We preview this weekends upcoming Laois Shopping Centre – Junior & Senior Football Championship Finals & Midlands Park Hotel – U17 A Football Championship Final.
Friday October 13th
JFC A Final: Annanough vs The Harps in Laois Hire O’Moore Park at 7.30pm
SFC Relegation Final: Park Ratheniska vs Clonaslee St. Manman’s in Stradbally at 7.30pm
Saturday October 14th
SFC B Final: Stradbally vs The Heath at 5.30pm
in Laois Hire O’Moore Park
Sunday October 15th in Laois Hire O’Moore Park
U17 A Football Championship Final: St.Josephs vs Stradbally Parish Gaels at 1.30pm
SFC Final: St.Josephs vs Portlaoise at 3.30pm
Note:
The SFC Final between St.Josephs vs Portlaoise on Sunday the JFC A Final between Annanough vs The Harps on Friday, will both be rescheduled for replays at another time, in the event of a draw.
The SFC Relegation Final between Park Ratheniska vs Clonaslee St.Manman’s on Friday, the SFC B Final between Stradbally vs The Heath on Saturday and the u17 A Football Championship Final between St.Josephs vs Stradbally Parish Gaels, are the 3 fixtures with winners to be decided on the day. If the sides are still level at the end of normal time in these 3 matches, there will be two 10 minutes periods of extra time and if still level then penalties.
Tickets: Fixtures are ticket only games with a ticket charge of €5-€20 which can be purchased online here: https://www.universe.com/users/laois-gaa-82QTP6
OAP and Season Passes are applicable for admission to these games.
Live streaming: The following 3 fixtures will be available for live streaming on Clubber.ie:
JFC Final: Annanough vs The Harps at 5.30pm Friday October 13th
U17 A Football Final: St.Josephs vs Stradbally Parish Gaels at 1.30pm on Sunday October 15th
SFC Final: St.Josephs vs Portlaoise at 3.30pm on Sunday October 15th
Access at: https://www.clubber.ie/
Follow live match updates on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CLGLaois
For all other Club fixtures & results visit: https://laoisgaa.ie/fixtures-results/
Best of luck to all involved!
Permutations:
JFC A Final: The winners of Annanough vs The Harps will be promoted to the 2024 Intermediate Football Championship and lift the JFC A Title Trophy.
Senior Relegation Final: The winners of Park Ratheniska vs Clonaslee St. Manman’s will maintain their senior status for the 2024 Senior Football Championship campaign and the losers will be relegated to the 2024 Intermediate Football Championship.
Senior B Final: The winners will be crowned the inaugural Laois Shopping Centre: Laois Senior B Football Champions and be presented with the new trophy. Regardless of the result on Saturday evening. Both Stradbally and The Heath will compete in the 2024 Senior Football Championship.
JFC A Final Preview: Annanough vs The Harps at 7.30pm on Friday October 13th in Laois Hire O’Moore Park.
Previous meeting:
JFC Round 1 July 26th 2018
Annanough: 2-15
The Harps: 1-7
One’s to watch:
Annanough: defeated St.Josephs in the semi final by 1 point in what was a thrilling clash.
Throughout the 2023 JFC Campaign, the standout players for Annanough are John Scully & Killian Horgan with a JFC overall top scoring total of 3-12 each. Elliot Scully has also been excellent with a total score of 3-6
The Harps: required extra time to get over the line against Spink in the semi final, defeating them by 4 points. Throughout the 2023 JFC Campaign, notable performances for The Harps have been from dual players James Duggan (2-4) and Ciaran Comerford (1-3) who have proven they are equally as great for The Harps with the big ball (football) as they are with the small ball. (hurling) David Doheny (0-5) has also been brilliantly accurate in free taking duties.
Senior Relegation Final: Park Ratheniska vs Clonaslee St. Manman’s at 7.30pm in Stradbally GAA on Friday October 13th
Previous meeting: ACFL Div.2 Round 6 May 21st 2023
Park Ratheniska: 1-17
Clonaslee St.Manman’s: 2-7
Ones to watch: Park Ratheniska: Substitute David Brennan (1-0) made a great impact when he came on in the semi final defeat to Arles Killeen and James Connolly (1-2) was his sides standout player and continues to be in top form this 2023 SFC campaign.
Clonaslee: Niall Corbett (0-5) was excellent as usual in free taking duties, Cian Callaghan (0-1) displayed great movement on the pitch and goalkeeper Conor Gorman made some lovely saves also in their semi final defeat to Rosenallis.
Senior ‘B’ Final: Stradbally vs The Heath in Laois Hire O’Moore Park at 5.30pm on Saturday October 14th.
Previous meeting: SFC Relegation Semi Final 25th August 2019
Stradbally: 1-14
The Heath: 0-12
Ones to watch: Stradbally: Tom Shiel (1-7) and Colm Begley’s (0-2) performances were both outstanding and crucial to Stradbally’s semi final win over Ballyroan Abbey. Tom Shiel and Colm Begley are also having one of their best seasons yet in a Stradbally jersey this 2023 SFC campaign.
The Heath: displayed unbelievable skill of both great pace and accurate passing in their semi final win over Ballyfin. The trio of Evin Keane (0-3) Jimmy Nerney (1-0) and John Paul Nerney (0-2) were all superb on the day.
