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Lads just picked that team to stirr debate plus picked team knowing that lads are college tied and won't play for Laois in Walsh cup.

 This is not the team but would will make a guess: Rowland, stapleton, mullaney, carroll (abbeyleix), bergin, ciaran mcevoy , paddy whelan, stapleton, P Purcell, picky, J campion, L O connell, king, scully, w. Dunphy

 Lads any news on the panel? Hopefully Sean Moore is involved, I'm expecting big things from this guy>

Yeh I'm aware of it but I think they only "coach" in schools , the full time coach would ontop of recruiting players would train mentors and run courses !!

Yeh three clubs going together would be the Ideal scenario, given that a coaches wages are approx €30,000 it would body the three clubs 15,000 about €5,000 each club, but factor in extra membership they would generate plus a well organised club summer camp it would actually cost the club very little. The benefits are obvious !!

It doesn't take that much money to hire a GAA coach , maybe cuala and Castleknock are bad examples but ballymun have a coach and St perigrenes in hartstown have one in an area where soccer is king and money are not plentiful , if they can do any club can do it. One thing that frustrates me about Laois Gaa in general is the excuses , "oh we can't do this " , it's the can do attitude that has different counties and clubs succesfull!

On the Portarlington boys numbers , the boys school is in county Offaly and the school figures quote are for schools in Laois that end got boys after senior infants.

Very interesting discussion, here is my worth! I'm a primary school teacher outside Laois and to say that any teacher would refuse a GAA club coming in is plainly wrong, yes you'll get exceptions but most will take in an outside coach. There is also a direction link between coaches coming into schools and recruitment into clubs ! To say otherwise shows a complete lack of understanding of how to run a modern Gaa club and maybe it's the reason why clubs are struggling if that's what officers in the clubs are thinking. Take dublin for example, two clubs Castleknock and cuala both very successful now abd with large memberships, both were in non traditional areas however with full time coaches going into local schools they built up large juvenile sections and hence why they are successful, there's no reason why "urban" clubs/town in Laois cannot do the same such as mountrath, Mountmellick , durrow cannot do the same. The era of expecting kids just to turn up is long gone, you need to be willing to fight to get them to join your club.

Hard to know who will get it. In a dream world Anthony Daly!! What about someone like Conor Gleeson from Tipp?

A big effort is needed next year with our underage. I wonder from the original Setanta Coaches that brought through, Cha Dwyer, PJ scully , and the likes of Joe Campion are they still involved in the Setanta Programme?. Has it changed that much that we are not bringing through skillful hurlers??

Whats the story with our development squads? Are we just fulfilling fixture or is there actually coaching going on?

Apart from Mountrath is there much work as in proper coaching going on in the other schools?

Ah lads, I know he isn't "high profile" but give the man a chance!! At least he has intercounty experience and has been working with players at a similar level to Laois. He should be a big improvement on lillis!

Having followed Laois for the past 30 odd years I have come to the conclusion that it is the "culture" at adult level that is preventing us from achieving at the highest level. We always go on about underage (recently the lack off!) as been the be all and end off, however if the culture and set up at senior level isn't right it doesn't matter if we win ten all- Ireland's or none! Id rather be winning as this is a good habit but we shouldn't despair if we aren't. I'd like to see standards raised from 18-24 rather than look at a minor year in isolation.  If we are honest only for Micko the "Golden Generation" of Laois footballers would have been lost. Looking at it at a more deeper level (Why Micko was a success and others not) and ask yourself why was this ? I have come to the conclusion that he brought a "Professional Culture" to the plate  1) Fitness levels increased 2) Best Players played 3) He developed and improved players 4) Gave players belief and 5) he united the county.

People seem to think that it was easy for Micko to do this on the back of three All-Ireland minor appearances however I believe that he would have done the same thing with the Laois teams of 1991-1997 that didn't have any minor success and I would argue that the 1990s team was actually more skillful and physically stronger team than the one that won Leinster.

McNulty tried to impose a "Culture" and was relatively successful.

So that the point I am making is that its not all doom and gloom.We are producing players of a decent standard however our Culture post minor is weak, what I mean with culture is that there is an ambition among players and teams to improve their skill and fitness levels post minor. I get the impression that some seem to think what once they get past minor all they have to do is keep somewhat fit and hey presto they can play football. The adult structures in laois and the attitude towards the league doesnt help. Take Sean Moore in Ballyfin, his club pulls out of league and only plays championship matches, prob only gets 3/4 matches this year. How is he supposed to develop as a footballer physically and mentally?

What annoys me is the arguments that are consistently put forward such as 1) Population 2) Money and 3) Lack of full time coaches 4) small county we should know our place in the GAA world  as barriers to success. Yes the first three would help the cause however rather than feeling sorry for ourselves we should be a little more proactive which wouldn't cost any money such as

1) More Juvenille and Adult games throughout the year. Make the league as important as championship 12/14 games min for every club.

