Kildare v Laois 2026 Leinster SFC Quarter Final,Preview

Laois travel to Cedral Conleths Park, Newbridge tomorrow April 19th at 3.45pm to face Kildare away in the quarter final of the Leinster Senior Football Championship.

Ticket Information: Buy Your Match Tickets

Follow live match updates and scores on the official CLG Laois X account: @CLGLaois. Plus on our official Facebook page.

Laois team named to face Kildare:

Latest Key Laois Stats (Courtesy of Eoin Culliton @LeixGaelicStats on Twitter)

From the Leinster Senior Football Championship Round 1 win over Offaly.

Trevor Collins made his 30th SFC appearance – 36th Laois footballer to do this.

Paddy O’Sullivan made his 60th L&C and his 70th overall app.

Ronan Coffey made both his 20th L&C AND his 20th overall apps for Laois.

Evan O’Carroll opened the match scoring in an SFC game for the third time in his career (last: 2019 vs Westmeath).

It’s the first time he did it from play.

O’Carroll’s 100th SFC point was scored and O’Carroll is now level with Willie Brennan in joint fourth spot on Laois’ SFC scoring list.

210 Ross Munnelly

191 Donie Kingston

106 Mark Barry

101 O’Carroll & Brennan

Paul Kingston hit the last two scores of the game.

It’s only the second time (since 1923) that a Laois sub has scored the final two scores in a championship victory.

The only other time was in 1990, coincidentally, against Offaly.

Paul Kingston made his 40th SFC appearance for Laois.

He is the 15th Laois footballer to do so.

Laois seniors scored first and were never caught for the entire game.

It’s the first time we have done this against Offaly in the SFC since 1947.

Biggest win over Offaly in the championship since 1990 (10).

22 1947

13 1917

10 1990

9 2026

Laois senior footballers are on a run of eight games alternating in wins and losses, starting with the 2024 win over Antrim.

It is 23 years since we did something similar, starting with the 2000 loss to Offaly.

The win v Offaly made it the first such run to nine since 1995.

Round 1 Result

Laois: 3.12

Offaly: 0.12

Standout Laois Players:

Alex Mohan was very effective throughout, particularly in carrying the ball confidently with pace out of defence, he consistently showed strength to hold off challenges. He won a number of important frees under pressure and was alert defensively, key moment making a crucial tackle to deny Dylan Murphy a certain scoring chance early on, before turning over possession, driving out, and earning frees to clear danger.

Mohan was the backbone of the super solid Laois back line that denied Offaly attacking opportunities, particularly when Laois gained momentum early on. Mohan’s turnovers helped launch Laois attacks when he drove forward.

Throughout the rest of the game, Mohan’s work rate was relentless he never let up and he continued to defend extremely well with: tight marking, chasing down the ball and Offaly forwards, making tackles, interceptions and turnovers: all despite Laois being well ahead in those stages. His effort was hugely commendable.

Kevin Swayne stood out for his ability to win long ball, combining physical presence with pace and intelligent distribution. He linked play well, notably setting up Rioghan Murphy for a point, and showed great composure to take his goal early in the game, which helped establish momentum. He also created another goal opportunity for himself, only to be denied by an excellent save from the Offaly goalkeeper, and remained a constant attacking threat.

Ronan Coffey was very sharp on breaking ball, reacting quickest throughout to win possession from loose ball in the Offaly defence and turned this into fast attacking moves for Laois. He displayed a high skill level with dummy solo’s to beat his opponents before scoring curling points.

Coffey’s trademark play is to beat multiple defenders with pace and footwork and he displayed that in great amounts against Offaly.