Hurling: Senior Div.2A League Final Preview and Minor & U20 Leinster Championships Round 1 Update.

Hurling: Senior Div.2A League Final Preview and Minor & U20 Leinster Championships Round 1 Update.

Written by Laois PR Team

We preview our Senior Hurlers: Division 2A League Final fixture away to Carlow and also provide an update on both of our Minor and U20 Hurlers in Leinster Championship Round 1 action.

Senior Preview: Allianz Hurling League: Division 2A Final: Carlow vs Laois on Sunday March 31st at 3pm in Netwatch Cullen Park, Carlow.

After Laois’ fantastic 14 point win over Down in the Div.2A Semi Final, the Laois Senior Hurlers both gained promotion to Division 1B foŕ the 2025 season and a place in 2024’s Division 2A Final this Sunday, where Laois face Carlow.

Carlow have home advantage for the final and automatically qualified for the final at the end of the round robin stage, as a result of finishing 1st place on the Div.2A table. Laois are the away side as they finished 2nd place and defeated Down (3rd place) in the semi final. With promotion already sealed for both sides, the winner of the Carlow vs Laois final will be awarded the extra incentive of lifting the Div.2A trophy and being crowned Division 2A National Hurling Champions.

Tickets can be purchased both online and in person using the following options below:

Tickets can be purchased online here: https://am.ticketmaster.com/gaa/carlowlaois3103

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

Stream the match live: Carlow vs Laois will be live streamed on TG4 Sport YouTube Channel.

Link to view the match is here: https://www.tg4.ie/en/irish-tvschedule/youtubesporttg4schedule/

Follow live 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 Carlow:

One change to the starting 15 from the Down game: John Lennon starts in place of Ross King who is now on the bench.

The Laois team lines out as follows:

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. John Lennon (Rosenallis)
11. Aaron Dunphy (Borris in Ossory-Kilcotton)
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. Ross King 22. Willie Dunphy. 23. Eric Killeen. 24. James Duggan
25. Stephen Bergin. 26. Padraic Lawlor

Laois Semi Final Recap: Laois vs Down in Laois Hire O’Moore Park on March 23rd

Final score:
Laois: 1-24
Down: 0-13

Laois scorers: Aaron Dunphy 0-7, Tomas Keyes 0-4, Jer Quinlan 0-4, Ross King 0-3, Paddy Purcell 1-1, Martin Phelan 0-2, Aidan Corby 0-1, Fiachra C Fennell 0-1, David Dooley 0-1.

Standout players for Laois: Liam O’Connell and Padraig Delaney played very well and made Laois’ defense solid and very difficult for Down to break through. Laois Captain and wing forward Aaron Dunphy (0-7, 3 frees) was nominated for GAA.ie’s Player Of The Week as a result of his brilliant performance vs Down. Jer Quinlan scored some incredible points from play from difficult angles and Paddy Purcell’s goal from play is what sealed the Laois win.

Laois vs Down Semi Final Stats:

Ryan Mullaney made his 70th league and championship appearance for Laois Senior Hurlers.

Padraig Delaney made his 30th NHL app.

Fiachra C Fennell made his 25th NHL app.

Aidan Corby made his 20th NHL app.

Aidan Corby also made his 50th overall appearance (in all competitions).

Carlow: sealed their 1st place Div.2A table finish, promotion to Div.1B and their league final spot, with their excellent 5 point win over Down in Round 4 on March 10th. In Round 5 on March 15th, Carlow were defeated by Kildare by 4 points in what was a dead rubber clash for Carlow. Carlow are also the only team to defeat Laois in this league campaign making this final clash an exciting encounter.

Standout players: Marty Kavanagh (scored 1-7 against Down and scored 0-9 against Kildare). James Doyle (scored 1-1 against Down). Chris Nolan (scored 0-3 against Down and scored 0-2 against Kildare) Kevin McDonald has also been very good.

Previous meeting: Laois vs Carlow Div.2A Round 3 in February 24th in Laois Hire O’Moore Park

Final Score:
Laois: 0-21
Carlow: 1-23

Laois scorers: Picky Maher 0-8, Paddy Purcell 0-4, David Dooley 0-2, Enda Rowland 0-2, Tom Cuddy 0-1, Martin Phelan 0-1, Jer Quinlan 0-1 Aaron Dunphy 0-1, Aidan Corby 0-1

Carlow scorers: Marty Kavanagh 0-9 Chris Nolan 0-4, Scott Treacy 1-1, John Michael Nolan 0-3, Fiachra Fitzpatrick 0-2, Kevin McDonald 0-2, James Doyle 0-1, Conor Kehoe 0-1.

