NFL Div 2 2020

[High Fielder]

Based on what we saw today, I'm inclined to agree. We've been guilty of discarding players way too early in the past. It was noticeable today, good and bad, that our intensity improved as our age profile got younger.

[SpeculativeEffort]

Without a horrendous goalkeeping mistake from Fermanagh we most likely would have come home with tail between our legs. Fermanagh were still winning by 2 in injury time, already relegated and with a covid depleted panel. That goal handed us the win. Yes we rescued it to a certain extent but a lot of it was Fermanagh shooting themselves in the foot.

[High Fielder]

No doubting that SE. We should have been arrested at the final whistle. At least the last 5 minutes gives us some sort of idea of what we need to do for the full 70. We can't go on with that snail's pace approach to our play

[Laoiseabu]

Division 2 next year will be :

Westmeath
Clare
Kildare
Meath
Laois
Mayo
Cork
Down

Is it me or does that look significantly tougher than this year? Survival next year would be a great achievement for us  .

[SpeculativeEffort]

It looks tougher because we still associate Cork, Meath, Down, Kildare and Mayo with being genuine All Ireland contenders. Mayo aside none of them are. They are all in div2 on merit.

[High Fielder]

We'd be odds on to drop for sure. Cavan went down and we stayed up, but Cavan would beat us six or seven times out of ten in my opinion.

We have to concentrate on winning the games we need to be winning, and hopefully improve as we do that. It's a tired tune these days, particularly in Laois, but we need our best players committing so that we can put together some sort of cohesion. Both the hurlers and footballers have to make do at times, and that's just not going to cut it. I don't know why Laois seem to suffer more than most with absenteeism, but the fact is we do, and it hurts us badly. There is no point throwing lads like Brennan, Quirke and Sugrue at the situation if we can't get our best players involved.

[recyclebin]

We drew with Roscommon and beat Armagh and both were promoted and should have lost to both teams that were relegated. It was a strange league for us overall. Next year, we will need to target the Clare, Down and Westmeath games. Mayo and Cork will be too strong. It could go either way against Meath and Kildare.

[Laoiseabu]

The way I see it it's probably going to be Mayo,Cork,Meath,Kildare fighting for promotion and then Westmeath,Down,Laois,Clare fighting to avoid relegation. Seems to be a bit of a gulf in class between the top and bottom teams in division 2 next year . I find it very interesting that Roscommon won division 2 this year with only half of their usual panel of players due to a number of different circumstances during the year in the squad . Armagh also got promoted and they are nowhere near division 1 standard from what I seen of them .I'd expect division 2 to be of quite a higher standard next year.

[Giovanni]

The performance on Saturday was extremely poor, notwithstanding the excellent last 10 minutes. That standard won't be near good enough in Division 2 next year.

[Laois Rising]

Laois definitely played a 'get out of jail' free card last weekend. Fermanagh were the better team and we looked clueless in how to break down their defensive structure for most of that game- it was very much a continuation of Westmeath game where we were very one dimensional. A penalty and fortunate second goal at the death gave us the momentum shift and with Fermanagh having nothing to play for we knocked on a couple of additional scores to put a lop sided appearance on the final score board.

Saying all that delighted to get the win and the infusion of youth on proceedings near the end showed exactly what is needed for next year- plenty more energy, enthusiasm and speed.