The future of laois hurling

[Laois man]

I was at the Mrath /Comer schools game mrath won handy enough Castlecomer were poor. Most of the Mrath team is made up of Ctown and Camross lads I think one from Mrath one from Cbolla and Ballyfin and 2 from Borris/kcotton. Mrath play Tullamore next and hopefully they can win that and top the group. Sorry mrath have one player from plaois aswell. Good to see the county minor manager at the game yesterday.

[redsetanta]

That's shocking regarding CBS Portlaoise.

[Spiritof1915]

Good win for Mountrath over Castlecomer yesterday in the schools hurling.

Portlaoise Cbs beaten by 4 points by Bagnelstown in the Senior Schools C yesterday

Given the population of that school and the number of clubs feeding into the school,it's abysmal to say the least the state that Gaelic games is in there

Across all levels in hurling they are in C and bar senior football where they are in the B,they are in the C at every other grade of football as well.

Compare and contrast with the Girls school on the same campus and what they have achieved across 3/4 codes

That truly is a very sad state of affairs. And it's only going to get worse. With no real plan in place for development of hurling in the town, it will have a huge knock on affect not just in Portlaoise but for any county hurling teams going forward. How has it come to be so bad. Is their anyone in that club willing to address the problems.

[Helix.]

Good win for Mountrath over Castlecomer yesterday in the schools hurling.

Portlaoise Cbs beaten by 4 points by Bagnelstown in the Senior Schools C yesterday

Given the population of that school and the number of clubs feeding into the school,it's abysmal to say the least the state that Gaelic games is in there

Across all levels in hurling they are in C and bar senior football where they are in the B,they are in the C at every other grade of football as well.

Compare and contrast with the Girls school on the same campus and what they have achieved across 3/4 codes

That truly is a very sad state of affairs. And it's only going to get worse. With no real plan in place for development of hurling in the town, it will have a huge knock on affect not just in Portlaoise but for any county hurling teams going forward. How has it come to be so bad. Is their anyone in that club willing to address the problems.

Apologies seen the post now. Yeah it's disappointing that they're in the C. If the likes of Naas CBS can be in a B competition they should be at least matching that. Not trying to go off topic referring to other counties; and we wonder when we lost to Kildare at minor when we've highest urban population exposed to shoddy standard and not even standing out in it. Great to see Mountrath doing well but disappointing to see former school gone to dogs both football and hurling.

[Laois Rising]

A school's team is only as good as the players that are filtering in from the clubs. You cannot blame Portlaoise CBS- the blame lies squarely with how football is promoted and developed by Portlaoise GAA and Laois GAA. Both the club and county board have failed abysmally to put any structures/long term planning in place over last two decades and now they are reaping what they sowed.

[clonadmad]

A school's team is only as good as the players that are filtering in from the clubs. You cannot blame Portlaoise CBS- the blame lies squarely with how football is promoted and developed by Portlaoise GAA and Laois GAA. Both the club and county board have failed abysmally to put any structures/long term planning in place over last two decades and now they are reaping what they sowed.

In that case Knockbeg must be down in E or F football and no hurling given they probably have half the playing population of the CBS available to them at most and drawing from Laois clubs as well

Except they ain't

[Laois Rising]

Nearly all of the best footballers in south Laois end up going to Knockbeg, sprinkled in with some of the best young GAA players from clubs in Carlow, Wicklow, parts of Kildare and Kilkenny, Knockbeg will always field competitive teams, especially in football.

The problem for Portlaoise CBS is that a large cohort of male pupils joining the school do not play or have played little or no GAA. How can they field competitive teams if the pool of potential players is dwindling year on year? Killian FitzPatrick is considered one of the top GAA coaches/managers in the county and is working in the CBS. If the players were there, Portlaoise CBS have the facilities and staff to compete at the top table.

[clonadmad]

Nearly all of the best footballers in south Laois end up going to Knockbeg, sprinkled in with some of the best young GAA players from clubs in Carlow, Wicklow, parts of Kildare and Kilkenny, Knockbeg will always field competitive teams, especially in football.

The problem for Portlaoise CBS is that a large cohort of male pupils joining the school do not play or have played little or no GAA. How can they field competitive teams if the pool of potential players is dwindling year on year? Killian FitzPatrick is considered one of the top GAA coaches/managers in the county and is working in the CBS. If the players were there, Portlaoise CBS have the facilities and staff to compete at the top table.

