Messages

Let's face it, it's not a good look. I was surprised that he was open to the idea in the first place. Surely he saw the backlash coming against his party? Against himself? Against Stormont?

Sure it's just two hours up the road. If it was a player who was studying in Galway he'd be expected to go training every night too. Finish work at 5, in coe for 7:15 training at 7:30 back in car for 9 and back to Belfast for 11:30ish. Now obviously that's a very rough and optimistic timing but it's doable whilst maintaining his job.

A Senior InterCounty manager arriving to training 15 minutes before training & leaving again immediately afterwards.
Jaysus.

Judging on that Game it could not justify automatic promotion for the likes of Ballyfin to a 10 Tier Senior Competition as there would be no improvement to the overall standard which should be priority. Some changes needed though to make games more exciting & that competitive edge in Games / Teams before Semi-Finals stages. 

Agreed.
I think a small change of reverting back to the previous system of open draw winners section & loser section would be a help in this regard.
A draw after every round.
Nobody looking ahead to rounds 2 and 3 with easy wins/big beatings likely to come.
I cannot understand how so many felt dead rubber group games would be better than that.

Camross could struggle to beat Naas, Naas are an athletic enough side as well as hurling improving massively, Camross will be focused though after seen what Naas did to Shinrone last year id imagine and an early start against Ballyhale too they were 6 up after 10 minutes until Ballyhales class kicked in

I'd expect Naas to win.
As someone else mentioned- hugely athletic & good hurlers.
Camross get into the heads of opponents in Laois- this doesn't seem to transfer outside the county, and 5 in a row county champions unlikely to fall into that trap.

New Senior Management Team confirmed , what's the thoughts on this ?

Has the appearance of adding a few mates. You'd wonder were any other Laois people approached to get involved?
Surely there's somebody around with something to offer who is willing to get involved.

Very poor game today, Ballyfin very disappointing.
I think that kills any debate over a 10 team senior.
There just aren't 10 teams.
It would be a case of bringing the standard down without a good justification.

In fairness to Portlaoise, impressive to overcome the loss of Macca and win. They are better equipped to have a go at senior. Hopefully better times ahead for hurling in the town.

They are bookies favourites.
Ballyfin have had a very good year and been very consistent.

[Colt Shanahoe v Trumera]

Colt Shanahoe v Trumera
You'd imagine that Colt Shanahoe should have too much at the second time of asking. Is Keyes around does anyone know?
Trumera keep surprising us.

Ballyfin v Portlaoise
An interesting one here. Portlaoise like to dictate things and play in a very set manner. Interesting to see if they can get into their groove next Sunday.
They are hard to stop once the scores start rolling. They look well prepared and have an intent in how they wish to go about things.
Ballyfin are quite dogged, look well set up too and will certainly get in amongst Portlaoise.
Finn, Lanham, Lyons, Darragh Connolly all bring a high level of aggression and physicality.

It will come down to whether Portlaoise can get it going moving the ball from line to line with runners and short stick passes. Or can Ballyfin disrupt this.
The weather could play a part in answering this question too.

Can't make my mind up fully.

Colt Shanahoe by 5
Ballyfin by 4

Expect to be wrong on at least one of them!

I see this being discussed in another thread. Wanted to have my say.

It could be professional if there were only 12 teams. The unbalanced archaic county system must come crumbling down eventually.  Imagine, we put Leitrim with 25,000 people up against Dublin with 1.5million and tell the people in Leitrim to be proud of the jersey and that's enough for ye. We all should be proud of where we come from but 85% of the country feels like losers because of where they were born. There's people born with talent and a winning mentality in every club in Ireland but our system makes sure only the ones from the counties with the most resources get to taste success. The rest can dream but can be guaranteed they will never make it without transferring.

There are a number of things wrong with the GAA and society in general in Ireland.

The overall aspiration of the GAA- a large nationwide organisation that creates massive revenue and uses most of that revenue to promote Youth Physical Activity and improve community facilities across the country, is not one of them.

Nobody here could possibly want a situation ala rugby where there are effectively 4 elite teams in the country. If rugby, probably the second biggest sport in the world, can only support 4 teams how many can the GAA support? The GAA couldn't financially support a professional model with 32 dual counties.
Do we really want a situation where Clonad, Camross, Ballyroan or Portarlington train players up from 6 years old and then don't see the best of them from the ages of 16-32?

There are a number of fixable problems-

One-sided games, lack of a defined club calender, overtraining, an intercounty season that is way too long, a training:games ratio that is way too high, and players not getting enough financial compensation for their time.

Some possible solutions.

1) Playing calender;

Colleges and Schools two windows- September and October for leagues & January-March for Championships
Intercounty- February & March for leagues, April & May for provincial championships and June & July for All Ireland Championships, played in tiers of about 12 teams.
Club- March, April & May for leagues. July & August for county championships (minimum 3 games for clubs). September for Provincial Club championships (3 games) & October for AI Club championships (2 games).

