Written By Laois PR Team
We preview both the Minor and Senior hurling games, taking place on Saturday March 23rd.
First up, our minor hurlers are set to begin their 2024 Leinster Minor Hurling Championship Campaign when they travel to Hawkfield to take on Kildare in the first round at 1pm in Mangaurd Park on Saturday March 23rd.
Minor Tickets: https://www.universe.com/events/electric-ireland-leinster-mhc-2024round1-tier-2-kildare-v-laois-tickets-S05CZY
The Leinster GAA Underage Pass of 8 games for €40 (Minor & U20) is available to purchase here: https://www.universe.com/events/leinstergaaunderage-minor-u-20-season-ticket-2024-tickets-F8MGKB
Kildare vs Laois is available to purchase for a live stream viewing.
Live Stream: On Clubber TV: For an individual match price of €10.99 here: https://www.clubber.ie/
Laois’ Minor Hurling Leinster Championship Fixtures:
Round 1: Kildare vs Laois 1pm in Hawkfield on Saturday March 23rd.
Round 2: Laois vs Kerry at 2pm in Laois Hire O’Moore Park on Saturday April 6th.
Round 3: Laois vs Carlow in Laois Venue at 2pm on Saturday April 27th.
The first 3 rounds are group games and if the Laois minor hurlers qualify out of their Tier 2 group, (by finishing 1st or 2nd) they will then face a Tier 1 team in a preliminary quarter-final on Saturday May 4th.
Laois Minor Hurling Manager Glen McEvoy has named the following side to face Kildare:
Starting 15:
1. Ethan Lafferty (The Harps)
2. Conor Mortimer (Camross)
3. Shane Walsh (Portlaoise)
4. Aaron Mahon (The Harps)
5. Eoin Duggan (Clough-Ballacolla)
6. Ruaidhri Kavanagh (St. Fintans Mountrath)
7. Tony Mahony (The Harps)
8. Tommy Goode (Castletown)
9. Daniel Whelan (Castletown)
10. Eoin Delaney (The Harps)
11. Oisin Moore (Rathdowney-Errill)
12. Eoin Bracken (Rathdowney-Errill)
13. Ross Deegan (The Harps)
14. Tom Og Phelan (Castletown)
15. Kyron Cuddy (Castletown)
Subs: 16. Donnacha Carroll. 17. Shane Connolly. 18. Ashton Keenan. 19. Colm Brennan. 20. Callum Peter’s. 21. Evan McSpadden. 22. CJ Brennan. 23. Ben Holohan. 24. Conor Ryan.
Previous meeting between Laois vs Kildare in Minor Hurling:
2023 Leinster Minor Hurling Championship: Preliminary Quarter-final 16th April 2023 in Hawkfield.
The following 5 Laois players set to face Kildare tomorrow, also faced Kildare last year in the previous meeting too: Ethan Lafferty, Ruaidhri Kavanagh, Eoin Bracken, Kyron Cuddy and Shane Connolly.
2023 Previous meeting:
Final score:
Laois: 4-15 (27)
Kildare: 2-13 (19)
Laois scorers that day: Justin Duggan 2-2, Eoghan Murphy 0-6, Cormac Byrne 1-1, Caelum O’Brien 1-1, Ben O’Mara 0-3, Mark Downey 0-1, Cian Hill 0-1.
Kildare scorers that day: Tim Ryan 1-3, Alex Bell 0-4 frees, Tom Power 1-1, Michael Owen’s, Oran Byrne, Olan Hynes Kelly, Dara McGlynn and Noah Farrell 0-1 each.
Senior Preview: Laois vs Down (Allianz Hurling League Div.2A Semi Final)
After the great 10 point win over Kerry for our Senior Hurlers in Round 5, they now seek both automatic promotion and a league final place this Saturday when they take on Down at home at 3.30pm in Laois Hire O’Moore Park Saturday March 30th in the Allianz Hurling League Division 2A Semi Final.
Permutations and what’s next: This semi final clash is a knockout tie and the winners of Laois vs Down, will be automatically promoted to the new Division 1B hurling league for the 2025 season whilst also going through to the 2024 Division 2A Final, where Carlow (already promoted) await the winner of Laois vs Down to be played in Dr.Cullen Park, Carlow on the weekend of March 30th-31st.
Whoever is defeated in the Laois vs Down semi final, will not gain promotion and will remain in Div.2A for the 2025 season.
Carlow have home advantage for this upcoming 2024 Div 2A Final as a result of finishing 1st place in the Div.2A table, whilst Laois are 2nd place and Down are 3rd place. Both Carlow and the winners of the semi final between Laois vs Down will already be promoted ahead of the Div.2A final but the winner of Carlow vs Laois/Down in the upcoming final will be awarded with the extra incentive of lifting the Division 2A trophy, despite both teams in the final having already secured promotion before the final takes place.
Tickets can be purchased both online and in person using the following options below and if you cannot attend the game, live match scores and updates will be provided via Twitter.
