Messages

Unfortunately the rot has already set in,  TOF was a joke manager, Lillis was dreadful & Creedon unfortunately was a gamble who has not worked out.  The CB and most of Laois Football fail to realise that we are going to have to think outside the box to start to rebuild.  Poor performance on the pitch = less support and money.  This means we are unable to put more development coaches out into our big towns, Players commit for a few months then just give up.  Do people honestly think we're going to get better without doing something radical.  Yes the answer is we should get rid of our manager  as this guy is clearly a waste of our time and money.  We cannot afford to spend 5 years rebuilding we need green shoots of recovery fast.  We are into our fifth year of regression so I think we have wasted enough time.

Mad stuff here!

So after 4 league games Creedon has already not worked out and a waste of time and money?? 4 games!

Radical thinking, think outside the box....or maybe just do what has got us any bit of success we've had over the last 20 years. Start producing underage quality again!

No worse than whats gone on for the last 5 years, for 5 years people have been saying things are going to turn around they have not, more like a whole  lot worse.  You can't produce underage quality on the money given to County Boards by Leinster Council & Croke Park.   The O Moore Park development while positive is no advantage every county in Ireland got one.  We need more games development officers, however that's not going to happen without money.  Senior Teams, U21 teams & minor teams have been dreadful , end result raising money is not happening.  We need results on the field to get the vibe going thats why Creedon is doing untold damage.  This is not entirely of his making but unfortunately he can not lift us from it.   Cut the cord sooner rather than later, we are only wasting time.  Portarlington, Portlaoise, Graigue & Mountmellick are providing poor returns on population.  We need to do something radical to get back into these towns.

I'm pretty sure for the last 5 years people have been predicting exactly where we are now! Who's been saying things will turn??

Look unfortunately we are at our level now. This is not Creedon's fault, he's only been working with the players for about 4 months. He needs to be given a chance, unless you have someone better in mind???

I accept playing for Laois may not be the 'cool' thing to do for a young lad in Laois anymore, but there was also no success to speak of in counties like Monaghan, Cavan, Roscommon or Tipperary before they got their acts together.

And we happen to have some of the main people in the Tipp story in Laois now. But maybe we should just get rid of him!!

Unfortunately the rot has already set in,  TOF was a joke manager, Lillis was dreadful & Creedon unfortunately was a gamble who has not worked out.  The CB and most of Laois Football fail to realise that we are going to have to think outside the box to start to rebuild.  Poor performance on the pitch = less support and money.  This means we are unable to put more development coaches out into our big towns, Players commit for a few months then just give up.  Do people honestly think we're going to get better without doing something radical.  Yes the answer is we should get rid of our manager  as this guy is clearly a waste of our time and money.  We cannot afford to spend 5 years rebuilding we need green shoots of recovery fast.  We are into our fifth year of regression so I think we have wasted enough time.

Mad stuff here!

So after 4 league games Creedon has already not worked out and a waste of time and money?? 4 games!

Radical thinking, think outside the box....or maybe just do what has got us any bit of success we've had over the last 20 years. Start producing underage quality again!

Can intermediate players play senior football with a Gaels team or is it only Junior lads? You would imagine a few of the Emo boys would want to play Senior.. they would give a serious boost to a club!

I'd imagine they'd have enough on their plates trying to win the intermediate!

people seem to be thinking one or two underage teams are going to take down the Town. Seems a lot of pressure to put on a few U16's and Minors, some of whom may not even be playing the game in 5 years, and thats nothing to do with either Club, just natural drop off.

Nail on the head there. This year it's St Paul's. 5 years ago it was Killeshin Crettyard. 10 or 12 years ago it was Stradbally Parish Gaels. Underage success is cyclical. Apart from Portlaoise of course.

What underage success have Portlaoise had in the last number of years?
There's pros and cons to the argument of amalgamations but where it benefits the teams involved, and the players, then its something that maybe should be looked at in more detail. Noone's saying its for everyone. The Courtwood/Emo one seems a very logical one that has lots of support. Hesh's Umpire, from talking to a lot of people involved in the 3 clubs it does seem that this is the case.

