2019 Allianz Football League Division 3.

[Junior Ex Laoistalk]

Laois senior football team named for away trip to Westmeath

https://www.laoistoday.ie/2019/02/22/laois-senior-football-team-named-for-away-trip-to-westmeath/

                      Graham Brody
    David Seale, Denis Booth, Gareth Dillon
  Marty Scully, Stephen Attride, Colm Begley

           John O'Loughlin, Kevin Meaney

Damien O'Connor, Donie Kingston, Conor Boyle
   Paul Cahillane, Evan O'Carroll, Mark Barry

[Countyminor]

That team is well seasoned anyways. Looks like it's straight out of 2014 with the exception of Barry

[High Fielder]

Plenty of wastefulness here. Ball into the forwards has been terrible at times. Some of it Hail Mary stuff. Support play is not all it could be either. Too stand offish. Too zonal. Scully not afraid to bring it in but not many joining him. A winnable game but we need to up the tempo and be sharper

[High Fielder]

Based on the overall display, I don't think we're properly at it just now. Someone said above that staying in Division 3 is enough, and I'd say looking at the way we played that going up is not a priority. We looked experimental, off the pace and lacking hunger. They looked fitter and hungrier in contrast, but still limited enough. The better team won on the day in fairness. Scully to my eye is more wing forward than wing back, but that's ok as there'd still be room for him in my opinion.

The problem with playing Evan and Donie on the one team is that they're arguably both at their best at full forward. Maybe we should play them together up there and allow ourselves the luxury of having a roving player; preferably someone who can sit in front of the midfield and pass consistently well. That said, Cahillane did well today, but getting the mix right is an issue. Our issues at the back are obvious enough. We lost shape when Seale went off, and we have to be honest and say that often we are putting square pegs into round holes. The need to develop players properly in key positions is something that should be on our mind for the long term future.

As for today, I would say nothing to panic about. It looks like Sugrue has not turned up the heat just yet.

[Giovanni]

Very poor today against a fairly limited Westmeath team.

Too many lads didn't show up today. I have to say that Donie might look back on his football career and wonder what might have been possible if he actually put the effort into getting fit. At one stage today he started 2 yards ahead of his man and finished 2 yards behind in a 15 yard sprint. He's obviously hugely gifted but talent will only get you so far at this level. If he could get himself in the same physical condition as Evan, for example, you'd have a completely different player in my opinion.

However, just as it wasn't all about Donie in Down, it wasn't all about him today either. The whole half forward line just don't seem dynamic enough and it leaves too many open spaces for opponents. This has been a constant issue since the beginning of the league.

Would also much prefer Lillis in centerfield. There were far too many balls kicked away aimlessly giving the forwards little or no chance. I felt sorry for Barry today - he didn't have a great game but he was left completely isolated a lot of the time. He'll have better days I'm sure.

Thought Denis Booth was having a bad day too and I thought we could have tried alternatives to pick up Heslin - Shane Nerney hasn't done much wrong and even Dillon might have worked better despite the height disadvantage. Even Meaney has some experience back there that might have been worth trying. In any case, I thought it was odd that no change was made there at all.

A huge amount of work to do.

On the positive side, I thought Scully and Begley were superb on the half back line, driving Laois forward time and again.

[SpeculativeEffort]

We seemed to be comfortable enough in the first half but when Westmeath decided that they'd like to win the game, we let them without much of a battle. Our play from half back to half forward was predictable, slow and ponderable while Kingston at full forward offered very little. Not sure why they didnt just leave O Carroll in there and let Donie drift.
I understand that the overall party line is 'we are building a team' but with the age profile through the spine of todays team Im not sure how true that can be. Booth, Dillon, Begley, Meaney, Johno, Lillis, Munnelly all over 30 with Kingston and Cahillane not far off it either. Where are their replacements going to come from to bring us to a top 12 county?