Tickets can be purchased online here: https://am.ticketmaster.com/gaa/23OM2303
Tickets can be purchased in person via selected participating SuperValu stores:
SuperValu Stradbally
Breslin’s SuperValu Rathdowney
McConville’s SuperValu Mountmellick
McLoughlin’s SuperValu Portarlington
Mulhall’s SuperValu Portlaoise
SuperValu Abbeyleix
SuperValu Parkside Portlaoise
Follow live Senior match scores and updates on our official CLG Laois Twitter account: @CLGLaois
Radio: The match will be broadcast live on Midlands Radio 103.
Manager Willie Maher has named the following side to face Down:
Starting 15
1. Enda Rowland (Abbeyleix St. Lazarians)
2. Ian Shanahan (Ballinakill)
3. Ryan Mullaney (Castletown)
4. Diarmaid Conway (Clough-Ballacolla)
5. Liam O’Connell (Rathdowney-Errill)
6. Padraig Delaney (The Harps)
7. Tom Cuddy (Camross)
8. Aidan Corby (Clough-Ballacolla)
9. Paddy Purcell (Rathdowney-Errill)
10. Aaron Dunphy (Borris in Ossory-Kilcotton)
11. Ross King (Rathdowney-Errill)
12. David Dooley (Rosenallis)
13. Jer Quinlan (Borris in Ossory-Kilcotton)
14. Martin Phelan (Castletown)
15. Tomas Keyes (Camross)
Subs: 16. Cathal Dunne. 17. Padraic Dunne. 18. Fiachra C Fennell. 19. Lee Cleere. 20.
Donnchadh Hartnett. 21. John Lennon. 22. Padraic Lawlor. 23. Eric Killeen. 24. Willie Dunphy.
25. James Duggan. 26. Stephen Bergin.
Laois Round 5 Recap: Laois vs Kerry in Laois Hire O’Moore Park on March 16th
Final score:
Laois: 4-20
Kerry: 1-19
Laois scorers: Ross King 1-7 (3 frees), Tomas Keyes 2-3, James Duggan 1-1, Willie Dunphy 0-2, Ryan Mullaney, Podge Delaney, Fiachra C Fennell, Ian Shanahan, Aidan Corby, John Lennon and Stephen Bergin 0-1 each.
The standout players for Laois were: Ross King was fantastic on his return from injury, scoring a total of 1-7 (1-3 from play), Tomas Keyes was in top form scoring 2-3 from play and his 2 goals were outstanding. Ryan Mullaney produced an immense defensive performance for Laois at full back.
Laois vs Kerry Round 3 Stats:
Ross King & Willie Dunphy became the 30th and 31st Laois Hurlers to play a 50th NHL game and the first time since 2000 that 2 Laois hurlers achieved this in the one game. (Declan Ryan and Niall Rigney vs Tipperary)
Tomas Keyes scored 2 goals and it is the 167th time a Laois Hurler has scored 2+ goals in an NHL game.
Bryan Bredin is the first Trumera player to play in the NHL for Laois since Cathal Brophy in 2006.
Down: qualified for this semi final vs Laois with their great 9 point win over Meath at home in Round 5 last Saturday March 16th. Down needed to beat Meath by 6+ points to qualify for the Semi final vs Laois and they achieved even more than required as Down defeated Meath by 9 points to ensure their progression to the Div.2A knockout stage.
Final score:
Down: 3-19
Meath: 1-16
The standout players for Down vs Meath: Down’s Daithi Sands who scored 3-3 from play, Pearse Og McCrickard who scored 0-8 from play and Tim Prenter who scored 0-3 from play.
All 3 players were excellent in the vital win which now brings Down back to Laois Hire O’Moore Park to face Laois for the 2nd time in this 2024 Div.2A league campaign, when they take on Laois in the semi final on Saturday after already facing Laois in Round 1.
Previous meeting: Laois vs Down: Div.2A Round 1 on February 4th 2024 in Laois Hire O’Moore Park.
Final score:
Laois: 2-18
Down: 0-17
Laois defeated Down at home by 7 points in the opening round of this years league campaign. Despite the 7 point defeat for Down, the game was an even more exciting clash than the final scoreline suggests, as Down produced a very spirited and positive performance up against a strong Laois side and Laois had to work hard for the win as Down brought a really good challenge too for most of the game, with the sides on level terms only 5 minutes from the final whistle.
Standout players for Laois that day: Liam O’Connell was surperb in defense and Jer Quinlan (on his NHL debut that day vs Down) put in a very impressive attacking performance scoring 1-3 and also helped set up Mark Dowling’s goal, which was vital for the Laois win.
Standout players for Down that day: Both Pearse Og McCrickard (score total 0-7, of which 5 were excellently taken frees) and Tim Prenter (0-4 from play) were very talented as Down produced an exciting, skillful and a great effort of a performance against Laois.
By Laois PRO Fri 22nd Mar
