Previewing all of Friday night’s Laois GAA action with SHC and IHC Round 2 to commence

The Laois GAA action continues tonight with two more games down for decision.

Round 2 of the top tier hurling competitions gets underway with games in the SHC and IHC down for decision.

Below, we will take a look at how the games are likely to pan out:

Laois SHC Round 2 – Castletown v The Harps
In O’Moore Park at 7.30pm

Round 2 of the Laois SHC is set to get off to a cracker this weekend as Castletown face The Harps.

Both sides put in decent Round 1 performances but it is Castletown who come into the game with two points.

Two Brendan Reddin goals helped them to a win of 2020 defeated semi finalists Rosenallis.

Castletown ended up in the relegation playoff last year but a win here will guarantee them a quarter final place at the very least.

Paddy Mullaney’s charges will be hoping that Tadhg Cuddy’s hand injury has recovered sufficiently in order to start this time.

After Covid issues, The Harps finally got their campaign underway last Sunday against champions Clough-Ballacolla.

They were ahead just before half time when they conceded an unfortunate goal and ended up losing by 12 in the end.

They are set to be without both Gavin Dunne and Fionn Whelan for this year while Ciaran Burke is also struggling with injury.

Ciaran Comerford also missed the defeat to Clough-Ballacolla but he is expected to return tonight.

If The Harps are beaten, they will go into a potentially winner-takes-all encounter with Rosenallis in two weeks time but a win here would certainly throw the cat among the pigeons.

It should be close but Castletown are upwardly mobile now and should prevail.

Odds – Castletown 4/5; The Harps 11/10; Draw 9/1

Laois IHC Round 2 – Clough-Ballacolla v Clonad
In Ballacolla at 6.30pm

It is a very early start in Ballacolla as a 6.30pm throw in awaits the Clough-Ballacolla and Clonad Intermediate hurlers.

After losing out to Borris-Kilcotton in Round 1, Clonad will need to avoid defeat here to have any chance of reaching the semi finals.

David O’Brien’s charges, who are without the injured PJ Daly, were 2-5 to 0-3 up at one stage in that game but couldn’t hold on.

Their hosts tonight enjoyed a win over Park-Ratheniska-Timahoe and with just two teams to get out of the group, another win here will almost guarantee that.

They have lost forward Cillian Dunne to their senior team but should welcome back Brendan McEvoy, Johnny Finane and Canice Coonan from suspension.

However, the latter is understood to be struggling with a hand injury and may not feature.

Home advantage should stand to Clough-Ballacolla and they’ll be favourites to make it two wins from two.

SEE ALSO – In Pictures: Home are the heroes as Paralympic medallists get rousing reception

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