Offaly v Laois: Leinster SFC Round 1 Preview

Laois travel to Tullamore tomorrow Saturday April 11th at 6pm to face Offaly in Glenisk O’Connor Park in Round 1 of the Leinster Senior Football Championship.

The winner will progress to the quarter final stage and will face Kildare away in Cedral Conleths Park.

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 Offaly:

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

This will be Laois’ 33rd championship match vs Offaly.

We have only played Kildare (39) and Dublin (36) more often.

Paul Kingston scored his 12th NFL goal for Laois and set a new record for Laois for scoring by a sub in an NFL game vs Down in Round 7 of the league.

The previous record was 6pts (Gerry Lawlor, 1982, Fermanagh).

2 goals by Paul Kingston were also the 50th known brace (or better) in the NFL for Laois and the first since Mark Barry’s two goals vs Waterford in 2024.

It was the first time that Kingston has scored two in a single league game.

Park Ratheniska had two players on the pitch in an NFL game (Simon Fingleton and Cian Nolan vs Down in Round 7) for the first time since 1964 (George Rankin & John Ramsbottom – both Park players).

Brian Byrne played his 60th L&C game and also his 75th overall match v Down.

Padraig Kirwan made his 30th overall appearance v Down.

After the Down game: Evan O’Carroll is now in second place of all-time on Laois’ NFL scoring.

Standout Performers for Laois throughout their entire Division 3 league campaign:

Evan O’Carroll was the focal point of the Laois attack, finishing with an outstanding total score in the Division 3 league campaign of 43 points (4 goals, 2 two pointers, 12 points from play and 15 points from frees) and proving a constant danger throughout. He reacted sharply everytime ball came his way to win possession. Other than his great scoring ability from both play and frees, his ability to take on defenders with pace and create scoring opportunities for others, made him central to everything positive Laois produced in attack.

Paddy O’Sullivan was excellent throughout the league campaign at right half back and was the back bone of Laois’ defence. With great pace on display, he continously made bursting runs through multiple teams defensive line to open up space for Laois attacks, he ran himself into the right spaces at the right time in the forward line, available to aid in setting up Laois attacks; all in which he started by creating turnovers and speedy runs up the field from the back line.

A big boost for Laois also is Robert Tyrrell returns from his suspension versus Down in the final round of the league.

Robert Tyrrell really impressed throughout the league: with a strong physical presence in midfield by winning a lot of clean catches from high ball and kickouts, providing strong runs, accurate passing, and effective ball carrying, linking play from midfield to attack seamlessly.

His standout performance was particularly in Round 5 in the win over Westmeath; Tyrrell made a timely interception in midfield that led to an Evan O’Carroll free and a goal chance involving O’Carroll and Darragh Galvin. Tyrrell also showed great pace to chase down a Westmeath forward, forcing a shot to drop short and preventing a point, alongside winning a mountain of ball in midfield from both play and kickouts that day.