3rd placed team in Group 3, Antrim or London, are likely to be replaced by New York in the preliminary quarter-finals.
Wicklow fully deserved their win last Saturday. We badly missed Mark Barry and Simon Fingleton in defence. Pa Kirwan only came on in the 2nd half.
We return to Newbridge on May 31 for tbe derby with Offaly. The team has a chance to obtain a much better performance and see where it takes us.
Hopefully we can resemble the performance that occured against Louth and that can set us up for the knockout stages of the Tailteann.
Any news on the likes of Mark Barry and Padraig Kirwans injuries or if they'll be in from the start against the BIFOS.
If Barry is unavailable would be good to get a look at Cian Ryle as I saw him on the bench the other day. Might be worth a few minutes.
If there is truth in young Hosey from Emo being in there training he would be worth a run from the bench also. A fine player with his club when fully fit.
Quote from: Karate kid on May 29, 2025, 02:51:54 PMAny news on the likes of Mark Barry and Padraig Kirwans injuries or if they'll be in from the start against the BIFOS.
If Barry is unavailable would be good to get a look at Cian Ryle as I saw him on the bench the other day. Might be worth a few minutes.
If there is truth in young Hosey from Emo being in there training he would be worth a run from the bench also. A fine player with his club when fully fit.
Cian ryle seems like a good up and coming player from Kilcavan who while were on the subject might cause an upset in the intermediate championship. Cian Ryle is well able to score and might be worth giving him a chance.
Didn't hear anything about hosey myself so unsure.
Does the match have to be in a neutral venue i presume when it's in Kildare
Ryle not in the 26 this week, he is a fine footballer on a steep learning curve but the step up from intermediate to senior inter county is significant in fairness and will take him time to develop. Defintely one for the future. Also its good to see management looking at the younger players around the county and not just focused on senior level though.
Huge game against our noisy neighbours today and they will need to be at their very best to beat the Biffos. I expect a reaction after the Wicklow game so fingers crossed the lads can get the job done.
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Well done to Justin and his squad this evening - never easy to get a win over The Faithful County.
As a Laois supporter unable to make the trip and following on LaoisToday it was a great tonic.
We may have only finished 3rd on score difference but the result was a huge boost.
Fantastic win that will be a great boost to the team, a game like that is worth more than any amount of training sessions. It sounded great on radio, but not to worry as RTE gave it their full attention with just over a minute of coverage on their highlights show. One thing it did show was the fantastic 2nd goal by Larkin and a super penalty at the death from Barry into the top corner.
Laois finish 3rd in the group with 4 points so are through to preliminary quarter finals (draw is on today at 6:15). The 3 best 3rd place teams and New York will be drawn to play one of the 2nd place teams at their home venues next week. Does anyone know if you cannot be drawn against someone in your own group i.e Offaly?
Teams that could finish in 2nd place are: Kildare/Sligo, Offaly, Westmeath, Wexford/Carlow/Fermanagh.
Preliminary Quarter-Finals
Offaly v New York
Sligo v Carlow
Wexford v Antrim
Westmeath v Laois
The winners will face one of Kildare, Wicklow, Fermanagh or Limerick in quarter finals proper.
5pm Saturday in Mullingar. Hope we bring a decent following. The lads deserve it . There's a nice squad of players coming together.
Tough draw particularly away from home. Westmeath would be up with the favourites for it. It will take a serious performance to get past them.
After their disappointing performance against Wicklow, it was great to get a win in Newbridge against Offaly in a very enjoyable game, so it's on to Cusack Park this sat evening against a strong Westmeath side who have been very unlucky in all their games in league div.2 losing only by a point or two against strong teams, I would be worried about our midfield and our backs Wicklow and Offaly broke our lines to easy at times and picked off some easy scores who will man mark Luke Loughlin who is putting up great scores this year,this game will tell us a lot about our players a win would be a great result
Fantastic to get the win v Offaly and finish the group on a high. A first competitive win since 2019 against them.
Damon Larkin, Paddy O'Sullivan and Brian Byrne were outstanding performers with Michael Doran doing very well when he came on for the second half.
The team showed a never say die attitude with some exellent scores and fine defending at times.
Westmeath will be a tough nut on Saturday away. They were competitive throughout division 2 and ran Kildare very close in Leinster.
Ray Connellan and of course Luke Loughlin are key players for them. Luke Loughlin has been on fire for them all season and will take some stopping.
With knock out ball on Saturday, hopefully we can bring a decent following to this crunch tie in Mullingar.
A huge game indeed, Westmeath are clear favourites understandably given the level they have been playing at this season. They are not unbeatable obviously, despite good performances in Div 2 and against Kildare in Leinster at the end of the day (barring the Tailteann Cup games) they have played 8 games, drew one and lost the other 7.
