Laois Shopping Centre Senior Hurling Championship Relegation Final Castletown v Ballinakill
In the LOETB Centre of Excellence at 7.30pm
It is the final that neither team wanted to contest at the start of the year – but this is where both of them have ended up.
It all began rather brightly for Ballinakill who looked to have Rosenallis beaten in their opening match as they led well with ten minutes to go.
But Rosenallis, who have since gone on to make a semi final, came back strongly to claim a draw and Ballinakill’s season nosedived after that.
They were hammered by Borris-Kilcotton in Round 2 to set up an effective relegation semi final with Camross in their final group game.
Here, they were much improved and kept with Camross right to the end only for a late goal to seal their fate.
It has been a very different story for Castletown who have suffered three huge and resounding defeats in the group.
When they were dispatched easily by Abbeyleix, the writing was on the wall for them with games against Rathdowney-Errill and Clough-Ballacolla to come.
They parted ways with manager Martin Carey after the Rathdowney-Errill loss but native Paddy Mullaney couldn’t change the tide in what, admittedly, was a meaningless game against Clough-Ballacolla to conclude the group with three defeats.
Ballinakill will rely on Cha Dwyer, Sean Downey and Podge Lawlor to shine once more here.
Castletown will need big performances from the likes of Ryan Mullaney, Conor Phelan and Dylan Conroy – but even that may not be enough for them to avoid the drop.
Verdict – Ballinakill
Laois Shopping Centre Junior ‘C’ Hurling Championship Final Rosenallis v Clough-Ballacolla
In the LOETB Centre of Excellence at 7pm
Rosenallis’ second team will take on Clough-Ballacolla’s third team for Junior ‘C’ honours in the LOETB Centre of Excellence this evening.
Both clubs will clash again on Sunday in the Laois senior hurling championship semi finals so this is a chance for one of them to lay down a marker.
Clough-Ballacolla look very strong and they have hammered all three teams that they faced so far – Trumera, Clonad and Clonaslee.
Rosenallis received a bye through Round 1 and were big winners over Colt-Shanahoe before seeing off Castletown by five points to reach the final.
Clough-Ballacolla’s captain James “Bully” Maher is their free taker and main scorer but he is ably assisted in that department by Ken Phelan and Pat McEvoy who have six goals each in the three games to date.
As for Rosenallis, captain Paul Lynch is a very good hurler while veteran Joe Dooley is still knocking around.
Youngsters like Jack Claffey and Matty Bennett are capable while Walter Murphy, Enda McEvoy and Niall Doolan would’ve hurled on their first team in the past.
Really hard to call this one but Clough-Ballacolla might just edge it.
The post Previewing all of Friday night’s Laois GAA action appeared first on Laois Today.
source https://www.laoistoday.ie/2020/09/25/previewing-all-of-friday-nights-laois-gaa-action/
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