Standout players for Laois that day: Goalkeeper Enda Rowland, corner back Diarmaid Conway and midfielder Paddy Purcell were all superb despite defeat.

Standout players for Carlow: Marty Kavanagh, Chris Nolan and Scott Treacy were outstanding in Carlow’s 5 point win.

Minor and U20: Leinster Hurling Championships Round 1 Updates.

Minor: LMHC Tier 2 Round 1 in Hawkfield on March 23rd

Result:
Kildare: 4-11
Laois: 0-15

Laois scorers: Eoin Delaney 0-5, Tony Mahony 0-2, Tom Og Phelan 0-4, Eoin Bracken 0-2, Daniel Whelan and Kyron Cuddy 0-1 each.

Despite defeat to a very strong Kildare side, all is not lost for Laois going forward in the Leinster Minor Hurling Championship as they can fight for wins and qualification to the knockout stages in the next 2 rounds and the positives in the minor hurlers performance was which was a proud team performance and there are strengths for Laois to look forward to in the rest of the campaign. Standout players on the day were: Midfielder Eoin Delaney (The Harps) immensely helped set up his teammates with scores from great play and scored some lovely points himself (0-5). Tony Mahony (The Harps) was very solid in defence and also scored 2 points. Castletown’s Tom Og Phelan was excellently accurate in his free taking duties. (0-4).

Next up for Minor Hurlers:

We look forward to and wish our minors the best of luck in the rest of the Championship campaign.

Home fixture vs Kerry in Round 2 on Saturday April 6th. (At 3pm in Laois Hire O’Moore Park)
They will then face Carlow in Round 3 at home again on Saturday April 27th (Time is 2pm with Venue TBC)

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.

U20 Hurling:

Also on Saturday April 6th, the U20 hurlers are set to begin their U20 Leinster Hurling
Championship Campaign with a home fixture versus Kilkenny in Round 1 of their Tier 1 group in Laois Hire O’Moore Park at 1pm.

Best of luck to U20 manager Damien Carter, backroom staff and all panel players for 2024.

After Round 1 at home to Kilkenny. The U20 hurlers will then face Wexford away in Round 2 on April 13th at 2pm (Venue TBC)

U20 Knockout Permutations:

If Laois finish 1st: through to semi finals on May 15th

Finish 2nd: through to quarter finals on May 8th

Finish 3rd: through to preliminary quarter-final vs a Tier 2 side on April 27th

Laois U20 Hurling Manager Damien Carter’s 34 Player Panel for the 2024 season is as follows:

Cathal Cuddy (Camross)

Tom Cuddy (Camross)

Kevin Byrne (Camross)

Eoghan Cuddy (Camross)

Ben Deegan (Camross)

James Cuddy (Camross)

Ciaran Flynn (The Harps)

Bobby Murphy (The Harps)

Rory Dunne (The Harps)

Cody Comerford (The Harps)

Eoghan Murphy (The Harps)

Mark Downey (The Harps)

Peter Rafter (Clough-Ballacolla)

Joe Pearson (Clough-Ballacolla)

Tommy Brennan (Clough-Ballacolla)

Cormac Hogan (Clough-Ballacolla)

Evan Cassin (Clough-Ballacolla)

Jack Breen (Castletown)

Rory Kelly (Castletown)

Ciaran McKelvey (Castletown)

Aaron Phelan (Castletown)

Brian Duggan (Ballinakill)

Andrew McDonagh (Ballinakill)

Ryan Quinlan (Ballinakill)

Colin Byrne (Abbeyleix)

Cormac Byrne (Abbeyleix)

Barry Fitzpatrick (Park-Ratheniska/Timahoe)

Conor Fitzpatrick (Park-Ratheniska/Timahoe)

Diarmuid Dooley (Rosenallis)

Jimmy Hyland (Rosenallis)

Jer Quinlan (Borris-Kilcotton)

Mícheál Cleary (Rathdowney-Errill)

Kelvin Burke (Slieve Bloom)

Brochan O’Reilly (Portlaoise)