Laois vs. Longford.

Steve_o

Saturday, June 2nd, O'Connor Park Tullamore.

Can Longford upset Laois like they did Westmeath??

joxerdaly

Well done on beating Westmeath. Because of your second half performance and last years run in the Qualifiers you deserved it. Laois will be a much better team than Westmeath. I think ye will still have that element of surprise so maybe but ye will have to play the full game as ye did the second half against Westmeath. Best of Luck. (I'm asumeing your a longfort supporter.........)

cashback

joxerdaly wrote:

Best of Luck. (I'm asumeing your a longfort supporter.........)

A look at his location would indicate otherwise!

I think Laois should have enough to win by four or five points. Saw the team today and if there's no late withdrawals Laois should be too strong.
Fair play to Longford, they're a team going places but hopefully in the qualifiers! If this match was in Longford, they'd have more of a chance.

DUB

Should be god match, hard to call, I'd expect Laois to win but not by much.

blackbelt

I think Longford "upsetting" Laois is a very real prospect.They have shown great championship form since last year.They ran Dublin to the last whistle,beat Tipp,Waterford,Derry and Westmeath and gave Kerry a good go.The latter two being big banana skins who reached the final stages in 2004.

Both Bardens on their day will run riot through any team.As a Dub,I would not be surprised to see them in the semi or even the Leinster final.I'd be more worried about facing them this time around.They are the up and coming team and certainly served notice to the rest of Leinster that they're contenders.

blackbelt

I think Longford "upsetting" Laois is a very real prospect.They have shown great championship form since last year.They ran Dublin to the last whistle,beat Tipp,Waterford,Derry and Westmeath and gave Kerry a good go.The latter two being big banana skins who reached the final stages in 2004.

Both Bardens on their day will run riot through any team.As a Dub,I would not be surprised to see them in the semi or even the Leinster final.I'd be more worried about facing them this time around.They are the up and coming team and certainly served notice to the rest of Leinster that they're contenders.

Kojak

I have one quick question about this match. WHy is it being played on Sarurday night? Is it simply to accomodate RTE??

As for the game itself, I cannot see anything else than a Laois win, The win for Longford in the first round will have given them confidence, but Laois are in a whole different league to Longford - no disrespect to Longford, of course.

Laois to win by 4+ points.

Steve_o

joxerdaly wrote:

(I'm asumeing your a longfort supporter.........)

Eh....no!!!
<--Check out my Location!

I'm just trying to be unbias with this thread.

Steve_o

Kojak wrote:

I have one quick question about this match. WHy is it being played on Sarurday night? Is it simply to accomodate RTE??

As for the game itself, I cannot see anything else than a Laois win, The win for Longford in the first round will have given them confidence, but Laois are in a whole different league to Longford - no disrespect to Longford, of course.

Laois to win by 4+ points.

I dunno why, they did that a few times during the league as well...maybe it is for RTE's benefit

As for the 4+ point win, i think thats pretty accurate, the Laois forwards will have to be on their game tho, they were a little sloppy during the league, especially against Galway in Portlaoise, that was a class in how NOT to be a forward!

blackbelt

And whats that Kojak?....Laois in Division 1B and Longford in Div 2A?

I really don't think its as black and white as made out.Sure,on paper,Laois are a great side and are unsurprisingly favourites but in reality Longford are always improving.It doesn't bode well for fans to think Laois will have it handy.

Remember,Longford did what Laois couldn't do this year and that was beat Westmeath.Plus Laois drew with Kildare whereas ordinarily they would beat them,which implies that they are a bit bogey this year.

I predict Laois to scrape through by a point but would not be one bit surprised if Longford won.

Steve_o

blackbelt wrote:

Remember,Longford did what Laois couldn't do this year and that was beat Westmeath.Plus Laois drew with Kildare whereas ordinarily they would beat them,which implies that they are a bit bogey this year.

I predict Laois to scrape through by a point but would not be one bit surprised if Longford won.

I don't know, Laois' form in the League rarely carries through to the Championship, and they were missing alot of the main players against Kildare, At full strength Laois should be strong enough to comfortably over come them...It'll depend largely on who's at full back for Laois tho, it's been a bit of a poison chalice for players the last few seasons. I wreckon Colm Begley could have made it his own if he stayed in GAA!

blackbelt

Laois are a bit bogey,they are not as consistent as they were two years ago.While being one of the stronger teams in Leinster,they have gotten far through the qualifiers after some disappointing performances.

If trends are anything to go by,Laois will reach the Leinster semi final at least but trends can change.Longford are the breakout team in Leinster and credit must be given to them as they gave the Dubs a much bigger challenge than Laois did.

I just think Longford have the big potential to beat Laois.Thats why I wouldn't be one bit surprised.We will wait and see.I'll enjoy this game eating my dinner

kaimera

Tbh, the feeling I'm getting from folks since I've been home is that if we can't beat Longford then we can't even hope for a run in the back door.

blackbelt

Kearns hits back at Dempsey remarks
31 May 2007


Laois manager Liam Kearns has reacting angrily to claims made by his Longford counterpart Luke Dempsey that the O’Moore County have introduced a physical element to their play.

Dempsey has called on Mayo referee Vincent Neary to offer adequate protection to his players ahead of Saturday’s Leinster SFC quarter-final at Tullamore, but Kearns is furious at what he considers “innuendo”.
From Hoganstand.com

Laois, who ironically had great difficulty in competing with physically imposing teams under Mick O’Dwyer, played Cork, Kerry and Roscommon in challenge matches in recent weeks and Dempsey received reports back that there was a new physical element to Laois’ game.

