The Future for Laois Football

[The PRO]

Completely agree about the schools with exception of Knockbeg there seems to be little to no emphasis on schools football in Laois
We need to have the CBS in Portlaoise and Portarlington either competitive in the A or winning B competitions, Heywood should be consistently in the B too
Clonaslee and Mountmellic have probably too small a pick but again this is where a combined Laois schools team for schools outside the A  is needed to give lads an opportunity to play at the highest level

A lot of Laois GAA is currently centred around geography unfortunately

You're 100% right about the secondary schools.
However, from talking to guys I know who teach secondary, the biggest issue they have is getting cover for their classes from non- sports minded colleagues when they're trying to arrange games or training.
I know myself when I played at that level, not today or yesterday, training was either at lunchtime or after school finished for the day. And games were often on the weekends.

[Jd]

I have been in contact with my local school as I was unhappy with the way football teams were going. The biggest problem was getting players to be involved. They had some really good footballers and just could not get them to train or play. I saw it in teams being sent out and there were lads on it who were middling at best. This is in a 1200 pupil school too

[clonadmad]

Completely agree about the schools with exception of Knockbeg there seems to be little to no emphasis on schools football in Laois
We need to have the CBS in Portlaoise and Portarlington either competitive in the A or winning B competitions, Heywood should be consistently in the B too
Clonaslee and Mountmellic have probably too small a pick but again this is where a combined Laois schools team for schools outside the A  is needed to give lads an opportunity to play at the highest level

A lot of Laois GAA is currently centred around geography unfortunately

You're 100% right about the secondary schools.
However, from talking to guys I know who teach secondary, the biggest issue they have is getting cover for their classes from non- sports minded colleagues when they're trying to arrange games or training.
I know myself when I played at that level, not today or yesterday, training was either at lunchtime or after school finished for the day. And games were often on the weekends.

You'd wonder how successful schools in other counties manage

Portlaoise CBS has close on 900 boys enrolled, is one of if not the biggest Second Level boys schools in the Country and GAA is on its knees in there.

You have academic years of 150 odd lads in there and 10% might play Schools GAA

Compare and Contrast with their female partner school on the same campus using the same facilities, they feature regularly in Leinster Finals and All Irelands across a number of Sports,Scoil Chriost Ri.

Maybe the secret could be the amount of training they put in, even during the summer months and other Holidays.

[steven seagal]

Scoil Chríost Rí go around to the local primary schools in June and do a training session with the 6th class girls to see what type of players are coming into them the following September. I think they even take a look at the 5th class kids too, to plan a year ahead. Great commitment in fairness to them, having Critchley involved obviously helps now that he's retired and can give even more time to it, but teaching staff in the school obviously buying in too. I don't think there's any real emphasis put on sport in the CBS, at least from an outsider looking in. 

[clonadmad]

Scoil Chríost Rí go around to the local primary schools in June and do a training session with the 6th class girls to see what type of players are coming into them the following September. I think they even take a look at the 5th class kids too, to plan a year ahead. Great commitment in fairness to them, having Critchley involved obviously helps now that he's retired and can give even more time to it, but teaching staff in the school obviously buying in too. I don't think there's any real emphasis put on sport in the CBS, at least from an outsider looking in.

I've a nephew going into Leaving Cert this year in the CBS

1 example from last year

Football training was sporadic and poor before last Christmas

After Christmas someone came up with the genius idea of having the senior and junior teams train together

So you had lads who were playing club senior football playing on the one pitch v some lads a year out of u13

The older lads were terrified of killing the younger lads and the younger lads were wary of getting in the way of the older lads with the result that a lot in both age groups walked away.

And the Hurling Training was an even bigger Joke.

In any county if you want to develop top level players you need 3 legs

Clubs that are coaching lads to the required level

Then the Schools which are a step up again

And then the development squad system

[Laois Rising]

Pat Critchley summed it up perfectly in his book. When he went into Scoil Chriost Rí it didn't have a basketball tradition. He worked on establishing it and creating buy in from the pupils and the school. Built it up over the years and then over time you can look back and see that you have created a tradition and one that the school is proud of and wants to maintain. 

CBS Portlaoise should be able to compete at the highest level of Leinster Schools Football with the pick available to them. The backbone of Laois minor teams should be passing through that school. Sadly that is not or no where near the case. You see Naas CBS with probably a similar size in pupils dominating the Leinster Schools the last number of years-no coincidence that Kildare are also competing impressively at minor and U21 level. It is all connected. Granted you need teachers who are willing to commit to giving up lunch times and organising after school training and coaching to ensure teams are run properly-if the school doesn't have those teachers willing to do so then it is not going to happen. Portlaoise CBS winning the South Leinster Colleges Senior Football League 'B' Shield this year in a nonsense final should not be the standard that that school is at. It is 17 years since a Laois side were in a Leinster Schools Final. In that time, schools or combined schools from Wicklow, Louth, Longford, Offaly, a number of stand alone Westmeath and Wexford schools have reached finals along with Kildare, Meath and Dublin schools. It is further example of how football in the county and proper coaching/investment in football has been slipping over a long period of time that has left us pretty much at the bottom of the pile.

