Written by Laois PR Team
Laois are set to begin their 2024 Joe McDonagh Cup campaign tomorrow when they take on Offaly at 2pm on Sunday April 21st in Laois Hire O’Moore Park
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/laoisoffaly2104
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: Clubber TV: clubber.ie
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 Offaly: With no changes to the starting 15 from the Div.2A Final win over Carlow. On the bench, Picky Maher and Mark Dowling return from injury.
The Laois team lines out as follows:
Joe McDonagh Cup explained:
This is a Tier 2 All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship in which Laois will face Offaly in the first round of the group stages. The group stage is made up of 6 teams of Laois, Offaly, Westmeath, Down, Kerry and Meath. All these 6 teams play eachother in the group stage.
At the end of the group stages, the top 2 ranked teams on the table play eachother in the Joe McDonagh cup final in Croke Park and the winner of this final gains promotion to the 2025 All Ireland Senior Hurling
Championship.
Only the winners of the final gain promotion, with the defeated finalists remaining in the
2025 Joe McDonagh Cup.
However, the 2 sides who reach the final will both qualify for this year’s 2024 All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Preliminary Quarter-final as a reward for reaching the Joe McDonagh final.
The team who finishes bottom of the group at the end of the campaign will be relegated to the 2025 Christy Ring Cup (3rd Tier)
Laois’ next fixtures in the competition after Offaly in Round 1:
• Round 2 – April 27/28: Meath (away)
• Round 3 – May 4/5: Kerry (away)
• Round 4 – May 18/19: Down (home)
• Round 5 – May 25/26: Westmeath (away)
Laois’ Div.2A Winning Campaign Recap:
Player Of The Week Award for our Captain: In the Div.2A campaign which Laois finished as champions, captain Aaron Dunphy was voted GAA.ie’s Hurler Of The Week as a result of his excellent performance in the final win over Carlow, scoring 0-8.
The positive impact of the younger players this season so far: Youngsters Tom Cuddy, Cody Comerford, David Dooley and Jer Quinlan were very influential to the Div.2A success.
Top scorers for Laois: Mossy Keyes scored a total 4-13 (25 pts) and Picky Maher scored 23 pts in the league campaign.
Laois SHC Stats:
It’s the 14th championship match in row for Laois hurlers where the starting XV had 200+ SHC apps between them, extending the county’s record.
The previous record was 9 (2014-2015).
Paddy Purcell is Laois’ hurlers third-highest SHC goal-scorer ever.
All of the top three are named Paddy
31 Paddy Lalor
22 Paddy Kelly
17 Paddy Purcell
Offaly: were relegated from Division 1 alongside Waterford which means Offaly will now compete in the new 2025 Div.1B. Alongside Laois, as Laois were promoted to Div.1B after winning Div.2A now setting up in 2025 even more exciting clashes between the rivals and two neighbouring counties Laois and Offaly.
The standout players for Offaly so far this season have been: Left corner forward no.15 who was also very accurate in free taking duties named Eoghan Cahill with a total league score of 31 points. Including 10 points away to Kilkenny and another 10 points at home to Clare where Offaly were defeated by just 1 point after a strong performance.
Left half forward no.12 Brian Duignan scored a total 1-12 including 1-7 of this score alone vs Wexford in which that game also ended as a thrilling draw.
Goalkeeper Mark Troy and half back Dan Ravenhill were named on GAA.ie’s Team of the week as a result of their performances vs Kilkenny.
Previous meeting of Laois vs Offaly:
Joe McDonagh Cup Round 1 on April 8th 2023 in O Connor Park Tullamore
Final score:
Offaly: 3-19
Laois: 1-22
Offaly defeated Laois by just 3 points in the same fixture last year.
Laois: Picky Maher scored 12 points of which 6 came from play, Aaron Dunphy scored 4 points from play, Aidan Corby scored 3 points from play and Paddy Purcell got a goal from play.
Offaly: Eoghan Cahill scored 2-11 in total of which 2-4 came from play, Cillian Kiely scored 3 points from play and Joey Keenaghan scored a goal from play
By Laois PRO Sat 20th Apr
