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Congratulations to our footballers on promotion to division 3.

Fermanagh, Kildare, Clare, Sligo, Antrim, Offaly, Laois and Leitrim will make up division 3 next year.

Didn't make it to today's game but 5-19 is some scoring!

Our full forward line of Mark Barry, Evan O'Carroll and Paul Kingston are very strong. They were excellent against Leitrim last week also with some fantastic scores especially in the first half.

My take on last weeks game was that Leitrim were ravenous, it was a championship game for them. We had the safety net of today's game and still could have got a draw with Mark Barry's free striking the post.

Ryan O'Rourke was brilliant for Leitrim last week so he will take watching in the division 4 final. Hopefully we will bring a crowd to Croke park because Leitrim certainly will! Back in 2019, they brought a massive crowd to their division 4 final v Derry. I'd be very confident that we will win next Saturday.

Looking ahead to championship, we have Offaly on April 13th. That should be a cracking local derby and a really good test. The aim would be to win that, try to give a good account of ourselves v Dublin and then have a good run in the Tailteann cup in May/June.

Congratulations to the hurlers on promotion to Division 1B.

A bit of silverware to play for next week against Carlow before the massive game against Offaly on April 20 in the Joe McDonagh cup.

Have to say we were very fortunate to come away with the 2 points but we'll take it!

The strength of the panel is key. Eoin Lowry, Kieran Lillis and Sean O'Flynn made key impacts when they came on. It was pleasing that we found a way to win with those 3 late scores. Great team spirit.

Evan O'Carroll is massive for us. Our main man. We struggled for sure when he got the black card.

Shooting will have to improve the next day. A lot of scorable chances missed v Tipperary. We have to be more ruthless as the season goes on.

Still plenty of positives. 4 wins from 4, very much in the driving seat for promotion. Ben Dempsey, Brian Byrne and Shaun Fitzpatrick had good games again.

At this point, we have the next 2 games at home v London and Leitrim. Hopefully good support shows up again like against Carlow and Tipperary and we can continue our winning ways.

Carlow were full value for the win on Saturday night. They were impressive with a team much bigger than ours and an excellent half forward line. They were much more accurate than us on the night as well.

This was a proper test for Laois as we get ready for the Joe McDonagh cup. Glad that Ross King will be available in mid March. At least we should be ok for Division 1B hurling next year as 2 teams go up from our division.

It promises to be a fantastic McDonagh cup and this is where the season will be judged. Seems that Offaly and Westmeath are motoring well. There should be great battles against them. Looking forward to it.

Conway had a good solid game at corner back and both Enda Rowland and Paddy Purcell showed what important players they are for us.

Another fine win last night v Carlow in front of a sizeable crowd in O'Moore Park. Anytime you win by double digits is a good day out.

Conditions were poor with the rain and the  town end side of the pitch in particular was in a bad state with a lot of players slipping and sloppy underfoot conditions. We were playing into the town end in the first half and it would have contributed to our slow start with a couple of poor shots and frees going astray.

We had a purple patch though in the last 10 minutes of the first half with some lovely scores to get 5 points in a row to pull level with Niall Dunne grabbing two of them which will do his confidence no harm at all. Carlow did deserve their lead at half time, 0-6 to 0-5 having started well and they kicked some good scores.

The second half was very impressive from us. A good range of scorers, Shaun Fitzpatrick stepping up again with 2 points, Kevin Swayne getting a good goal after a great ball by Eoin Lowry, a fine team move for Damon Larkin's goal, Mark Barry chipping in and of course Paul Kingston and Killian Roche. Brian Daly got a nice score near the end.

Good competition for places with the subs doing well. Fine defensive work again and good organisation with Carlow only adding 3 points in the 2nd half.

We are motoring well so far and go to Tipperary next Sunday.

Listened to the game on Kfm. Seemed to be a competitive battle and sounded like Martin Phelan and Jer Quinlan had good games. I read that it is the first time since 2011 that we scored 3 goals in half a game of hurling in the league.

Good to be back winning games, reminds me of 2013 when we were last in division 2A under Cheddar. We won the 2A title that year and ended up running Galway close in the Leinster championship.

Looking forward to going to the next game v Carlow on the 24th. Will be a good test. Carlow in my opinion would be on a par with both Westmeath and Offaly.