[Joeythelips]

Scoil Chríost Rí go around to the local primary schools in June and do a training session with the 6th class girls to see what type of players are coming into them the following September. I think they even take a look at the 5th class kids too, to plan a year ahead. Great commitment in fairness to them, having Critchley involved obviously helps now that he's retired and can give even more time to it, but teaching staff in the school obviously buying in too. I don't think there's any real emphasis put on sport in the CBS, at least from an outsider looking in.

I've a nephew going into Leaving Cert this year in the CBS

1 example from last year

Football training was sporadic and poor before last Christmas

After Christmas someone came up with the genius idea of having the senior and junior teams train together

So you had lads who were playing club senior football playing on the one pitch v some lads a year out of u13

The older lads were terrified of killing the younger lads and the younger lads were wary of getting in the way of the older lads with the result that a lot in both age groups walked away.

And the Hurling Training was an even bigger Joke.

In any county if you want to develop top level players you need 3 legs

Clubs that are coaching lads to the required level

Then the Schools which are a step up again

And then the development squad system

Yep, we need to work with schools, get coaches in there, promote the bloody game for crying out loud. Kids these days have a myriad of distractions and things to do, we cant expect the love of the game to do the job. The GAA should be sending in county players to give talks, good coaches to run training sessions etc. Create an interest and promote the games.

[thegreeenandgold]

You do realise the GAA isn't automatically allowed in Schools, not every School wants them.

[Spiritof86]

You need individuals within the schools to drive and establish connections with students . Portlaoise, Knockbeg, Ballyfin and Heywood were all huge conveyor belts for Laois teams back in the 90s and 2000s . Those college teams were all backed by hard core GAA driven individuals . It's starts with the school and the individuals in charge .

Someone alluded to the fact that not all schools want GAA and that's true . They obviously feel the need to prioritise different programs/agendas etc . The interest has to be there at the top for any progress to be made .
I recall when attending secondary school years ago making the football and hurling teams were always on your mind and competition was fierce . Different times I realise but what percentage of the 900 students in Portlaoise CBS have any real interest in playing GAA with there school ?

[thegreeenandgold]

Portlaoise a very diverse town,  I just don't think it's as straightforward as going into Schools.  Knockbeg is a very different demographic.

[Spiritof86]

I understand that .However I would argue Carlow town has an equally diverse community with a slightly larger population and since Knockbeg lost its boarding status the demographics have changed considerably.
Ultimately it's about getting the right people into these schools who are qualified and have the necessary resources and organisational skills .

[Zooming around]

Over the years Portlaoise CSB has had plenty of teachers with expertise, profile etc but sadly most of them were only interested in their own careers with club and county and beyond and they didn't give a f**k about getting involved in the school.

[clonadmad]

Portlaoise a very diverse town,  I just don't think it's as straightforward as going into Schools.  Knockbeg is a very different demographic.

Everywhere is diverse nowadays and we should be appealing to the diverse nowadays too which we aren't doing either in this county

Its not a question of sending in county players to promote the game once or twice a year

most if nearly all the lads in there wouldn't recognize them and its a handy way of saying we are doing something when we are doing nothing in reality

All the CBS have to do if they are bothered (and I really think they arent arsed) is to look across the campus at the girls school and see and then copy the hard daily work that the likes of Pat Critchley and John Scully amongst many others are doing

I know of one Clare Hurler who wanted to work in Portlaoise as a secondary teacher and in the months after winning the 2013 All Ireland was interviewed by the CBS

He didn't get job and it later transpired that the people interviewing didn't know that he was involved in the GAA

Hes been very successful since in both codes in another school outside of Laois

[Laois man]

Should the county board not have a opened meeting with all clubs and have a serious discussion on where we are going and what's the plans for the future of hurling and football within the county. No point appointing new managers if the proper structures ain't in place. Most clubs now have a five or 10 years plan for improving facilities as well as a good juvenile structure being put in place. We are all laois people and would love to see our teams doing well and no better supporters when things are done right with a view of improving our teams.

[redsetanta]

This day 20 years ago most of us would have been nursing hangovers after our Leinster final win the day before.

Lads were celebrating for the best part of a week.

Think we'll be waiting 20 years for the next one if we're lucky.

What a few days it was though.