Killian Fitzpatrick is taking every football team in the CBS and seems to be a one man band as regards the coaching of football in the Cbs

Compare and contrast that with the number of mentors and the ethos in Knockbeg as regards football

Strip out the lads going to the CBS who don't play GAA and I'll guarantee you the CBS has  greater numbers still than Knockbeg

You have about 7/8 clubs represented in there as well

Also why then is the girls school doing better next door at nearly every sporting discipline ?

I guess it might be something to do with ethos,tradition,teachers involved and the fact they seem to be training the whole time even during the summer holidays

[Zooming around]

U15 last night

Laois A beat Wexford by 2 points

Laois B took a bit of trimming from the other Wexford team.

U14

Both laois teams took a hiding from the 2 kilkenny teams in Dunmore on Saturday last while we had another 2 Laois teams playing 2 Wicklow teams at the same time in the Centre of Excellence

Sounds like we have great numbers at that age group. Have we ever had 4 teams at one year before?

[clonadmad]

U15 last night

Laois A beat Wexford by 2 points

Laois B took a bit of trimming from the other Wexford team.

U14

Both laois teams took a hiding from the 2 kilkenny teams in Dunmore on Saturday last while we had another 2 Laois teams playing 2 Wicklow teams at the same time in the Centre of Excellence

Sounds like we have great numbers at that age group. Have we ever had 4 teams at one year before?

its the 4 divisional teams that are being put out and getting game time

at U15 both laois teams took a heavy beating from the 2 Wexford teams in the return games last Saturday

[Zooming around]

U15 last night

Laois A beat Wexford by 2 points

Laois B took a bit of trimming from the other Wexford team.

U14

Both laois teams took a hiding from the 2 kilkenny teams in Dunmore on Saturday last while we had another 2 Laois teams playing 2 Wicklow teams at the same time in the Centre of Excellence

Sounds like we have great numbers at that age group. Have we ever had 4 teams at one year before?

its the 4 divisional teams that are being put out and getting game time

at U15 both laois teams took a heavy beating from the 2 Wexford teams in the return games last Saturday

How are the regions picked? Is it geographical or are the players just split into four equal groups.

[clonadmad]

U15 last night

Laois A beat Wexford by 2 points

Laois B took a bit of trimming from the other Wexford team.

U14

Both laois teams took a hiding from the 2 kilkenny teams in Dunmore on Saturday last while we had another 2 Laois teams playing 2 Wicklow teams at the same time in the Centre of Excellence

Sounds like we have great numbers at that age group. Have we ever had 4 teams at one year before?

its the 4 divisional teams that are being put out and getting game time

at U15 both laois teams took a heavy beating from the 2 Wexford teams in the return games last Saturday

How are the regions picked? Is it geographical or are the players just split into four equal groups.

Scroll back a few pages to where I posted up a breakdown by club of the divisional teams

[Spiritof1915]

U15 last night

Laois A beat Wexford by 2 points

Laois B took a bit of trimming from the other Wexford team.

U14

Both laois teams took a hiding from the 2 kilkenny teams in Dunmore on Saturday last while we had another 2 Laois teams playing 2 Wicklow teams at the same time in the Centre of Excellence

Sounds like we have great numbers at that age group. Have we ever had 4 teams at one year before?

its the 4 divisional teams that are being put out and getting game time

at U15 both laois teams took a heavy beating from the 2 Wexford teams in the return games last Saturday

How are the regions picked? Is it geographical or are the players just split into four equal groups.

U14s are split geographically (North, South, East and West) , while u15s are A and B. In addition the u16s are back training with a bang in preparation for next year's minor championship.  Big crowds in attendance too.

[Spiritof1915]

Heard a rumour not sure how true it is that the Laois U20 hurling management have gone against a recommendation by a CB sub committee to have regional trials for this year's squad. Instead favouring a hand picked group of 25 - 30 players starting next Friday. If true I seriously fear for Laois hurling. Have they not learnt anything especially from diastraous minor set ups of the last 2 years in particular. Even colm bonnar in a stronghold like Tipp sees the wisdom of a complete trawl of the county.

[Robbo]

Heard a rumour not sure how true it is that the Laois U20 hurling management have gone against a recommendation by a CB sub committee to have regional trials for this year's squad. Instead favouring a hand picked group of 25 - 30 players starting next Friday. If true I seriously fear for Laois hurling. Have they not learnt anything especially from diastraous minor set ups of the last 2 years in particular. Even colm bonnar in a stronghold like Tipp sees the wisdom of a complete trawl of the county.

There are trials/divisionals starting Friday night.