2) Designated Nights for different age groups eg u8 + U12 Hurling/football monday nights (Ever second week)
                                                                              u10-U14  Hurling/football Thursday nights
County Development Night (Wednesdays)

3) Up skill all club coaches and make clubs implement a development plan  more training courses get in guest coaches.

4) Do what Kildare have done and enter a team in Leinster junior championship as a developmental under 23 team.

None of the above need full time coaches or money but organisation.  Its not exactly rocket science but we in Laois seem to think it is.

I agree Evan O Carroll deserved that second yellow. It was a lack of discipline. In fairness its the first time I have seen him lash out like that. As the league is now over and I have been to six out of the seven games,

A few things clearly stand out:

1) Warm ups in early rounds were poor. 10 v 10 possession games at least sunday was an improvement.

2) The Galway and Fermanagh games cost us in the end and them games should have been treated like an All-Ireland final. if we had off showed the same passion and hunger as we did in first twenty mins against meath we would have stayed up. Team selection cost us against Galway. Preperation against Fermanagh. I'm still so angry how the county board insisted on traveling up on the morning of such an important game. Kerry even stay in Cork the night before league games in Cork!! The same thing was repeated for the Cavan Game.

3) County board need to up their game and treat the players as elite intercounty players not as an inconvience.  My examples of not staying in Cavan and fermanagh are shocking but seeing players yesterday in a filling station buying drinks (Minerals and sandwiches ) twenty mins after the game doesnt give the impression that they are well looked after. I was under the impression that all teams would get a meal after training. In Micko's time that was in a hotel. I saw Derry, Tyrone  and Armagh  all using tracking devises on players thats the level they are at.
Even the panal were not all in the same gear. I dont know the panel but would love to talk to Ross Munnelly about the differences in set up and county board attitude between now and 2003 or even the set up under mcnulty! Id say you could write a book about the differences.

4) "The Supporters"- Its official we have the worst support in the county. Yesterday the Laois crowd was a joke. Outnumbered for such an important game. We are well able to get 3-4000 people at county finals should be the same for yesterday. Again back to 03-06 20,000+ at leinster finals!! cant even get 10% of that now. We can blame the set up for the apthy but its been like this since the 2009 leinster semi against Kildare. Even when we won promotion to Division one in 2011 there was no buzz around the team only doom and gloom with the supporters about style. Campare that to the Joy in Cavan or Roscommon with their promotions. In 2012 we must have brought only 1,000 to the All-Ireland 1/4 against Dublin a record low.

5) Management- Dissapointed is an understatement- Before the league I expected a passionate laois man would inspire the panel during the league. I had high hopes due to his record in Kildare and Carlow and even with Laois minors last year. Glad he got players to play but we need to bring in a defence coach and even a strength and conditioning coach.


Ps. What was the story with Begley, cotter and seale not playing. Injured?

Well said stad! about time someone on this site started talking sense!!!  I have always said it, We were too quick to let McNulty go. It was people not going to games that wanted him gone. Anyone who knew anything about football knew he was getting the best out of what he had. An 1/4 final and a defeat to donegal wasnt bad. Kicking football into late July early august is alot better than going out in early june to Antrim!!

There should be no excuses in this county about training facilities; Dont we have Heywood? I know the hurlers use it but why cant the footballers do the same? if not isnt there a field in clonad that was used for county hurling training with state of art lights?

Look I realise that money is an issue in Laois however I think that the officers in charge of Laois GAA are been lazy in their fundraising efforts: Why not set up a senior football training fund like there was in Micko's time and raise money for the panel. Why not be ambitious and set a target of 100k. This money would be used for trips away like last sunday and quality meals after training/games as per micko's time.

Here's my suggestion on how this money could be raised.

Target 1,000 to pay €100 (This could be done by targeting Laois people living outside laois!)

or through business both inside and outside of laois that have Laois connections.

eg big business tesco/hotels/car dealerships etc  20 x 1,000 = 20,000

smaller business putting in €100 per business. Business's could be rewarded with complimentary tickets to home games and tickets to championship matches.

Link in with the Laois association in Dublin and hold a corporate lunch. There are lots of Laois people in business who have pride in the county that would help out!

Its only a couple of suggestions , All it needs is someone to take the bull by the hands and drive it forward. We could spend the next year feeling sorry for ourselves or we could get off our arses and do something about the lack of money available to the team.

Second thing I notice was that boscos catering was there! Was the team fed out of a van or did they get properly fed in a hotel? I taught in this day and age that hotel meals and over night stays are a given! Obviously I was wrong. These may be small things to some but im sure any serious county would not tolerate that set up. I'm not blaming management but county board might need to take a look at how it spends 600k on Laois teams each year!!

Next up Derry! It will be interested to see the reaction. Can't understand why Dillion didn't start , he did ok when came on. Gary Walsh didn't play at all, injured?