Some result for Offaly down in Wexford park. Westmeath competitive with Limerick, although a weakened Limerick outfit.

Ultimately, this year is about the Joe McDonagh cup. It falls nicely in that we have Offaly in our first game and Westmeath in our last in the group stages. We're building nicely towards it.

Very comfortable win in Wexford in front of a huge crowd. Certainly didn't expect it to be so easy.

Great to see a lot of different scorers for us during the game. Shaun Fitzpatrick had a fantastic game with 1-2. Evan O'Carroll is really playing a captain's part with super scores, great workrate and even a bit of great defensive work to snubb out a Wexford goal chance.

Workrate is key this year. Fitness levels are high and players are working hard for each other and supporting each other. Very pleasing to see. Most of the scores for Wexford were hard earned.

Killian Roche was superb again with 5 frees, the best one being the last one way out near the sideline. Seamus Lacey was powerful in defense. Damon Larkin had to go off injured at half time and we really missed him in the 2nd half. He is becoming a huge player for us.

We had a couple of missed goal chances as well so we were full value for the 10 point win. Excellent performace all round.

Carlow up next at home in round 3.

A thoroughly deserved win against Longford. A lot of twists and turns lie ahead though in a very competitive division four with 4 or 5 teams chomping at the bit to get out. We started last year with a fantastic win away against Sligo. It will be a tough assignment next Saturday evening in Wexford.

It was a game that we controlled for the most part, the only real worrying moment was when Longford scored their penalty to bring the margin back to 1. We responded brilliantly though with 1-2 without reply started by an excellent team goal superbly finished by Damon Larkin who also got 2 points in the first half and was immense. A mention to for his midfield partner Conor Heffernan who also put in a good shift.

Killian Roche was unreal scoring 5 points, 3 from play. His kickouts were also good and he pulled off a fine save late in the first half. Great to see James Kelly back he has really matured and got on a lot of ball especially in the first half. Ben Dempsey made a super interception in the first half and great to have Seamus Lacey back from injury.

The half back line were solid. Great to have Brian Byrne back from long term injury, the return of Eoin Buggie and Timmo plugging away again for another season! We may have a number of lads missing from last year but great to see some returnees. Dannny O'Reilly came on late in the second half.

Our captain Evan O'Carroll was constantly dangerous and got a beaufiful score in the first half. He was backed up well by Mark Barry and Niall Corbett. Our half forward line ran all day and are pacy.

We have good options on the bench and I also hear that Paul Kingston, Kieran Lillis and Padraig Kirwan are involved but out injured at the moment.

Fitness levels looked decent and there was a lot of running and support play. A good crowd was in O'Moore park last night, certainly up on previous years.

Great to see Justin back in charge and Ross Munnelly there beside him.

Well done to all involved.

Division 4 fixtures:
27 Jan (home) v Longford
3 Feb (away) v Wexford
17 Feb (home) v Carlow
25 Feb (away) v Tipperary
2 Mar (home) v London
16 Mar (home) v Leitrim
24 Mar (away) v Waterford

Excited for the new season under Justin McNulty. Division 4 promises to be competitive with teams likely to take points off each other. I feel that 10 points would see us promoted. Good to have both Longford and Leitrim at home.

The highlight of the Leinster championship for us will be the local derby with Offaly. Could very well be a double header with the hurlers due to face Offaly on the same weekend.

The Tailteann cup will give us a good few games in the months of May/June and hopefully we can get a good run in it.

I expect us to be defence minded in the coming season which should make us a tough nut to crack.

Looking forward to what should be an interesting year for the Laois hurlers.

The standout fixture in the league is the game at home v Carlow, see how we are progressing when playing the Joe McDonagh champions and a team preparing for the Leinster championship. The top 2 in the division will qualify for the newly restructured Division 1B in 2025.

The Joe McDonagh cup campaign promises to be as competitive as ever. My feeling is that the final will involve 2 of Laois/Westmeath/Offaly. Our first game at home v Offaly is massive. Winning that would take a lot of the heat off. If we lose to Offaly, the pressure would be huge to get the win away against Westmeath in the last round. Obviously, we couldn't afford to lose both.

Would be great to be McDonagh champions again. Hopefully we can get to the final anyway and give it a crack.