It will be a proper championship game, Laois will have learned an awful lot about themselves against Offaly so will be full of confidence but they will have to be at their very best this weekend.
Hopefully the lads can get the job done.
Team named, best of luck to all involved, hopefully we can upset the odds.
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Listening on Midlands 103 and it sounds a bit like men v boys in the first half. 2-12 v 0-7, Sam McCartan is doing a lot of damage. The goal right after the hooter was blown a real body blow. Westmeath did have the wind so maybe if Laois can push up and get a few early 2 pointers they could get back into it.
Update: Scrap that, they are being obliterated, sad to see it. A horrible way for the footballers to end the season.
All eyes on the hurling this weekend so this will go under the radar but a bitterly disappointing end to the year. Hard to believe it was the same 15 lads out there as last weekend.
Overall in a year with a lot missing probably a pat season for us. Hopefully McNulty will stick around and has a fuller panel to choose from and push for a promotion and at least another Tailteann final.
There is definitely a gap to be closed on the Westmeaths of this world but with some of the lads from last year back, a couple new young lads and a return of everyone from this years panel I don't think that can't be achieved in the next 12 months.
that was tough watch yesterday, while we probably never looked like winning at least for the majority of the first half we had somehow stayed in the game and got a bit of luck when they hit the crossbar. the burst they made just before half time killed off any notion that we had a chance and it was further emphasised by the complete collapse just after half time. the warning signs were probably there in the first half as the their pace and movement were causing us all sorts of problems especially in tracking their runners. Their half back line which ended up scoring 1-14 from play just had too much speed and power for the multitude of players we deployed on them. it was probably not helped by a number of factors, the passiveness of our defending (we allowed them on the inside shoulder so many times), a number of our players getting caught repeatedly flat footed or allowing the runner to go onto their strong foot for a shot time and time again and clearly at least two players carrying injuries.
I don't know whether Westmeath copped this lack of mobility but they "hammered the hammer" and ploughed up the wings, especially the terrace side in both halves where they seemed to have oceans of space. In that regard I thought the management made some obvious mistakes, not man marking McCartan in the first half when he was handling so much ball and scoring at will and secondly not rectifying a positional change after half time which lead to the half back scoring 1-3 from play. the player was physically not able to stay with the pace of the Westmeath back. The score line could have been so much worse with the six point turn around goal at the end and the wing back fisting the ball over the bar when it was easier to score. Both teams then emptied the bench and the game played out as a challenge match with Westmeath recording one of their biggest wins ever against us.
So where do we go now, hopefully there will be a reflection on the year, the underage is not actually promising and there doesn't appear to be a lot of players at club level with their hands up for inclusion. Mcnulty has done a good job with all the players not available and the weakness of the panel. he has managed it well but a lot of it is round pegs in square holes and when it goes wrong or we come up against a small bit of quality like yesterday and the kildare match we are in serious bother. He has put a big effort in and i wouldn't be surprised to see him go.
In fairness McNulty sounds like he is willing to stay.
https://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/gaa/1820845/it-d-be-very-hard-to-walk-away-after-a-defeat-like-that-laois-senior-football-manager-justin-mcnulty.html (https://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/gaa/1820845/it-d-be-very-hard-to-walk-away-after-a-defeat-like-that-laois-senior-football-manager-justin-mcnulty.html)
A very bad year all round for Laois footballers, some horrible beatings in particular the defeats to Westmeath at senior and Kildare and Westmeath at U-20 level. Not good at all.
That was a hard watch yesterday. Wasn't helped by today's result in the Joe Mc final.
We really need all the best players in the county on our senior squad otherwise we we will always be struggling.
Steep learning curve for some of the lads playing their first year of senior inter-county but hopefully we'll get a few bodies back next year.
Fingleton, O'Carroll, Fitzpatrick and Greene all injured was very unlucky.
A couple of lads who were abroad might be back.
Thought Coffey had a good first year. Would love to see a few more of his clubmates involved.
Another sobering evening in Mullingar to be hammered by probably the fifth best team in a weak province like Leinster is alarming the complete lack of investment in underage structures in the county is criminal how you can persuade young fellows to give up there leisure time for these kind of shitshows I don't know and with the disaster of the under 20 on top of this gaa in the county is bleak we are probably on level with Longford at the moment even Carlow hasnpassed us out
In overall terms (senior, 20s, minor) in Leinster football, we are a million miles behind Dublin, Kildare and Meath. We are a long way back from Westmeath, Louth and Offaly.
We're down scrapping with the other 4 counties. Wicklow, Carlow, Wexford and Longford.
It's depressing stuff.
The county needs a "director of football" badly. Someone who knows what needs to be done at all levels to get the structures right.
Who the team managers are (McNulty, Kelly, Larkin) is largely irrelevant. We need to start producing a better standard of player through our club system.