The future of laois hurling

[Ogie]

Hello Folks,
Hope all are keeping well in these strange times, greatly missing the games at all ages
whats our verdict here do we think we will get to hurl at all this year ? Personally I think we will be back in action in August September with club action, hopefully numbers will stay falling
Are all club teams still preparing for a July return training on their own, following programmes or has everything stopped

So hard to envisage a year with nothing ahead

[Blow-in]

Not a hope of GAA in 2020. Are you living under a rock? GAA are going to get rude awaking because a lot of players won't go back due to the chance of infection.
John Horan more less said the other night there won't be anything

[ottoman]

Have to agree with Batman. there is no chance of any GAA action this year, John Horan effectively outlined that there will be no games or training session if social distancing is still in play and social distancing is not going away before the end of the year i'm afraid!! There would also be uproar if someone passes away from getting covid directly or indirectly due to a hurling or football match and the GAA simply wont allow themselves to be in that position!

[merman]

I must be living under the same rock as Ogie because I also expect games come the autumn.
The rate in the increase of cases is under 1% and falling; if this continues then it is absolutely feasible that we could have contact sport in 3 months time.

Of course, maybe we wont but the rush from some people to draw a line through the year and rule everything out is tiresome.

Is it such a bad thing to maintain the hope that we'll have an autumn of hurling and football?
Is it such a bad thing that young lads can continue to train and exercise in the hope that they'll get to be part of a team environment down the line?

I'd imagine most club players are still doing some running and maybe conditioning work if they can. There will be an ebb and flow; some weeks there'll be savage motivation, other weeks it'll wane.

The priority for us all is to stay healthy....and that includes mentally.
I'm perfectly happy to keep in the back of my mind that we could have a condensed club season in the autumn. I'd imagine plenty are thinking similarly.

And if it turns out we don't; so be it.

[Ogie]

Eloquent & accurate as always Merman,
Thanks for some perspective, I agree, every other sport including horse racing, soccer, golf, rugby etc all talking about ways to get back playing, while every report being issued or people speaking about our GAA want to dash any hope, like the sports joe headline '1/5th of players do not want to go back playing until vaccine, 3/5ths did!! 1/5th didn't know'
As Colm O Rourke said last week, when do we stop just exhisting and get back to living,
We
All have family & want our health, but without all the scare mongering that RTE have been doing, I do believe things will return to normal sooner rather than later, with work re opening of numbers stay low we can have hope & start to live again.
No GAA until social distancing is gone will be changed by August I believe anyway.
Let's try have some hope of getting back to the fields & living again!!

[SCFC]

So, here's my guess at what might happen.

In mid-July, clubs may be allowed to recommence collective training. Unfortunately, unless there's absolutely no danger of anyone contracting or spreading the virus at that point in time, not every player will be in a position to return to training. I'm aware of at least three lads in one senior football club who are adamant that they won't be returning to collective training anytime soon (or any other social contact) because of underlying conditions in their family unit (children, parents or partners).

So, following on from that, can a club championship begin in August or even September, with some or many teams affected by certain players being unavailable? My guess is no. I think that leagues might actually be the method of getting hurling and football recommenced.

Leagues aren't as important as championships and clubs have always played them without all their players. I think everyone would love to see games recommencing as soon as it's safe and there would be great delight in clubs meeting again and hosting one another in a less than fully competitive environment.

Hope all of you are keeping well and getting through. The best summary of it I saw was some random post on social media from a young lad recently along the lines of "God, wouldn't ya love to be down in the field on an evening like this driving a whole pile of shots wide in the warm up for training!"

[ottoman]

I must be living under the same rock as Ogie because I also expect games come the autumn.
The rate in the increase of cases is under 1% and falling; if this continues then it is absolutely feasible that we could have contact sport in 3 months time.

Of course, maybe we wont but the rush from some people to draw a line through the year and rule everything out is tiresome.

Is it such a bad thing to maintain the hope that we'll have an autumn of hurling and football?
Is it such a bad thing that young lads can continue to train and exercise in the hope that they'll get to be part of a team environment down the line?