Then they should bring it forward at a meeting.

I'd be surprised if it's as popular as you think el jefe. But as don says there is always an opportunity for people to bring it up at meetings.

Emo were very dependent on Strong, too dependent really. Thought The Heath were by far the better team but Emo got their goals at critical times which brought them back into it and they kicked on for a few minutes afterwards but The Heath deserved it. Losing Costello didn't help Emo's cause as their bench didn't look too strong

Not sure they were by far the better team, but did edge it alright. Emo got off to a terrible start down 5-1 after ten minutes. Was fairly even after that I thought. Disappointing year for both clubs really. Emo will probably be favourites to bounce straight back up, but as was seen with o'dempseys the other night it can be tricky.

Maybe so, but there's not many lads who have played senior with Laois over the last 20 years who haven't played underage with Laois. It's a small county, the county standard players are known from early on.

A good Laois team will not be a product of a competitive senior championship. They are two separate issues. Anyone who has, or potentially has the ability to play with Laois should be picked up by development squads.

Two early rounds when? you're talking April if you want to do it before Laois begin championship. So play two rounds and you'll have four teams out of the championship by the end of April?

Emo's defeat to Clonaslee puts Ballyfins supposed wonder comeback into context, with further context coming last night with defeat to Crettyard. And a little more context on their decision to pull out of the league.

Fair Comment. Crettyard didn't seem to have Spink players last night either from what I could make out. The standard in general was shocking over the weekend. If Emo stay up, I imagine, they will grab the Courtwood lifeline and form a gaels team.   If they go down, they won't be able to form a gaels team for at least a year unless some of their players opt to play with one the existing senior clubs. I still think that The Heath are the most vulnerable of the 3 left.

Can a gaels team consist of players from an intermediate side or does it have to be from a junior team?

Think it's going a couple years at this stage alright. The rock have teams up to u14 but haven't had numbers to field teams above that. They approached Emo and Courtwood so the couple of lads they do have could each play at their own age group. Downtheroad I think your over thinking things here, its just a sensible solution to get a couple extra lads some football. They are a nice team, and a lot of the players have been successful up along. I think only 4 that started were up to the age.

High Fielder I think that's a bit disrespectful to a lot of genuine dedicated club players around the county.

If we think a divisional format is going to solve the problems of the competitiveness of our county team I think you are wrong. We are a small county, any player who has the ability or potentially has the ability to play for Laois is being (or should be) picked up by our development squads. That is where the success of our county teams will be determined, not the club scene. Look at our relative success recently. The 2003 leinster winning team was backboned by the 96-98 minors. Without looking i'd be surprised if there was many on that panel that hadn't played underage for Laois. Likewise the minor teams from around 2003 backboned our senior team contesting a couple of quarter finals. The problem is we took our eye off the ball in player developement.

He did referee division one games this year

I agree with what you say about Chris Conway in regards to his service to Laois and respect throughout the county.

But surely the minimum we would want someone who has experience in managing adult footballers?? He has a good track record with Knockbeg. But managing a school team and an inter county team are worlds apart. I don't think it even has any relevance, if it was for the minor job then yes.
In saying that, he would be a pick of mine for a selector role.

Tony McEntee is a good shout for me. Won 2 all ireland clubs as manager. Am I right in saying he is managing a club in Dublin at the moment?

I'm not that familiar with niall Tully, I know he's trained teams over the years alright. Would he have any experience inter county wise? Or what's the thinking behind wanting him?

Like I'm all for a laois man in charge, but it can't just be for the sake of having a laois man. Surely it has to be the best man for the job... or the best we can get!. The last time we had a clamour for a laois man we had an obvious candidate in Sean dempsey, but I'm struggling to even think of anyone now. I'm not sure it's time to be gambling on a rookie. 

Exactly...yet he was always available for laois. He was only eligible to play for laois because his club was emo. A club he refused to play for. Basically used them to play inter county football. In my opinion he should not have been considered for laois while refusing to play for his club.