Novel pairing in Laois Junior ‘B’ football final as Stradbally and Slieve Bloom set for battle

Laois JFC ‘B’ Final – Stradbally v Slieve Bloom
In the Laois GAA Centre of Excellence at 7.30pm

The footballers of Stradbally and Slieve Bloom haven’t crossed swords too often in the past – but they will do battle for silverware this evening in the Laois JFC ‘B’ final in the Centre of Excellence in Portlaoise.

Stradbally only won their semi-final on Monday night when they got the better of Mountmellick but that fixture had been postponed from last week and so the final remains in its original slot.

It means that there are likely to be plenty of sore bodies on the Stradbally second side as they play a second championship game in three days.

Slieve Bloom, though, haven’t been idle since their impressive 4-10 to 1-16 win over The Rock in the other semi-final last week: most of their players played a Premier Intermediate hurling championship game against Ballyfin on Sunday, where they recorded a narrow win.

Having won the Junior ‘C’ title in 2018, Slieve Bloom will be seeking to continue their rise up the football ranks.

They drew with eventual champions Spink in the group stages of last year’s championship and have been impressive in this campaign with wins over Ballylinan, Portlaoise and The Rock.

In Ben Conroy they have a fine talent who previously had a spell with the Laois senior panel when John Sugrue was manager while his brothers Gavin and Ciaran, the Delaney brothers and the likes of Shane Farrell, John Lowry, Jake Collins, Ross Holmes and Evan Power all got goals in the semi-final.

Included on the Stradbally team is the club’s senior manager and former Laois player Greg Ramsbottom as well as the likes of Colin Beale, Derek Beale, Darragh Mulhall and Billy Murphy who have won senior medals with the club while Podge Langton, Jamie Kavanagh and John Donohue all returned for the semi-final after they lost a number of players who had played in the previous rounds to their senior team.

Stradbally have beaten Rosenallis, Arles-Killeen and Mountmellick to reach the final and actually sit top of the roll of honour having won this championship three times, in 1983, 2000 and 2003. Their last success in 2003 was with their third team in a season that also saw their second-string win the Junior ‘A’ title.

Slieve Bloom are going for their first success at this grade though a number of their players were involved in 2013 when they won it as Castletown-Slieve Bloom.

SEE ALSO – Ballyfin finish strong to see off Park-Ratheniska and claim Junior ‘C’ football honours

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source https://www.laoistoday.ie/2021/09/15/novel-pairing-in-laois-junior-b-football-final-as-stradbally-and-slieve-bloom-set-for-battle/