But Kearns blasted: “That’s been more media driven than anything else. There was an article in one of the papers last Sunday that was pure hearsay and innuendo, saying things like Laois wouldn’t be pushovers and it would be a case of ’one in-all in’.

“That was very irresponsible in my opinion. There was no physical stuff at all in the Roscommon game and there was two teams playing in the Kerry game, let’s not forget. The whole thing is a myth.”


Well looks like this could become a battle off the pitch as well.I'm thinking this might be a smart strategy by Dempsey to try and put the physical edge out of Laois.

blackbelt

Sorry,credit Hoganstand.com for the above

phil

While I agree that the Bardens are fantastic players, the difference between the Longford team of this year (and last year) & previous years is Brian Kavanagh. David Barden definitely made an impact as soon as he came on and Paul and himself definitely improve the team immensely but they're not as clinical around goal as Kavanagh. Kavanagh's a different style of forward and I think Paul is in his best position as a roaming half-forward.

Laois are the favourites and for good reason. I think the mix of Keenan (mid-fielder) and the half-back line that we have tends to cause a lot more ball ending up in the opposition hands. If Longford want to win this match, the backs need to step up from the Westmeath first half. I wouldn't fall over in shock if Longford won, but obviously the expectancy from neutrals is for Laois to win.

That doesn't stop me supporting Longford and I only wish I could be at the game. Fabulous game against Westmeath, never been to a Longford game like it before (I missed most of last years Championship run).

Phil.

applehunter

2 ordinary teams that are closely matched with possibly Longford less exposed.

Mushy

That was almost some epic start for Laois. Hit the post, then the crossbar, the Longford raced in to a big lead. Coming up to half-time at 5 points each

cousin_borat

It's not on Shannonside or RTE Radio1 online. WTF!! Come on Longford

SoBe

cousin_borat wrote:

It's not on Shannonside or RTE Radio1 online. WTF!! Come on Longford

42 mins played longford 0-8 laois 0-5

wonder can longford kick any more wide

Nalced_irl

Wasnt exactly the best standard of football ive seen but in fairness to Longford, they have come a long way over the last couple of years. They use the handpass a little too much out of defense i think but apart from that their buildup play is quiet good. I wouldnt be too worries about meeting Laois in the semis or final to be honest. I think they were very lucky today. Dont think the ref could be blamed for calling a square ball as it was very close but that really made Longford hang the heads. Having said that with Laois, you can see a completely different team from one game to the next.

Kojak

Nalced_irl wrote:

Dont think the ref could be blamed for calling a square ball as it was very close but that really made Longford hang the heads.

Yeah, that was the turning point, alright. I have seen plenty of goals that were given which were a lot more dubious than that one...

I'm not trying to be tough on Longford, but they should have the game won long before that goal incident. They had some awful wides in the first half, which ultimatly cost them the match.

The conditions didn't help today, but still some of the passing by both teams was poor. especially the foot pass, which I am a fan of, was used a lot but it was nearly always going to the wrong man/opposition.

Laois were well below par this evening, and this game will do them the world of good before their next match out in a few weeks time. But their forwards would want to shape up - they had scored maybe 2 or 3 points up to the 60 minute mark, which simply isn't good enough for Senior Championship standard.

Its funny to say but, IMO, the better team lost this game. If Longford get a reasonable draw in the qualifiers, then they could still have a reasonably succesful summer.

Flukey

They missed a lot of chances. You can't afford to have that many wides and expect to win close games.

blackbelt

The better team did lose.I found that Laois were on the back-foot and were in a sense lucky to win.

Longfords 15 wides compared to Laois 5 wides and the fact that Longford had 56% possession of the ball proved this.I felt Longford were hard done by with the goal although it was too close to call for the ref maybe.When I saw it,I automatically knew it was a legit goal as the player was to the right of the square at the edge.

Longford might have held on if it was given but you can't have 15 wides and expect to win unless you have 30 shots on goal and convert 15.

Anyway,Longford gave a good account of themselves until the disallowed goal.Very shakey first 2 mins for Longford.They did well to settle in after.Longfords curse was the dreaded hand passing that ruined it for them.

I can't think of all the times the hand passing out of defence cost Longford,they seemed to run into the Laois brick wall and get caught up it in.

I thought Longford were going in with a tactic of looking for frees in froont of goal.They really should have won this game hands down.If I were a Laois supporter,I would have been very worried but like last year,a team can just overcome Longford and go on to win the Leinster title.

However,saying this,I don't understand why pundits are crowing about Laois.Sure,they won it in 2003 and made some finals and the championship latter stages but they are a bit unproven for my liking.They'll beat Wexford/Louth/Wicklow and no doubt make the final where Dublin should and hopefully be waiting for them.

kaimera

Very very lucky.

10 wides in the first half probably saved us. In saying that, a goal in the first minute might have changed it a bit.

However,saying this,I don't understand why pundits are crowing about Laois...
they are a bit unproven for my liking

I think the same about Dublin

blackbelt

I think the same about Dublin (Kaimera)

Really?Did you not see us winning Leinster twice in a row beating Laois in the final and semi final of 05 and 06 respectively

Steve_o

I think Laois could have won it by more if Ross Munnelly would PASS THE F**KING BALL....at least once....

kaimera

Really?Did you not see us winning Leinster twice in a row beating Laois in the final and semi final of 05 and 06 respectively

I also saw them collapse two years in a row in the AI series