Messages

Great to get out of there with a win on Sunday. Westmeath were very strong all the way down the middle and, to be honest, were better than I thought they'd be.

We obviously have some good hurlers but for most of the game I thought Westmeath's motivation levels seemed higher than ours. They just looked like they wanted it more. I know it's easy to sit in the stand making judgements like that but, given the importance of the game, I thought we'd have been right in their faces from the first whistle and it wasn't like that. Had it not been for bad shooting, they could have been out of sight at half time.

Anyway, we have the opportunity now to improve again against Offaly. I'd say the performance levels will have to increase substantially to have any chance. I think the match is in Portlaoise, right?

Great win Saturday night. Surprised that there isn't more of a reaction on here. I suppose you get more of a reaction when you're beaten by Longford in the first round........

Although Carlow were obviously weakened by the loss of some of their key players, I don't think that should take from our performance. I think our forward unit is now as good as it's been for many a long year and our midfield pairing is probably on a par with anything in the country. I'm still not really convinced by our defensive system but our two corner backs were very good yesterday against admittedly poor enough opposition.

Still, we have plenty to improve on. We kicked some really bad wides, especially in the first half and I felt that there were a lot more goals in the game for us if we really believed in ourselves. Although we only conceded 8, I'd still didn't really get the impression that our defence was really tight. In particular, there were still too many occasions when a Carlow man in possession was allowed make 25 or 30 yards before encountering a Laois man. You didn't see that in Ulster today and that's what we have to try to achieve.

Overall though it's given me a high level of optimism for the Kildare match. Well done to all.

I'd imagine DoC, Attride, and Donoher would be considered pacey. Both Quigley and Donie are very quick (although it takes them a few paces to get up to speed).. The likes of Timmons,  Robbie Kehoe and Evan O Carroll wouldn't be slouches either.

Yes, with Paul Begley unfit, we don't have too many options for the corner back positions. I wonder is Gearoid Hanrahan fit? He looked like a more natural corner back to me than Damien O Connor. Still, apart from the corner back positions, it looks to be a team with a good mix of pace and power so hoping for the best.

Very quiet in here on the week of a big match. Any news or rumours at all? Assuming McMahon is still not available but everyone else is fit, my team would be:

1. Brody
2. Robbie
3. Timmons
4. Paul Begley
5. Strong
6. Attride (switching with Robbie depending on matchups)
7. Begley
8. JOL
9. Quigley
10. Donoher
11. Meredith
12. O Carroll
13. Ross
14. Donie
15. Shiels

I think I understand the general tone of the posts on here. Most people seem to be saying that we have a good team and it's important to make the best of them. And that's fair enough.

At the same time, I think the tone here is a bit disrespectful of Pat Critchley and the other mentors. These good players didn't just fall out of the sky. While nature might throw a few excellent natural hurlers our way every now and then, a county our size doesn't tend to get enough of them at the same time to genuinely challenge for silverware. The fact that they are there now is a credit to all of the people who have dedicated a lot of time and effort to developing them.

I'm not living in the county and I don't get to see these lads playing very often but I was really impressed with the team. I don't think Offaly were abysmal but we made them look average. It's true that we let them back into it a few times with a few individual mistakes but generally we were a far better than them. Although I haven't seen all that much hurling over the last few years, the ball skills and intelligence that they hurled with was better than anything I've seen for a long time. Despite what the earlier poster was saying, I think beating Offaly is always an achievement but I'm sure the team are not content with that and will want to push on from there.

I reckon it'll take a good team to beat these lads and I hope they keep up whatever it is they're doing!! 

I don't think any of us can tell what was really in the heads of Laois players and supporters on the way up to that match. If there was an arrogance in their heads, it would beggar belief, based on where we've come from (the memory of the 10-goal drubbing at the hands of Cork has hardly been wiped from the memory yet, has it?).

On the other hand, I'm sure every Laois person was travelling with confidence. The recent results against Antrim were generally in our favour, there seemed to be some turmoil in the Antrim camp and the bookies had us at warm favourites. This does not imply a "right to win" - just a confidence that we could win.  I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I would be surprised in Antrim didn't have the same confidence going into the game - they would have been focusing on the points that suited their arguments.

This is, of course, a setback for Laois but hopefully some lessons will have been learned for the remaining games.

Feel sorry for the likes of Carlow who are losing players like Brendan Murphy for the summer. There's no doubt that if he was from Kerry, he'd be going nowhere. We had our own exodus just a few short years ago (and actually did alright taking everything into account) but it's a bit of a sickener for everyone who's put so much into it.

Having said that, I'd rather be playing them without him so I'm not trying to encourage him back or anything......

Absolutely delighted to see Meredith and McMahon coming back. No hope to reverse O' Leary's decision to retire??

Don't know how the existing bunch would feel about it, but I also think there should be some efforts made to add to the squad now. We know that most of our squad are well capable of doing a good job but the extra strength in depth could be crucial later in the year.  You don't see it happening too often but it would be good at this stage I think.

I should also have complimented Rory Hickey on what is an increasingly rare thing in inter-county football refereeing circles - a good game. He missed a few things but he showed a lot of common sense and talked a lot to the players, which I think is always a positive sign.  It's hard to understand why there is such vast differences in the standard of refereeing in the country.

