Search

Listen Live

On Air Now

Midnight - 6:30am

Through The Night

Shakin' Stevens

Merry Christmas Everyone

Laois SFC Quarter-Final & Relegation Preview

Thursday, 30 September 2021 16:44

A lot will be decided this weekend.

The final four spots in the Laois Senior Football Championship quarter-finals are up for grabs this weekend. 

Portarlington, Graiguecullen, O'Dempseys and Ballyroan Abbey are already secure in their spot in the last eight. 

Courtwood, Emo, Stradbally and Portlaoise are favourites with the bookies to join them. 

St. Josephs v Portlaoise

St.Joseph's will be hoping to pull off a major shock by ending Portlaoise's interest in the 2021 competition. 

The perennial champions have already tasted defeat this season to Courtwood in the opening round of the championship before narrowly overcoming Ballyfin in the last round. 

St. Joesphs will have the blueprint on how to beat the most decorated club side in Laois and won't fear this years iteration in any case. 

They've defeated Clonslee before being beaten by Ballyroan Abbey in the previous round. 

Winner: Portlaoise

Clonaslee v Courtwood

Courtwood are heavy favourites in this one as they look to back up their victory over Portlaoise on the opening weekend. 

They laid a duck egg against defending champions Portarlington in round two, losing out by eleven points but will feel they have the measure of their opponents this weekend. 

Clonaslee are also one from two in championship 2021 having lost the first round tie against St. Josephs before overcoming Ballylinan narrowly in the last round. 

They could view this as a shot to nothing after securing their senior status and with no history between the sides, it is an opportunity for both sets of players to create a bit of history. 

Winner: Courtwood

Emo v Rosenallis

Another first time meeting at senior level comes in the form of Emo against Rosenallis.

2020 semi finalists Emo had a somewhat surprising defeat against O'Dempseys before bouncing back by the narrowest of margins against The Heath. 

They haven't hit top gear whatsoever and it is not inconceivable that Rosenallis will fancy an upset here. 

Rosenallis are somewhat of an enigma, having won convincingly against Ballylinan on day one, only to come unstuck against O'Dempseys by three points in round two. 

In that regard there is a line to take in both team's form and what it tells us is that if Rosenallis play up to the level they did against O'Dempseys then Emo are in for an almighty tussle on Saturday night. 

Winner: Rosenallis 

Killeshin v Stradbally  

Arguably the most difficult game to call purely on the form is Killeshin against Stradbally. 

Killeshin put up a decent showing when losing out to Ballyroan-Abbey and continued a strong scoring performance in putting up 1-17 in a five point win over relegation threatened Arles-Killeen on September 18th.

Again there's matching form lines as Stradbally demolished Arles-Killeen in the first round, putting up 4-13 in the process. 

They then put in a Mr.Hyde shooting performance against Graiguecullen a few weeks later and registered only 0-6 in total. 

A lot will depend on which set of Stradbally forwards turn up for this one. 

Winner: Stradbally 

The fixtures take place across Saturday and Sunday: 

Laois SFC Round 3: 

Saturday:

Clonaslee v Courtwood - O'Moore Park - 6pm - Updates

Emo v Rosenallis - O'Moore Park - 6pm - Updates 

Sunday:

Killeshin v Stradbally - O'Moore Park - 2:30pm - Commentary

Portlaoise  v St. Josephs - O'Moore Park - 7pm

Relegation Semi-Finals:

Sunday

Ballyfin v The Heath - O'Moore Park - 1pm

Arles-Killeen v Ballylinan - O'Moore Park - 5:30pm

Share

More from Sports

Download Our App

Never miss a moment from Midlands 103