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tasty one to nite mountmellick v kilcavan 

Portarlington should really be looking to get players back home and giving the Leinster a right go. These teams are generational so you have to make the most of it while you can. They haven't really made any progress in Leinster

leinster is a different kettle of fish, port well ahead of the rest in laois but as leinster is concern there way off it as Athy and the Dublin winners have prove in the last two years again port.

Bookies like everyone else don't see anyone but Port winning championship this year. A tidy profit on a €50 euro bet if Portlaoise we were to upset the odds. Now you have me tempted.

portlaoise might not make the final and if they do and they meet port, they won't keep it kicked out to port.

kilcavan could be dark horses for this a few young players coming through and a few back who weren't there last year.

port will piss it, can't see any team getting any nearer than 6 points to them missing a few again the Heath
but in saying that the Heath were septic.

ports to lose i think .

U20 hurlers - in typical Laois style - beaten by a point by a poor Offaly side. Laois the better team, but Offaly were fitter, and I suppose, mentally had it on Laois. Unfortunate mistake near the end let them in for a goal, and they also won a free near the end for handling on the ground, when that certainly wasn't the case. Good displays from Hugh Whelan, the two Deegans, and Eoghan Murphy was good on frees from distance. No free-taker in the forwards, though. They have Dublin and Meath next, and I don't think Meath are too bad.

U19s were hammered by Kilkenny in their semi-final last night - predictably enough - and U17s beat Kildare on a score-line you'd expect from a bad football match (before the new rules!).

poor offaly side its 50 years since they last beat them in under 20 or under 21 .

Wouldn't think there are 150 pupils altogether in the 3 schools in Ballyadams Parish. (Luggacurren school is closed almost 50 years).
Think I read in the run up to the Senior and Intermediate finals that Rath and Rathineska both have over 300 pupils and I shudder to think how many are in the big school at the back of Beladd alone in Portlaoise so the fact that we have only 1 on the minor panel is a reflection of numbers unfortunately!

Something is going very wrong at underage level with the development of players. With our bigger clubs they can go from having a decent team one year to a weak team the next-tends to be down to the quality of parents involved with certain teams that decides their development. Schools are hugely disappointing-outside of Knockbeg who are competitive at senior level without ever really looking like winning the competition. In other counties we see schools playing a big role in helping the progression of young players. 

The minor panel for this year is a perfect example of something amiss in the county. Crettyard have five players on the minor panel this year with probably 15-20 boys maximum in the parish of that age to draw upon and then you have a town of 20,000 plus in Portlaoise and they feeding in 2 players. Traditional strongholds like Stradbally-no players, St. Joseph's 1. What is happening in these clubs with the size of pick available to them that they are not developing and bringing through players on an annual basis.

Laois will only be strong when the likes of Josephs, Stradbally and Portlaoise are strong. Traditionally when Laois go well its when are stronger, traditional clubs are going strong too.

I'd like to know what the PERCEPTION is of the 'size of pick' available to St Josephs. I honestly can't put it in numbers so can anyone throw a bit of light on it from a Census or whatever. I do know theres only 5 housing estates in the ENTIRE parish, which is a very large area, and 4 of those estates are up in The Swan. Theres 100 houses in total between those 4 estates, and it's a 25 mile round trip to Kellyville from there. Which makes me laugh at suggestions that Portlaoise moving 2 miles out to Rathleague may be an issue. There are approximately 15 kids in wolfhill school, maybe 35 kids in The Swan school. I'd imagine Luggacurren school is relatively modest too, and I believe numbers are dropping in Ballyadams.. and that's your 4 main areas in a very large parish by area. Yes, bigger numbers than a Crettyard or Barrowhouse or whoever, but don't confuse area with population. I'll take a guess here.. are there 400 to 500 houses in the parish?... I don't know. But one, I can't think of another club who's biggest population centre is a 25 mile round trip from their pitch, and two, a parish that's so big but has such small schools. All those factors have existed since day one, but every club can see new challenges post-Covid especially. 'NEW' parents aren't as inclined to drive 4 nights a week, or even 6 nights a week and bypass maybe 5 other clubs just to get to their parish club. I'd love to hear opinions, but not abuse. Thanks.

Can't disagree with any of that but Joes always have three strong adult teams and are usually decent at all underage levels.
They're definitely one of the "bigger" football clubs in my mind.

211 in Ratheniska
194 in Rath
Both have pretty big numbers of kids in ASD units too so not massive numbers of boys really.
Portarlington boys school for instance has 521 boys this year!

and half of them are from offaly.

Whatever chance we have/had of staying up, we need all our best players involved. We're already on the back foot because so many aren't in there. Aside from that, we're in a right mess. But look, let's play musical chairs at the next CB meeting. That should fix it. No other county would tolerate this BS

who are all theses best players port have 5 or 6 in courtwood county runners up have a good few in.

Does anyone know if Zack Tuohy is in Laois or gone back to Oz?
He always spoke about coming home when he finished over there to play with Portlaoise again and maybe even play with Laois.

sure he must be hitting the 40 mark soon he wouldn't last the pace for inter county what ever about club level with portlaoise.

Sweeney has an excellent reputation

so had Anthony Cunningham look at what happen with port. his back in another all ireland next weekend.

Clan na Gael won the Minor B in 2023 as Raheen Parish Gaels but would be strengthened now with the inclusion of the Trumera lads.

I'd imagine they'll be in the A. The Harps will be exceptionally strong next year, it would be the year they're strongest. Beat Abbeyleix in a high-scoring minor final in 2023. Castletown won't be too bad either.
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they also have lads from Emo and o'dempseys

He has been known to change his mind!

true

is clara's pat flangan not over Emo next year.

Declan Mullaly from O'Dempseys is suppose to be looking for the port job. anyone hear on this wouldn't know much about him.