Messages

Glad to see that we're sticking with the same 15. I think Gareth Dillon has a lot to offer at this level and I hope he has a fine game. If we could pick up some points here, we'd be putting ourselves in a good position. We haven't had a great record against Meath (and Graham Reilly) though so we need to improve again on the last day.

I know it's on telly but with the good weather promised for the weekend, I hope a good crowd will travel. They deserve the support.

Personally, I think Mark Timmons is the best full back we have (by a long way). He is definitely inter-country standard. While it would be nice to have O Leary and McMahon fighting for wingback positions, and Cahir Healy as a man marker or centre back, I think Strong, Kehoe, Attride, Begley and maybe O Connor are all good players that can do a good job in the half backs.

I agree that our defence hasn't been great this year but I don't think this is because of the quality of the players. Better defence requires harder work all round the pitch. It also requires a system of sweeping and covering so that defenders are left one-on-one as infrequently as possible. Our lads are being left one-on-one far too often and that bit definitely needs to improve.

I'm not sure that John O Loughlin, or several of the other members of the team, are properly appreciated by the Laois supporters. I'm not surprised at all that he's a regular on the team of the week.

As regards the fitness thing, I'm not sure that fitness levels could have changed all that much from the last day. From my point of view, two important things changed. Firstly, the team simply looked more "up for it" on Sunday. You could see it even in the warm up - they knew this was a do or die scenario really. The mentality of the players was different this time.

The second thing that changed was that the selection of Boyle and Dillon in the half forward line bought more zip and energy to the half forward line and Boyle in particular used the ball very well. I'd like to see us keep those high energy players for the remainder of the league. Damien O Connor or Attride could be used very well as a sweeper which is really needed I think.

We need a few more like unlaoised in Navan on Saturday night.

I know people go on about it ad nauseum but really the support that the football team gets is really embarrassing at this stage. To see a Laois team enter the field for a crucual national league game and not to even raise a polite round of applause is something that really needs attention. We may not win All-Irelands or National Leagues but I still think we have enough good players to be worthy of our support. The likes of Graham Brody, Colm Begley, John O Loughlin, Brendan Quigley, Ross Munnelly and Donie Kingston would make most county teams. To see the development of Evan O Carroll is a pleasure in itself. Of course they're not going to win every game but we have some excellent players and they deserve better support. I really wish the county board would take some concrete measures to improve attendance, at least for the home games. The crowd really can make a difference when it comes to influencing refereeing decisions and we have no 16th man. Very disappointing.

On the game itself, it was the first time in a long time that the forward division looked like a proper unit, rather than a mish-mash of individuals. Of course they were supplied with some nice balls but there was good movement and some very intelligent play, especially from Evan O Carroll, who is really a smart footballer. As someone else said, there was great accuracy in the play, with very few mistakes or kicking from silly positions.

Having said that, I wouldn't agree with the poster who said that our defence was much better. I thought we still looked vulnerable enough and we were left one on one with forwards on two many occasions. We didn't look great under the high ball  and were lucky to get away with it on one or two occasions.

Overall though delighted for the players themselves, who clearly still think the jersey is important, even if the supporters don't.

Couldn't make the game last night but followed on Twitter. Delighted to see them make a good fist of it.

Agree with TomBoy about Evan O Carroll. With the seniors over the last few games, I thought himself and Graham Brody showed great maturity and work rate for such young lads. Although the team wasn't doing great, those two lads stood out for me. Great to see a few coming through like that. Congrats to Derek Conroy too on a job well done.

I noticed that too! For a minute I thought they were proposing to play on Rathlin Island. This would be the equivalent of Cork asking opposing team to come to Schull. I think it's a bit much to be honest and I doubt it suits their own followers particularly well either.

You'd have to imagine it would be very similar to the last day out. It's a big night for the lads. I hope they can give a good account of themselves and I think they can. There seems to be a few goals in the full forward line, which is obviously a big plus.

Galway match refixed for March 22.

Overall, it's probably a good thing to get a run of games now. Disappointing to see the thing called off at the last minute yesterday.

Hadn't been to too many of last year's games but I thought that we had developed a fairly effective sweeper system last year. We could have done with it against Offaly - the FB line looked in trouble every time a ball went in. On the positive side, we scored some beautiful points from all angles.

They wanted it more which is ultimately why the won imo