Back from Newry and happy to be still in the Division.

Today's match showed us clearly how important Donie Kingston is to the team and how threadbare our defensive resources are.

For a match that had so much importance to both teams, it didn't feel particularly intense. Down were the better team on the day - they were much more incisive going forward but you have to think their job was made a lot easier by our defensive line up and system. Mark Timmons was listed on the programme at No. 3 and No. 4, which would have been nice. I don't think it's fair to ask O Connor or Attride to play in corner back positions and I don't think it's very clever either, particularly when you have Robbie Kehoe, Gearoid Hanrahan and Paul Begley all in the squad. Having said that, no corner back would be able to cope with what was being thrown at them - it was unbelievable how little pressure was put on the Down man with the ball at times. On at least half a dozen occasions all the Laois lads were just following runners and leaving the man with the ball the freedom of the pitch to do what he liked. At least 2 of the goals came from this. It was ridiculous really. I thought the management were especially poor here and really did nothing about it all through. Mark Timmons was again excellent though and snuffed out Laverty when he was finally moved on to him.

Quigley's fielding was absolutely superb again - incredible really. Of the forwards, Evan O Carroll's workrate stood out and he scored 4 or 5 superb long range frees. I thought Tom Shiels looked very lively too and was more than surprised to see him taken off. For sure, he was the only one that looked like he might come up with a goal. Boyle had a very quiet game, Billy didn't contribute, Ross kept getting bottled up and Donoher, although he was busy, didn't get as much work done as usual. I had suggested Finn at FF but he didn't contribute much either when he came on.

Overall though, it was a tired looking performance to me. They didn't really deserve to get anything out of the game and were lucky that other results went their way.

This bunch of players seem to work really hard and I think deserve to hold on to the Div 2 status. It would be really fantastic if we could add a few more to the squad for the championship - we especially need to increase our defensive options but if we do we should give most teams outside the top 5 or 6 a decent run for their money.

I saw Billy play at full forward a couple of years ago in an O Byrne cup game against Dublin. Rory O Carroll was Dublin's full back that day and, in fairness, Billy had an excellent game. If he was able to reproduce that kind of performance, I don't think anyone could complain. The problem is that, in my opinion, he doesn't have the legs any more and he has never been a score getter. I just think Finn is more mobile, a better fielder and is probably more accurate too. He's obviously less aggressive (or at least appears that way).

An alternative would be to put Evan O Carroll at 14 and bring O Connor or Finn into wing forward but that, for me, would be changing the balance of the team too much.

One way or another, it's a huge task on Sunday. Although their position in the league reflects the story so far, I don't think these lads deserve to end up in Div 3.

My team for Sunday would be:

1. Brody
2. Begley (if fit)
3. Timmons
4. Kehoe
5. Strong
6. Hanrahan (if fit, switching with Robbie depending on matchups) or Attride
7. Begley
8. Quigley
9. JOL
10. Donoher
11. Boyle
12. O' Carroll
13. Ross
14. Finn
15. Shiels

The point I'm making is that the camp will know exactly what happened and how it happened. IF it's the case that Billy Sheehan did something stupid, which led to the sending off of Donie Kingston, the management should know what to do.

As regards his commitment, I would personally rather see him use his energy to focus on what's happening on the ball, rather than constantly getting involved in verbals with opposing players off the ball. As far as I'm concerned, he adds very little - I wouldn't confuse passion with shouting into opposing players faces. The Dubs were at that a few years ago under Caffrey and it was only later when they stopped all that and focused on the things that matter that they started to win All-Irelands.

Donie Kingston gets sent off but you indicate the stupid one here is Billy Sheehan, don't understand that logic. Its clear from above you don't like him and you have your mind made up anyway.

My point was that if the stupid actions of any Laois player led to the sending off of Donie Kingston, the management should know what to do with that player. It is quite conceivable that the stupid actions of one Laois player could lead to the sending off of another. If Donie Kingston was dragged into a conflict with opposing players because one of his teammates was winding those opposing players up, it's not Donie Kingstons fault - he can hardly be expected to stand by while one of his teammates is being assaulted on the ground. This would be my view whether the culprit is Billy Sheehan or anyone else.

Aside from that incident, yes I admit that I have made up my mind about Billy Sheehan having watched him for the last 8 or 10 years. I don't see what he brings to the team and I don't think it's a coincidence that our performance levels generally increased when he was on the bench.

The point I'm making is that the camp will know exactly what happened and how it happened. IF it's the case that Billy Sheehan did something stupid, which led to the sending off of Donie Kingston, the management should know what to do.

As regards his commitment, I would personally rather see him use his energy to focus on what's happening on the ball, rather than constantly getting involved in verbals with opposing players off the ball. As far as I'm concerned, he adds very little - I wouldn't confuse passion with shouting into opposing players faces. The Dubs were at that a few years ago under Caffrey and it was only later when they stopped all that and focused on the things that matter that they started to win All-Irelands.

One more thing. If it was Billy Sheehan's actions that led to the dismissal of Donie Kingston last week, I hope if anything worthwhile comes out of it that the management will finally see that nothing good comes from leering in people's faces or winding people up, particularly when there is nothing to back it up on the pitch. I just hope they take proper note