I'd imagine most club players are still doing some running and maybe conditioning work if they can. There will be an ebb and flow; some weeks there'll be savage motivation, other weeks it'll wane.

The priority for us all is to stay healthy....and that includes mentally.
I'm perfectly happy to keep in the back of my mind that we could have a condensed club season in the autumn. I'd imagine plenty are thinking similarly.

And if it turns out we don't; so be it.

I am not trying to be negative or bring people down. I would love noting more than to be heading to Croker or to O Moore Park for club championship action this weekend, I miss it something fierce like the majority of gaels. But we also have to be realistic, this is going to get worse before it gets better as we try get out of this nightmare step by step and if you just listing to any of the experts, social distancing will be the very last thing yo be removed and that is not happening in 2020 I am afraid!

[Ogie]

https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/gaa-must-balance-risk-and-reward-of-return-otherwise-they-face-sporting-irrelevance-39210737.html

[clonadmad]

Laois Minor Hurling Championship to start 10th of August

[Ogie]

How will clubs cone out of the lockdown or who's favourites for our hurling titles?
Close between the 'top 4' in senior hurling, barring major surprises they should make up the semi finalists, Borris Kilcotton Camross Clough Ballacolla & Rathdowney Errill
On the day after that with those 4

Premier intermediate should finally be The Harps, probably overcoming Portlaoise or maybe a newly enthused Colt-Shanahoe

[Keyser Söze]

Hard to argue Ogie, but I don't know if Clough Ballacolla can genuinely be considered part of that group any more. Maybe they will prove me wrong!

[clonadmad]

Under 13 Hurling

A Championship  (12)

Borris-in-Ossory Kilcotton
Camross
Castletown
Clough Ballacolla
Na Fianna
Park Ratheniska Timahoe
Porlaoise
Rathdowney Errill
Rosenallis
St Fintans Mountrath
St. Lazerians Abbeyleix
The Harps


B Championship (7)

Ballinakill/Ballypickas
Clonad
Na Fianna B
Portarlington
Portlaoise B
Raithin Og
St Pauls

R1 - Fri 7 Aug
R2 - Fri 14 Aug
R3 - Fri 21 Aug
R4 - Fri 28 Aug
R5 - Fri 4 Sept
R6 - Sun 13 Sept
R7 - Sun 4 Oct
R8 - Sun 18 Oct

[clonadmad]

Under 15 Hurling

A Championship

Borris-in-Ossory Kilcotton
Camross
Castletown
Clough Ballacolla
Portlaoise
Rathdowney Errill
St. Lazerians Abbeyleix
The Harps






B Championship (7)

Ballinakill/Ballypickas
Na Fianna
Park Ratheniska Timahoe
Portarlington
Raheen Parish Gaels
Rosenallis
St Fintans Mountrath

R1 - Wed 5 Aug
R2 - Wed 19 Aug
R3 - Wed 2 Sept
R4 - Sat 26 Sept
R5 - Sat 10 Oct
R6 - Sat 24 Oct

[clonadmad]

Under 17 Hurling

A Championship (10)

Borris-in-Ossory Kilcotton
Camross
Castletown
Clough Ballacolla
Na Fianna A
Portlaoise
Rathdowney Errill
Rosenallis
St. Lazerians Abbeyleix
The Harps




B Championship (5)

Park Ratheniska Timahoe
Ballinakill/Ballypickas
Na Fianna B
Raheen Parish Gaels
St Fintans Mountrath



R1 - Mon 10 Aug
R2 - Mon 17 Aug
R3 - Mon 24 Aug
R4 - Mon 31 Aug
R5 - Fri 11 Sept
R6 - Fri 18 Sept

[Keyser Söze]

Thanks ClonadMad.

Can you tell us who makes up the following teams;

Raithin Og (U13B)
Na Fianna A&B (U13-U17)

Do Clonaslee, Ballyfin or Mountmellick not have a single juvenile team of their own?