SFC 2026

[Smallballbigballs]

Clonaslee St Manamans vs The Heath - The Heath by 3
Crettyard v Park Ratheniska - Park by 5

Have you the lotto numbers for Saturday???

[Jd]

I was in at two matches this evening Portlaoise looked decent enough. They are blending in a few younger fellas and the older lads keep things steady Arleskileento be fair had a decent first half and hung in there, but once portlaoise got going there was only one winner. Didn't see the red card but linesmans actions suggested a punch of some description. Don't think it changed the result but maybe the margin. Portlaoise motoring nicely and are a threat to anyone else bar Port. Arles might struggle to avoid the drop especially if Donie gets more than one match
I was talking to a Courtwood man on the way in and he was a bit downbeat about their chances of beating Ballyroan. Apparently they have a lot of injuries to big players. Well they fronted up and easily accounted for Ballyroan. They have a great way of playing with a mix of boot and carrying. They have a young fella playing corner forward but he does a sweeper role. He's brilliant and as for the two boys left up they couldn't be handled at all and then a sub comes on and kicks 1-01. Are they contenders?? Ballyroan were admittedly poor and never got going. Dee Whelan was a huge loss but they didn't really seem to have a structure to their game. Staying out of snr B has to be a priority for them now

[The PRO]

I'm far from a Killeen fan but Donie very unlucky to get a straight red. Say they'll be appealing that.
Decent effort from them in the first half but they ran out of steam. Lot of miles up on some of those clocks! Portlaoise will be happy. Scoring freely has been an issue for them for quite a while. Darren Brennan is a lovely stylish forward.

The other game was amazing. Ballyroan Abbey made no attempt to drop a sweeper and Courtwood's forwards tore them apart. Martin Murphy is usually more clued in than that. Still think the loss of Dunne, Flynn, Doyle and Slattery will cost Courtwood against the better teams. Their squad is quite threadbare.

Emo tonight were shocking. Don't know what's going on with them and again I'm surprised at a very experienced manager in Greg Ramsbottom leaving them so open at the back. Fair play to O'Dempseys. Shuffled the team after a dreadful round one display and it paid off. They'll have Mark Barry back soon and will be a dangerous team for anyone to meet.

Last game on Sunday was so poor, I fecked off after 20 minutes!

[Smallballbigballs]

You missed a good finish for Joes Graigue game. Graigue will be sorry they didn't throw off the shackles earlier and Joes don't seem capable of throwing off their own shackles. They bizarrely still appear one of the most constipated side I've ever seen which is incredible given their abundance of talents. The Port management watching on won't be too worried by any of what they've seen.

Draws are interesting. Few local derbys there which will add their own spice.

[Jd]

A very poor evening of football today Emo were so bad it was unreal ODs didn't even have to work overly hard for their scores, a lot of the time Emo just turned over ball under no pressure at all. Will do very well to stay up based on that performance. ODs will be better with Barry back (next day??). Second match was shocking. Graigue the authors of their own downfall ridiculous goal given away and couldn't hit a barn door at the other end. Josephs a fine big strong team but I think lack the real top end pace needed to trouble Port or Portlaoise

[SCFC]

Round 3 
Stradbally v The Heath
Graiguecullen v Killeshin
Arles-Killeen v O'Dempseys
Ballyroan-Abbey v Park-Ratheniska

Some interesting games there. Stradbally should win but the other three are harder to call. O'Dempseys could have Barry and Killeen might not have Donie - that would make it very much advantage O'Ds.
Graigue v Killeshin. Novel fixture there!😂

[Laois Rising]

From a Graigue perspective it might not be a bad loss in the long term. It highlighted weaknesses that can be rectified and worked on. Sometimes you gain more from a loss than winning straight through and then getting blindsided in a do or die straight knockout game. Too often in the last decade, Graigue have come into a quarter or semi-final full of pomp and expectation to then be beat out the gate. Joseph's have a very solid team but hard see them knocking Portarlington off their perch. Courtwood continue to defy expectation. Get the most from what they have and winning games despite being down 4/5 starters. You would definitely fear for Emo or Crettyard staying up. Even with Evan O'Carroll, Crettyard are struggling to put enough on the scoreboard to win games. Less said about Emo this weekend the better. Every few years they have a terrible championship season and this season looks to be following that path. Any money on Emo for  Laois intermediate champions 2027. Like 2012 and 2017 all over again.