[welcomehome]

Was in mullingar today.laois were shocking.donie kingston  frustrates me,for such a gifted player he is so lazy..,did absolutely nothing today..he wasnt on on his own,i thought evan ocarroll was poor today...The backline was poor.no changes made there i dont think they are playing as good as they did last year,need more players like marty scully,with a bit of heart..he was one of few players,that played well..We will be lucky if we dont go back to division 4 ,the way they are playing...

[Laoiseabu]

We seemed to be comfortable enough in the first half but when Westmeath decided that they'd like to win the game, we let them without much of a battle. Our play from half back to half forward was predictable, slow and ponderable while Kingston at full forward offered very little. Not sure why they didnt just leave O Carroll in there and let Donie drift.
I understand that the overall party line is 'we are building a team' but with the age profile through the spine of todays team Im not sure how true that can be. Booth, Dillon, Begley, Meaney, Johno, Lillis, Munnelly all over 30 with Kingston and Cahillane not far off it either. Where are their replacements going to come from to bring us to a top 12 county?

Think Boyle is over 30 as well

[BallyroanAbu]

Was in mullingar today.laois were shocking.donie kingston  frustrates me,for such a gifted player he is so lazy..,did absolutely nothing today..he wasnt on on his own,i thought evan ocarroll was poor today...The backline was poor.no changes made there i dont think they are playing as good as they did last year,need more players like marty scully,with a bit of heart..he was one of few players,that played well..We will be lucky if we dont go back to division 4 ,the way they are playing...

Alright Gary

[on the hop]

Agree with a lot of posters above, really awful stuff. I don't think we scored from play for the last 55 minutes and bar Evans goal chance we didn't look like we would. Forwards are a major problem, no real pace from midfield up. We are terrible lateral and only Scully and Begley offered any threat from deep. Dillon was shoring up the full back line so he can't push forward and attride was at sea at centre back and ended up in the corner so another option was gone. options in midfield aren't great at present but I think after today meaney is offering nothing new.

I love to know what sugure's Forward plan was today. When it goes pear shaped or you are chasing the game you end up with teams doing mad stuff like Hail Marys. For some reason we started this fairly early, one in particular by meaney. Donie's role around the centre was bewildering. He offered nothing and barely moved. Once Evan didn't like the marking he was getting, they should have been switched or at least put Evan out onto the wing. To be honest donie should have been off if he wasn't going to be played nearer goals. He wasn't the only one that could have been subbed, they bullied our forwards especially in the second half and we wilted. The three forward subs offered nothing and to me Colm Murphy has shown more in previous games to be brought on ahead of Ross and Lowry. At least he appears to have the pace he show for the ball. The Longford game now is a real four pointer

[town1980]

Garett was brilliant today and taken off o Connor was a harsh decision all said we cruised last year this year we are been found out a little and so is our system but John has played so many lads he deserves credit because players genuinely know there getting a Craic of the whip for that I think were doing ok

[Laoiseabu]

Garett was brilliant today and taken off o Connor was a harsh decision all said we cruised last year this year we are been found out a little and so is our system but John has played so many lads he deserves credit because players genuinely know there getting a Craic of the whip for that I think were doing ok

We didn't cruise last year . We got the job done in most of the games .

[SCFC]

Plenty of lads getting a shot anyway. Some putting the hands up, some not. We might be best served spending another year in division 3 anyway. As long as we don't f**k up and head the other direction.

[blueandwhite1]

Plenty of lads getting a shot anyway. Some putting the hands up, some not. We might be best served spending another year in division 3 anyway. As long as we don't f**k up and head the other direction.

I agree. If we do go to division 2 there is no point in having a team of 30 somethings with no pace and come straight back down. Need to keep the development focus.

[Giovanni]

Agree with the two posters above. Despite the awful performance yesterday, I think the management team are doing a good job in bringing new lads through. Indeed, some of our best performers have been these new lads so it's not all bleak.