Written By Laois PR Team
After 5 wins from 5 in the league previously, the Laois senior footballers seek a 6th win in a row when they host Leitrim on Saturday March 16th at 4.15pm in Laois Hire O’Moore Park for the Allianz Football League Division 4 Round 6 fixture.
Promotion Permutations: As a result of Laois’ excellent 100% record in the league so far, Laois now need just 1 more point on the league table (equivalent to a draw game) to be promoted to Division 3 for the 2025 season. So, if Laois win or draw against Leitrim on Saturday, they will be promoted and secure a league final place. If Laois lose to Leitrim, Laois can still gain promotion and secure a league final place if they win or draw against Waterford in Round 7.
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/24OM1603
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
Supervalu Abbeyleix
Mulhall’s SuperValu Portlaoise
SuperValu Parkside Portlaoise
Follow live match scores and updates on our official CLG Laois Twitter account: @CLGLaois
Manager Justin McNulty has named the following side to face Leitrim:
Changes to the starting 15 from the London game: Sean O’Flynn starts in place of James Kelly who is on the bench for the Leitrim game, after Sean O’Flynn was a last minute starting change for James Kelly last time out against London as James Kelly got injured in the warm up. Damon Larkin replaces the injured Ciaran Burke.
Changes to the subs bench from the London game: Aaron Cooney (sub goalkeeper) replaces Conor Brown and Simon Fingleton replaces Niall Dunne (injured) on the bench for the Leitrim game.
The Laois team lines out as follows:
1. Killian Roche (Killeshin)
2. Ben Dempsey (Portlaoise)
3. Seamus Lacey (Ballylinan)
4. Sean O’Flynn (Courtwood)
5. Eoin Buggie (Stradbally)
6. Mark Timmons (Graiguecullen)
7. Brian Byrne (Graiguecullen)
8. Conor Heffernan (Killeshin)
9. Damon Larkin (Portlaoise)
10. Kevin Swayne (Portlaoise)
11. Eoin Lowry (Killeshin)
12. Shaun Fitzpatrick (Ballyroan-Abbey)
13. Mark Barry (O’Dempsey’s)
14. Evan O’Carroll (Crettyard)
15. Paul Kingston (Arles Killeen)
Subs: 16. Aaron Cooney, 17. Niall Corbett, 18. Brian Daly, 19. Mikie Dempsey, 20. Simon Fingleton. 21. Dylan Kavanagh, 22. James Kelly. 23. Kieran Lillis. 24. Cormac Murphy. 25. Rioghan Murphy, 26. Daniel O’Reilly
Laois Round 5 Recap: Laois vs London in Laois Hire O’Moore Park on March 2nd.
Final score:
Laois: 2-12
London: 0-9
Laois scorers: Evan O’Carroll 1-2 (1 free, 1 mark), Mark Barry 0-5 (2 frees, 1 mark) Kevin
Swayne 1-0, Eoin Lowry, Shaun Fitzpatrick, Paul Kingston, Brian Daly and Mark Timmons (0-1 each)
Laois defeated London well by 9 points and there were many fantastic performances for Laois. In defence, the trio of Seamus Lacey, Mark Timmons and Sean O’Flynn worked very hard, were brilliant and prevented London attacking opportunities.
Both midfielders of Conor Heffernan and Kevin Swayne (Swayne also scored a goal from play) won a great amount of possession in the middle of the field.
In attack, Mark Barry was the standout forward scoring a total of 5 points (3 from play) and Barry also assisted Evan O’Carroll’s goal.
Laois vs London Round 3 Stats:
Evan O’Carroll and Kieran Lillis made their 100th championship & league appearances.
Evan O’Carroll scored Laois’ 650th goal.
Seamus Lacey made his 10th NFL app and his 20th overall Laois Senior Football appearance.
For the 1st time in NFL history, Laois have won 4 games on the bounce with 7 plus scorers in all 4 games. Laois has 3 in 1986, 2006 and 2019 but this is a new mark.
Leitrim: Their promotion chances are positive.
A win over Laois would certainly elevate their their promotion hopes even further. Leitrim are in 2nd place on the league table with 6 points. Leitrim (2nd place) and Wexford (3rd place and also on 6 points) have the same amount of points and same amount in scoring difference. But Leitrim take 2nd spot over Wexford despite both teams having the same points and score difference, because Leitrim are ahead on the head to head rule (Leitrim beat Wexford when they met).
Joining Leitrim and Wexford in the battle for promotion is also Carlow (4th place) and Longford (5th place). Both Carlow and Longford also have 6 points. But Leitrim and Wexford have the edge over Carlow and Longford on score difference.
The 4 teams of: Leitrim, Wexford, Carlow and Longford are still in the race for promotion heading into these final 2 rounds.
Leitrim results:
Round 1: 28th January
Waterford: 1-5
Leitrim: 2-17
Round 2: February 4th
Leitrim: 1-8
London: 0-6
Round 3: February 18th
Leitrim: 3-7
Wexford: 2-9
Round 4: February 25th
Carlow: 2-14
Leitrim: 1-16
Round 5: March 3rd
Longford: 1-16
Leitrim: 0-13
Leitrim have won 3 and lost 2 of their 5 league games so far. Their final 2 rounds versus Laois and Tipperary are all important clashes for Leitrim’s promotion push.
Leitrim’s standout players: Darragh Rooney has a total league score so far of 28 points (13 from play, 14 frees and 1 mark). Ryan O’Rourke has been unstoppable in front of goal with a total of 5-6 (1 penalty goal and 4-6 from play) . Barry McNulty has been very impressive. Riordan O’Rourke has scored 1-3 from play and Evan Sweeney has scored 1-1 from play.
Previous meeting:
Leitrim vs Laois 2023 Division 4 Round 6 March 19th 2023 in Carrick on Shannon
Final score:
Leitrim: 2-14 (20)
Laois: 0-18 (18)
Standout players for Laois that day: Mark Barry 0-8 (2 frees and 6 from play) and Paul Kingston 0-7 (1 from play, 1 mark and 5 frees)
Standout players for Leitrim: Keith Beirne 1-8 (6 frees, 1 mark, one 45) and Pearce Dolan with 1 goal from play.
By Laois PRO Fri 15th Mar
