Joe McDonagh Cup 2025

[Joeythelips]

After todays results it will be the Dubs facing the winners of the Joe McDonagh.

[ottoman]

Relieved to get to the JMD final. We've made hard work of getting there and to be quite honest, I don't like our current style of play - I don't think it suits us.
Our first touch in the last two games has been very poor overall and we are no aerial ball winners either. At this stage of the tournament we ought to have these glaring deficiencies ironed out. The only aspect of our game that is working is when we can offload the sliothar into a player with space and time to convert a score. We're easily succumbing to pressure in most 50-50s and turning over ball to the opposition.
Today, under the stand in Carlow, we passed off a ball into midfield and there was a free Laois player on the wing - who was begging for the pass. The result was a turnover in midfield and a Carlow point then resulted when we should have taken the obvious option and scored a point instead, a two point swing in the crucial closing part of the game instead of scoring, we went another point behind.
I seriously hope management scrutinise every minute of that game today and learn, learn hard from it. Kildare are a step above Carlow and today it seemed we took very little from the lesson Kildare dished out last week. We have two weeks to prepare for the final - so do Kildare. We need to have our homework done for June 8th.
There are players on that Laois panel that have given great service to Laois over the years and the last two games (incl. Today) I think they have lacked a little bit of leadership. I hope they can resurrect it for the final.
Looking ahead to the final, I think the wider expanses of Croke Park will suit us better than Kildare. If we can play to our strengths, i.e. using the space intelligently we can drive on for the win. 

Have to agree, I'm not 100% a fan of our style either. But it should be a lot easier implement it on a pitch like Croker, the extra space will be a huge advantage.

My main issue with our style is it's too easy for the opposition to defend against it, without having to do a huge amount tactically themselves. Carlow simple let us have the ball for large periods and then forced the man press when the timing was right. It was so predictable, double bonus for Carlow when they did turn us over, they would have loads of space to work with as we had committed men forward while we were trying to progress it.

[G@@]

Looking at Limerick V Clare on The Sunday Game. I love how Limerick hung their flags all around the ground. Would love to see the same in Portlaoise when we welcome either Dublin or Tipperary on June 15th.

[Riseagain]

After todays results it will be the Dubs facing the winners of the Joe McDonagh.

With a bit of luck we can repeat 2019 and maybe even get a bit further.

[Verbal]

Do you know after watching the Sunday Game our biggest concern should be Kildare been taken on as a pet project to develop another hurling county.
They are a very attractive prospect.
Location, population, facilities, profile.
They'd be a really perfect success story for Willie Maher & the GAA if they could continue making strides.
That's a concern for us.
Keeping them down gives us the chance to take this place.
We aren't as attractive a proposition though I'm afraid!

[The infidel in exile]

You may have a point verbal, but Kildare may have a population of half a million, but over 100.000 are immigrants who have no interest in Gaa, or Ireland. That being said, as long as iv been a Laois fan, we've had to do all the spade work ourselves. I can't honestly remember a time when we were front and centre of the executive, even when we had a  Gas president.

We are similar to Offaly and we have been perennialy the fourth or fifth best underage Hurling teams in Leinster except for a couple of years. Last Sunday we had only two players over 30, Carlow had at least 6, we have an average age of 26, with five on the panel under 23.

I have every confidence that we will take Kildare with a few points to spare if the line gets the first 15 right.
I witnessed a team on Saturday that, although made some mistakes, were mad to put things right and I guarantee you that them boys won't have to be told twice on June 9th to sort out that other crowd

[Voice of tReason]

You may have a point verbal, but Kildare may have a population of half a million, but over 100.000 are immigrants who have no interest in Gaa, or Ireland. That being said, as long as iv been a Laois fan, we've had to do all the spade work ourselves. I can't honestly remember a time when we were front and centre of the executive, even when we had a  Gas president.

We are similar to Offaly and we have been perennialy the fourth or fifth best underage Hurling teams in Leinster except for a couple of years. Last Sunday we had only two players over 30, Carlow had at least 6, we have an average age of 26, with five on the panel under 23.

I have every confidence that we will take Kildare with a few points to spare if the line gets the first 15 right.
I witnessed a team on Saturday that, although made some mistakes, were mad to put things right and I guarantee you that them boys won't have to be told twice on June 9th to sort out that other crowd

Really like this post Infidel. Great to see such positivity.

Back ourselves. No need to go cap in hand to Willie Maher or coaches from KK or wherever when we have a young, hungry team being driven by one of our own.

Embed that across our hurling structures; driven and committed Laois people looking to demand the best from and for our players. Every so often, a 'Niall Corcoran' can come in to add something extra to a group.

We've good people involved with our Development Panels at the minute; keep them there and set that as our minimum standard. They need to see a pathway to minor/U20 jobs and maybe further down the line.

***

As an aside, Aaron Dunphy got minutes with BK again yesterday. He has had a tough run with injuries and has apparently done very little training over the last few weeks. He carried an injury from the club into the league and has had a frustrating year in general. We need to temper expectations slightly and trust management to get the right players on the pitch at the start and coming down the home stretch.

[Verbal]

I agree with all of the above.
Still have a concern that Kildare would be regarded as a better/"sexier"/higher profile prospect than us.

W Maher + J Burns (& whoever follows him) + others will want something to be able to point to within the next 2 or 3 years.
Many could see us as a poorer prospect, tried before, will never work, can't help that crowd. Those sort of vibes.
We should be first in line to be boosted in an effort to join the Wexford/Offaly/Dublin tier.

