The future of laois hurling

[BallyroanAbu]

Parish rule is only a Laois county bye law identifying a catchment area, there is several examples of it being ignored Timahoe Ratheniska, Sleive Margy.  It seems the parish rule can be overruled by county committee.  Don't ask me

[burdizzo]

Are Abbeyleix and Ballinakill the same parish? All the clubs mentioned by moregroundhurling are the same parish(I think, correct me if I'm wrong). But then again Parish rule doesnt apply in Laois. We will end up like Carlow with only 5 senior teams and an extremely shallow pool of players to pick from.

On the other hand, Carlow hurling has moved ahead of Laois at county level, so perhaps there is some merit in it after all...!
However, I do agree with your point - more and more amalgamations means fewer and fewer playing numbers in the long run.

[Giovanni]

Maybe a bigger issue for the future of Laois hurling is why Portlaoise have only one player on the Minor Hurling panel. Given the size of the club, that's very disappointing indeed.

https://www.laoistoday.ie/2018/11/28/revealed-laois-minor-hurling-panel-for-2019-announced/

[SpeculativeEffort]

Are Abbeyleix and Ballinakill the same parish? All the clubs mentioned by moregroundhurling are the same parish(I think, correct me if I'm wrong). But then again Parish rule doesnt apply in Laois. We will end up like Carlow with only 5 senior teams and an extremely shallow pool of players to pick from.

100% agree. Hurling will end up like rugby with 2-3 playing in different areas and no culture of the game being widely and commonly played. Maybe divisional teams drawn up by county board would solve this as players would get a chance at winning county c'ships and representing their own home club at the relevant grade. Eg Abbeykill at senior or whatever and both teams field at their own grade. Clubs like Timahoe and Ballinakill effectively disappearing is not good for hurling.

[Ontheborder]

Were Ballacolla and Clough ever separate clubs?

My family in Clough played for St Canices in the 60s but I don't know if that was separate to Ballacola at the time.

[les Antiques]

Hard to believe that alright . 45 lads picked for a Minor Hurling panel  with just  one from the largest Town in the county . A town that doesn't exactly lack in hurling tradition !

[Don Draper]

Hard to believe that alright . 45 lads picked for a Minor Hurling panel  with just  one from the largest Town in the county . A town that doesn't exactly lack in hurling tradition !

Questionable enough 45 too

[clonadmad]

Hard to believe that alright . 45 lads picked for a Minor Hurling panel  with just  one from the largest Town in the county . A town that doesn't exactly lack in hurling tradition !

Questionable enough 45 too

Which ones then?

[TheGiantSquid]

The big winners in all of this would be the Castletowns, portlaoise, Harps, Rosenalis, Balyfin, Shanahoe etc as it would free up another spot in the 8 Senior teams. It would shake up Laois Hurling, also as the big 4 of Camross, R/E, C/Ballacolla and B/Kilcotton have dominated for a decade. Adding a 5th "Powerhouse" if you will has its pros and cons. For everyone saying that it will destroy small rural clubs, I ask do the likes of Kyle or Balipickas really worry about a Camross or Ballacollas first team ever??? So what difference should this make? I've no affiliation with either club and am actually from one of the Big 4 but I think it would improve the competition. If only the Arles Kileen/Kilcruise of this world would swallow their  pride also and maybe the football wouldn't be the foregone conclusion it has become over the last decade.

[Mad Mentor]

Comprehensive win for St. Fergal's today in the North Leinster C Junior hurling semi-final. They defeated St. Joseph's of Rochfortbridge 2-18 to 1-2 in Rathdowney. A good mix of R/E, B/K and C/B hurlers on the team. Eight of them are on the County minor panel.

[blueandwhite1]

Comprehensive win for St. Fergal's today in the North Leinster C Junior hurling semi-final. They defeated St. Joseph's of Rochfortbridge 2-18 to 1-2 in Rathdowney. A good mix of R/E, B/K and C/B hurlers on the team. Eight of them are on the County minor panel.

Great result. How is it Fergal's are at C level in this competition? Wouldn't expect them to be A but thought they might be B.

[Mad Mentor]

It's all down to size really. Fergal's is only a small school with about three hundred pupils and really only draws from three clubs - R/E, B/K and C/B. Occasionally they would have a player from Galmoy or The Harps but not at the moment. Rochfortbridge is a school with over eight hundred and fifty, and even Mountrath by comparison has over seven hundred and fifty pupils and are representing Laois well in the higher divisions. Fergal's always competed well in the old Vocational Schools competition where they would have been up against schools of similar size. Since every school was lumped in to the same competition they can't compete against the big boys hence the div C. It's Laois hurling in a nutshell.

[clonadmad]

Squad of 38 Hurlers on the Cumann na mBun school development squad

2 hurlers from the Health

No other hurlers from all the other schools in Portlaoise Parish.

[oneflewoverthecuckoonest]

sign of the times....once upon a time rathdowney secondary were one of the big guns in "A" vocational schools....C grade is for the also rans.

as for no one from portlaoise being on the cumann na b panel...a shame....but perhaps Clonadmad rather than continually drilling away at hurling in Portlaoise GAA, a look closer to homemay be relevant.  If you are from Clonad, a once proud senior hurling club in this county, can you answer why the same Clonad has not produced one county panel standard senior player in the 21st century? is the raw material that bad, or is it the coaching?, because ye have all the facilties(fair play).

[Don Draper]

sign of the times....once upon a time rathdowney secondary were one of the big guns in "A" vocational schools....C grade is for the also rans.

as for no one from portlaoise being on the cumann na b panel...a shame....but perhaps Clonadmad rather than continually drilling away at hurling in Portlaoise GAA, a look closer to homemay be relevant.  If you are from Clonad, a once proud senior hurling club in this county, can you answer why the same Clonad has not produced one county panel standard senior player in the 21st century? is the raw material that bad, or is it the coaching?, because ye have all the facilties(fair play).

No school