SFC 2026

[Smallballbigballs]

You know Laois football is in the pits when that woeful Killeshin side are able to get to a senior semi final .
How in gods name did Portlaoise and Graigue lose to them ? Alarm bells should be ringing.
I genuinely reckon Kilcavan or Timahoe would of given Port as good a game today as Killeshin

You don't think alarm bells are ringing in Portlaoise and Graigue? Graigue are in a relegation final and Portlaoise are nowhere.

[High Fielder]

If they are, nobody appears to be listening. It is of course a great achievement by Courtwood, but let's not kid ourselves here, the standard is unbelievably bad. Outside of Portarlington, I have a feeling that the rest of our teams wouldn't be mapped in Kildare, Meath and Dublin. The vast majority probably wouldn't be Senior

[Silkyskillssunshinee]

If they are, nobody appears to be listening. It is of course a great achievement by Courtwood, but let's not kid ourselves here, the standard is unbelievably bad. Outside of Portarlington, I have a feeling that the rest of our teams wouldn't be mapped in Kildare, Meath and Dublin. The vast majority probably wouldn't be Senior

Ah, this is the sort of over the top stuff that makes no sense. Sure didn't St Joseph's not beat Thomas Davis in a friendly recently enough who are into Dublin SFC semis now? When was the last time a Meath side even did anything in the Leinster club championship?

[High Fielder]

Challenge match? Ah come on. Josephs were awful yesterday, and I stand by what I said. Meath and Kildare are notoriously difficult to get out of. I'd only consider Port good enough to compete properly in either

[Laoiseabu]

Challenge match? Ah come on. Josephs were awful yesterday, and I stand by what I said. Meath and Kildare are notoriously difficult to get out of. I'd only consider Port good enough to compete properly in either

I completely agree . I watch a lot of Kildare , Meath and Dublin football myself and the standard from Senior right through to junior overall is MUCH higher . Of course this is helped by having huge populations and being football dominant counties . Athy easily beat Port in the Leinster championship last year but don't get it there own way in Kildare at all , they only drew with Raheens last weekend and only sneaked over Sallins by a point a couple games before that . Raheens nor Sallins would be considered top senior teams in Kildare mind you but yet can push Athy right to the pin of their collar in championship games .
Port don't get these kind of tests at all in Laois 99% of the time as the standard is pretty poor . You can see on the performances and quality of the Laois senior , minor and u20 teams in recent years that we are definitely playing catch up unfortunately and the club scene with the exception of Portarlington reflects that too . I've said it before but it's mind blowing how Portlaoise are not MUCH better than what they currently are with the population and tradition they have .
As for challenge games like one poster said above , I think you can't read too much into them . My club played a challenge game against a side a couple of months ago and won by 11 points . We played them a month later up in there place and we lost by about the same margin . They aren't always the best barometer of where you really stand

[Smallballbigballs]

If they are, nobody appears to be listening. It is of course a great achievement by Courtwood, but let's not kid ourselves here, the standard is unbelievably bad. Outside of Portarlington, I have a feeling that the rest of our teams wouldn't be mapped in Kildare, Meath and Dublin. The vast majority probably wouldn't be Senior

Ah, this is the sort of over the top stuff that makes no sense. Sure didn't St Joseph's not beat Thomas Davis in a friendly recently enough who are into Dublin SFC semis now? When was the last time a Meath side even did anything in the Leinster club championship?

Your reasoned argument backed up by facts has no place here

[Smallballbigballs]

Challenge match? Ah come on. Josephs were awful yesterday, and I stand by what I said. Meath and Kildare are notoriously difficult to get out of. I'd only consider Port good enough to compete properly in either

I completely agree . I watch a lot of Kildare , Meath and Dublin football myself and the standard from Senior right through to junior overall is MUCH higher . Of course this is helped by having huge populations and being football dominant counties . Athy easily beat Port in the Leinster championship last year but don't get it there own way in Kildare at all , they only drew with Raheens last weekend and only sneaked over Sallins by a point a couple games before that . Raheens nor Sallins would be considered top senior teams in Kildare mind you but yet can push Athy right to the pin of their collar in championship games .
Port don't get these kind of tests at all in Laois 99% of the time as the standard is pretty poor . You can see on the performances and quality of the Laois senior , minor and u20 teams in recent years that we are definitely playing catch up unfortunately and the club scene with the exception of Portarlington reflects that too . I've said it before but it's mind blowing how Portlaoise are not MUCH better than what they currently are with the population and tradition they have .
As for challenge games like one poster said above , I think you can't read too much into them . My club played a challenge game against a side a couple of months ago and won by 11 points . We played them a month later up in there place and we lost by about the same margin . They aren't always the best barometer of where you really stand