I think it's going to take serious elbow, hip & arse movement to keep our place in the line ahead of Kildare.

Without wanting to sound paranoid, are we certain that everybody in a position of influence in the county wants us to be first in that line?

Different note- good to hear re A Dunphy. Wise move. Just looked to be lacking sharpness of movement.

[The infidel in exile]

Voice of reason, brother you don't know who I am, but many years ago, when I was just 30, I was the youngest to referee a County final, but drink got a hold of me, and after some personal pain, I decided to leave Ireland and make my way across the pond, every Ballacolla v Rathdowney or Camross underage game was handed to me, because they asked that I would be Referee, as I didn't just blow the whistle, I told the chaps want I blew them up for, and I never received one word of abuse, only a Sunday morning game, where Mountrath beat Mountmellick by 28 points and challenor called my an alcoholic.

I know more than most about Laois Hurling and regarding Young Dunphy, that man was captain last year for a reason, he has 2 more weeks to get stronger and in my personal view he must start! Why? Simply because an 80% fit Aaron Dunphy will pop over at least 4 points, but sorry to say that two of the inside forward line, although savage work rate won't score enough. P.S haven't touched a drink in 9 years.

[Voice of tReason]

Voice of reason, brother you don't know who I am, but many years ago, when I was just 30, I was the youngest to referee a County final, but drink got a hold of me, and after some personal pain, I decided to leave Ireland and make my way across the pond, every Ballacolla v Rathdowney or Camross underage game was handed to me, because they asked that I would be Referee, as I didn't just blow the whistle, I told the chaps want I blew them up for, and I never received one word of abuse, only a Sunday morning game, where Mountrath beat Mountmellick by 28 points and challenor called my an alcoholic.

I know more than most about Laois Hurling and regarding Young Dunphy, that man was captain last year for a reason, he has 2 more weeks to get stronger and in my personal view he must start! Why? Simply because an 80% fit Aaron Dunphy will pop over at least 4 points, but sorry to say that two of the inside forward line, although savage work rate won't score enough. P.S haven't touched a drink in 9 years.

Congrats on your sobriety. Really commendable.

If Dunphy is able to train fully over the next 2 weeks, he'll certainly be in contention and we all know he's definitely one of the top 6 forwards in the county.
There's an open spot in the forwards and hopefully he can train well.

[redsetanta]

We have the beating of Kildare but another performance like we produced in the last two games and we'll be in McDonagh next year again. With Antrim coming down they'll be favourites to go straight back up next year so we need to make sure we win in it Sunday week.

[Joeythelips]

We have the beating of Kildare but another performance like the last two and we'll be in McDonagh next year again. With Antrim coming down they'll be favourites to go straight back up next year so we need to make sure we win in it Sunday week.

I agree, we have the better hurlers imo but it was the same against Carlow and we got out of jail.

Our players need to cut out the silly mistakes and I hope their are working on their plans for line balls this week as some were farcical against Carlow. I know people are saying its good to drive the ball long but if a teams sits an extra man or two back deep to stop goal opportunities (as Carlow were clearly doing 2nd half) the players outfield have to be clever enough to use the space and work a simple score. Too often they were running into each other or giving a sloppy pass behind the person running off the shoulder, all basic stuff that should be addressed in training.

If we play like that in the final having the more skillful hurlers wont save us.

[redsetanta]

It was very poor and sloppy. Some of those sidelines stick out and as well as numerous hand passes either too long, too high or just too bad.
All individual errors so hopefully no repeat in Croke Park.

[Riseagain]

We have the beating of Kildare but another performance like the last two and we'll be in McDonagh next year again. With Antrim coming down they'll be favourites to go straight back up next year so we need to make sure we win in it Sunday week.

I agree, we have the better hurlers imo but it was the same against Carlow and we got out of jail.

Our players need to cut out the silly mistakes and I hope their are working on their plans for line balls this week as some were farcical against Carlow. I know people are saying its good to drive the ball long but if a teams sits an extra man or two back deep to stop goal opportunities (as Carlow were clearly doing 2nd half) the players outfield have to be clever enough to use the space and work a simple score. Too often they were running into each other or giving a sloppy pass behind the person running off the shoulder, all basic stuff that should be addressed in training.

If we play like that in the final having the more skillful hurlers wont save us.

Honestly I think it was a good thing that Kildare beat us it means we dont face carlow in the final and to humble us after beating other teams by cricket scores it made us realise that it wasnt going to be handed to us after losing a final we should've won last year there should be a greater hunger. With the way things are turning out fingers crossed we could have a repeat of 2019 dublin in the preliminary and tipperary in the quarter final.

[County Man]

While we certainly got the rub of the green on Saturday, it is great to back in the Joe McDonagh cup final.

Guaranteed at least 2 more games now. There should be a great crowd in Croke Park on the day. Both Kildare and Laois will bring decent support and there is a GAA initiative where no less than 20000 free tickets are to be given out to underage teams to expose them to our final and of course the Leinster final then between Galway and Kilkenny.

It promises to be an absolute cracker and I believe it is on TV as well. Kildare look to be a really decent outfit with quality players all over the field - a lot of big men and forwards who offer a serious goal threat along with fine fitness levels.

Without question, we'll have to significantly improve our performance all over the field to lift the trophy. The management team have that bit of time now to prepare a plan for what should be a great occasion.