Scrap intercounty U21- generally neglected in most counties anyways, change minor to U17 (club and county competitions can be run without interference from adult fixtures or college fixtures). I would run Intercounty Minor in two windows (March & April- Leagues) and Intercounty championships in June & July.

November & December would be CLOSED months. Intercounty preseason can begin in January with 4/5 weeks pre season to your first league game.
The obvious "downsides" here are the shortened pre-season training time and games coming closer together. I don't see the problem with the latter- the overall number of sessions (games plus training) would probably be no greater. Also, if having worked the fixture schedule out it was scientifically dangerous to play too many games in close proximity- is there any reason the games couldn't be shortened from 70 to 60 or even 50 minutes? This could also be a positive for "weaker" counties who generally get "ground down" as games enter the latter stages.
Extra time would become compulsory at all levels and grades in knockout games (the knock on effect of replays to other grades, codes and fixtures is crazy). It may also be time to introduce a "penalty shoot out" style way of deciding ties level after extra time.

There is no point in changing any one of the above. Change it all at the same time and try to address the actual problems as opposed to tinkering in hope.

2) As regards player welfare and reward. I would increase the player grants and also allow some form of tax credit for 30/35 members of senior intercounty panels in the year following (ie if you played Senior Intercounty in 2016 you got this tax credit in 2017).
Finally the closed season of November and December as regards physical preparation work would be strictly adhered to. I wouldn't go down the punishment route but rather that you get counties (and the GPA) to buy into this and respect it.

Some relatively radical stuff above. To summarise. I'd start from the end and work back-
Defined playing season, shorter games so shorter pre season, less training & more games, NO replays, players get an increased level of compensation, all counties automatically play in their Provincial Championships, but All Ireland Championships are not connected to this and there are tiers (of between 8 & 12 teams), you'd need to win your way up the tiers to win an "All Ireland" as we know it.
 
The overall aims of the association- to be inclusive, amateur, equitable and community based don't change.
I, for one, don't want a small number of elite franchises.

Went searching for something else.
Found this.
Fairly prophetic stuff from 8 years ago!

Any news on the Senior hurlers backroom team?

Will there be any few Bob left?
Are we paying in sterling or euros for the football setup?

Foley is from Kerry and Sheehan from Limerick ye?
What's their back story?
From Google;
Foley seems to have represented Kerry.
Sheehan seems to have played a hell of a lot of sports!

Nice little bonus for any team.
Are they both in their first year with Portlaoise.

Had Portlaoise many involved with the footballers on Sunday?

[Colt Shanahoe v Trumera]

Colt Shanahoe v Trumera
You'd imagine that Colt Shanahoe should have too much at the second time of asking. Is Keyes around does anyone know?
Trumera keep surprising us.

Ballyfin v Portlaoise
An interesting one here. Portlaoise like to dictate things and play in a very set manner. Interesting to see if they can get into their groove next Sunday.
They are hard to stop once the scores start rolling. They look well prepared and have an intent in how they wish to go about things.
Ballyfin are quite dogged, look well set up too and will certainly get in amongst Portlaoise.
Finn, Lanham, Lyons, Darragh Connolly all bring a high level of aggression and physicality.

It will come down to whether Portlaoise can get it going moving the ball from line to line with runners and short stick passes. Or can Ballyfin disrupt this.
The weather could play a part in answering this question too.

Any word on Laois Senior Intercounty Manager yet? I heard both Billy O'L and Eddie Kinsella have been turned down, any truth in the rumour they went up north to meet a candidate? Getting a bit ridiculous now at this stage. It was to be decided last week and still nothing a week later. Does anyone have any info about it???

For last few weeks was hearing Billy OLoughlin from everyone....the delay on the announcement might indicate it's not him

In last week or so have heard James Horan and also Mick Dempsey names mentioned, no idea if any truth to either of them

Some money involved in a James Moran operation!
Micko peanuts in comparison!

Have Colt Shanahoe many fellas 15-17 other than the 2 starting? Very poor representation from them.

What's the history of bad blood between Port & Camross?

You'd imagine Mountmellick would be a natural home for the Port lads if they can't get through to adult?

That's a lot of clubs together to put out two sets of 15 x 17 year olds.
It's a huge problem.

What a day for Trumera.
There must be some pride in rigging out in a final against a combined Colt/Shanahoe side.
The three battled away in the 1990s at Junior & Intermediate.
Things swung one way & another.
They have battled on throughout.

Tomorrow - Abbeyleix have a huge amount going for them. I've been saying that for the last two months.
They have really surprised me in this year's championship. But they are here to stay.
Camross should manage the situation as they have shown they are able to unlike most others. Expect agression & hits early on.
Camross' bench won the semi final for them. It'll make a difference here too.
Camross by 6.