Does anyone know the provisional 2024 NFL division 4 fixtures for Laois?

Provisional fixtures for all counties were released back in October. Some counties fixtures can be found through Google but granted those teams are operating in the top 2 divisions.

Cheers

Great news for Laois football.

Justin McNulty is a massive appointment and I believe a 3 year term has been given.

With his leadership, we can get out of the doldrums. A return to division 2, a Tailteann cup title, a return to Sam Maguire football and a big scalp or two are achieveable goals during this 3 year term.

Watch this space. Best of luck to all involved.

Laois Abu.

Best of luck to all the team and management on Sunday. Hopefully a decent support will be present to cheer on the lads. No doubt, many will tune in on TV so hopefully we can put in a good solid performance. We are definitely in bonus territory so see what comes of it.

In these last 2 seasons under Billy Sheehan, we have been capable of pulling off really good results at times by turning over Louth last year, beating Sligo away this year in the league along with our recent wins against Fermanagh and Limerick. Last year, we were defeated by both Fermanagh and Limerick in division 3 so real progress has been made.

Down themselves are moving well and are deservingly favourites having seen off Donegal in the Ulster championship and of course the big win against Cavan last weekend and a good Cavan team at that. They are capable of putting up a big score so obviously we need to be so organised on Sunday in defense.

Against Meath in Parnell Park, Down had an off day shooting many wides so we will hope for similiar on Sunday. Both Sean Boylan and Pete McGrath were there that day and chances are that we will end up with a repeat of the 1991 All Ireland final with Down and Meath prevailing to go on and contest the Tailteann cup final. But maybe we can have a repeat of the Leinster final of '91 against Meath if we pull off another shock! That would be some story and some season.

Look at the progress Westmeath have had this year after winning the Tailteann cup and we ran them mighty close there last year. Pride has been restored in the jersey and all that can be asked is that the players leave it all on the pitch on Sunday.

Laois Abu!!

Full credit to both players and management for a hard fought win against Limerick. The scenes at full time were a sight to behold. Great to have a decent Laois support there as well.

In the period between the 5th and 12th minute, we kicked 5 wonderful points after going 3-0 down. The interplay was tremendous in this period with a real confidence in the side and good teamwork. I don't remember seeing something like that in a Laois team for 10 years.

The Tailteann cup has been terrific for us. Very few would have seen us beat both Fermanagh and Limerick away. Limerick ran Cork very close in last years qualifier for a place in the All Ireland quarter finals.

It was admirable that we stuck to the task, chipped away and got over the line with Colm Murphy's late goal.

Draw this morning for the semi finals. My hunch is Meath v Laois and Down v Antrim.

Fantastic result in Brewster Park yesterday evening. In what was a tense and cagey affair, our lads deserve tremendous credit for delivering a full performace for the 70/75 minutes to record a deserved victory against hot favourites Fermanagh.

We were well organised early doors and had a structured plan that kept things tight. We grew into the game and found ourselves 0-5 to 0-2 up due to fine scores finished by the man in the best position to score. The pick of the bunch was Mark Timmon's point, just quick thinking to chip the breaking ball over off the ground from about 25 yards out. Evan O'Carroll who was tightly marked all game got a fantastic score then just before half time. I didn't spot the incident that led to the Fermanagh sending off but the referee had no hesitation in issuing a red card.

Fermanagh had a purple patch early in the second halfp to go 8-6 up and you just felt that Laois needed to get the next score to break that momentum. Our goal was a brilliantly worked team goal finished sublimely by Timmo and then a sweet point from O'Carroll. The chips were down when Fermanagh goaled a minute later to go 1-8 to 1-7 up but great character was shown from there. I felt that our midfielders (Kieran Lillis and Damon Larkin) were excellent all game.

Edge of the seat stuff then but Mark Barry took the last score wonderfully in injury time to put us 1-11 to 1-9 up so they needed a goal. Heart in mouth stuff right at the end with that goalmouth scramble! Thankfully we survived!

Very encouraging result and joyous scenes at the end. Fermanagh will play division 2 football next year. Great win for us against the odds.

Quater final draw tomorrow morning around 830 and it will be an away game against either Limerick, Antrim or Meath.

Laois Abu