You also said Timahoe would of (sic) given port as good a game as Killeshin so forgive us for taking your post with a pinch of salt

[Laoiseabu]

Challenge match? Ah come on. Josephs were awful yesterday, and I stand by what I said. Meath and Kildare are notoriously difficult to get out of. I'd only consider Port good enough to compete properly in either

I completely agree . I watch a lot of Kildare , Meath and Dublin football myself and the standard from Senior right through to junior overall is MUCH higher . Of course this is helped by having huge populations and being football dominant counties . Athy easily beat Port in the Leinster championship last year but don't get it there own way in Kildare at all , they only drew with Raheens last weekend and only sneaked over Sallins by a point a couple games before that . Raheens nor Sallins would be considered top senior teams in Kildare mind you but yet can push Athy right to the pin of their collar in championship games .
Port don't get these kind of tests at all in Laois 99% of the time as the standard is pretty poor . You can see on the performances and quality of the Laois senior , minor and u20 teams in recent years that we are definitely playing catch up unfortunately and the club scene with the exception of Portarlington reflects that too . I've said it before but it's mind blowing how Portlaoise are not MUCH better than what they currently are with the population and tradition they have .
As for challenge games like one poster said above , I think you can't read too much into them . My club played a challenge game against a side a couple of months ago and won by 11 points . We played them a month later up in there place and we lost by about the same margin . They aren't always the best barometer of where you really stand

You also said Timahoe would of (sic) given port as good a game as Killeshin so forgive us for taking your post with a pinch of salt

Yeah I don't think Timahoe or Kilcavan are a huge amount worse than the current Killeshin side . Killeshin beat Ballyfin by 3 points in the Division 2 relegation final of the league to stay up . Theres absolutely no difference between Killeshin and the likes of Clonaslee and The Heath who are in relegation. Killeshin only beat Rosenallis by 2 points in the championship and Stradbally beat Killeshin by 6 points in the first round . They are pretty poor for a team that's made a semi final of a senior football championship whether people like it or not

[Smallballbigballs]

There's quite a difference between the Intermediate champions and the Junior A finalists

How dare Killeshin get a good run going and be beaten by the best team in Laois in a decade.

[SCFC]

Hard to see Port being beaten in the final. Courtwood were very well set up against Josephs and possibly just about deserved to win as they were far better at converting their chances.
But if they play like that against Port, they'll be well beaten. One thing you could say though was that Tyrrell, Doyle, Little could all play a lot better the next day and they'll have to.
Port were ruthless against a limited enough Killeshin team, who probably are capable of a bit more than what they showed yesterday. As others have said, how poor does that leave Portlaoise? Port's bench is so strong too. They'll be all out to try to keep the neighbours down.   
Saw bits of both relegation games on Clubber - Neither P/R or CSM can complain too much. CSM haven't won a game all year and P/R showed some great flashes of ability but ultimately were undone by injuries and a weak enough squad depth.

[The PRO]

Bookies have Port at 4/11 for the championship which says it all. They will just have too many big guns for Courtwood to stop. Brilliant effort by Courtwood last year to take it to a replay. When you look at it logically, there's no way a small place like Courtwood should be able to compete with the second largest town in the county.
Josephs will be sick. That game was there to be won but they just kicked it away. O'Flaherty was a great signing for them but he's done now. Their forwards ultimately cost them. Kelly was their best scoring threat - love to see him back in with Laois next year and have heard it's on. Think they'll be back though. They are probably still the best equipped team to take on Port (no disrespect to Courtwood) and if they can retain the management, they might not be far away next year.
Think Courtwood can play a bit better than that - they will have to! Byron was exceptional for them and O'Halloran in the middle was also very good.
Tough day for Killeshin. Never really got going up front and Port will punish you all day long if you switch off at the back. Still, it's been a good year for them and they'll be happy enough with the wins over Graigue and Portlaoise as a consolation prize.   
Quick edit - that was a terrible decision to red card Robbie Murphy of Josephs. Watched it back and he never lifted a finger. Mistaken identity I think.

[Ballboy48]

Port are without a doubt favourites but I don't think they've been going as well as other years. The two Murphy's are definitely the danger men for them and Coffey looks as if he's holding himself back I did hear he was injured wonder if that's it. Courtwood haven't been brilliant either this year however they have a great determination to get games over the line. I think it'll be a close final and hope it's as good as the first final last year