U17 A Football Championship Final: St.Josephs vs Stradbally Parish Garls at 1.30pm in Laois Hire O’Moore Park on Sunday October 15th
Previous meetings:
U17 A Football Championship Round 7 on September 10th 2023
St.Joseph’s 2-14
Stradbally Parish Gaels: 2-9
U17 A Football Championship Final 2022 on September 30th 2022
St.Josephs: 1-10
Stradbally Parish Gaels: 0-11
Ones to watch: St.Josephs Eoin Johnson (1-4) was impeccable in the middle of the field and Darragh Farrell (1-3) was unstoppable in attack in the 12 point semi final win over Mountmellick Parish Gaels
Stradbally Parish Gaels: in the 6 point semi final win over Portarlington, David Donohue (0-4) and Oran Darcy (1-1) were exceptional.
SFC Final Preview: St.Josephs vs Portlaoise at 3.30pm in Laois Hire O’Moore Park on Sunday October 15th.
Thoughts From The Players: (Credit: Leinster Express)
Brian Daly (St.Joseph’s) :
On using last years quarter final loss to O’Dempseys as motivation to go further this year:
“We thought we were in a great position going into that game, but for one reason or another we let it slip and O’Dempsey’s took advantage. We knew ourselves that was something to drive us on this year.”
On going 23 years without winning an SFC Title:
“We always get a bit of stick about being a good league team and we’re getting a bit sick of that title so whether we won or lost that league final this year, there were bigger things to do. We’re a club that’s hungry for success at adult level. We’ve always done well enough at underage but to bring it through to adult is always something difficult. For a team that started winning championships, averaging one every three years to go 23 years without winning one is a fair drought.”
On beating Portlaoise in the SFC for the first time in 20 years in Round 1 this year: “It was big, we hadn’t beaten them in 20 years but we just took it as a match. We didn’t delve too much into it and they’re a different animal to what they ware. We were fairly happy with the performance. We thought we under performed in the first three matches, we weren’t happy with anything that went on. The fact that we got over the line by two points in each of them was something different to what St Joseph’s have been doing recently. Last year we let it slip against O’Dempsey’s so it was nice to change the narrative.”
On preparation for this Sunday: “We take every game like it’s a first or second round, it’s only another game. We focus on the performance and everything else looks after itself.”
Ricky Maher (Portlaoise): On preparations for the final:
“That’s your goal for the year to get to the county final. Coming up to the final, even the quarter-final or semi-final, the preparations do increase. Your training gets more intense and you’re a lot more focused than the first few rounds. It’s really the business end of it. There’s nothing this week that will change from what we’ve been doing for the last couple of weeks. Training has been very good and there’s a really good feeling in the camp, the lads are really getting the best out of themselves. We’ve a very strong panel, there’s the 1 to 15 and you’ll always have five more lads coming on. It’s a good setup and it feels really good at the moment.”
On the younger players making a positive impact in training: “There are other young lads around the club, who aren’t getting their starting position yet but they are driving us on in training. DJ White, Mick Culliton, Josh Hogan, the O’Connell twins Ross Brennan and Jack Brown, there’s a lot of lads in the background who are pushing us all the way. These lads deserve a mention because they are the driving force behind the training and they get the best out of us.”
On his own game: “At the moment, I’m happy with my game. I’ve worked very hard this year on getting fit. I had a couple of injuries last year and my main aim this year was to work on my game physically and mentally. I am seeing the benefits of it but I do know there’s a lot more in me. Hopefully, I can push on and get the best out of myself for Sunday. My goal was to nail down a starting spot on the team and then after that it was to be contributing with scores, both of which I have done okay so far. The main thing now is to get over the finish line and we want to lift that cup again and bring it back to The Town.”
Previous meetings:
SFC Round 3: October 3rd 2021
Portlaoise: 1-12
St.Josephs: 2-7
SFC Round 1 2023
St.Josephs: 0-13
Portlaoise: 1-8
Paths to the Final:
St.Josephs
Round 2
St.Josephs: 0-14
Ballyroan Abbey: 0-12
Quarter Final:
St.Josephs: 2-12
Emo: 3-7
Semi Final
St.Josephs: 1-12
Portarlington: 0-10
Portlaoise
Round 2
Portlaoise: 2-10
Rosenallis: 0-11
Round 3
Portlaoise: 2-10
Arles Killeen: 0-4
Quarter Final
Portlaoise: 0-14
O’Dempseys: 0-13
Semi Final
Portlaoise: 1-15
Graiguecullen: 3-6
Ones to watch: Both sides undoubtedly produced their strongest performances of the season in the Semi final stages. In the biggest shock of the season, Portarlington’s defeat to St.Josephs, captain Brian Daly (0-4) scored some unbelievable points. Michael Dempsey was flawless and produced possibly the most solid midfield performance of the season and Eoghan O Flaherty (0-2) continues to be in top form. For Portlaoise, Benny Carroll (1-1) continually proves after his performance in te Semi final win over Graiguecullen, to be dangerous in attack and his sides biggest goal threat. Both Damon Larkin and Kevin Swayne (0-2 each) continue to be incredible and their outstanding performances improved through each round.
By Laois PRO Fri 13th Oct
