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Laois v Carlow
Walsh Cup Shield Quarter Final in Stradbally at 7.30pm
The 2026 inter-county season continues this evening as the Laois senior hurlers are back in action.
Four days after Tommy Fitzgerald’s men went down narrowly to Wexford, they are now in the Walsh Cup Shield.
Carlow are tonight’s opponents after they were beaten in Round 1 of the Walsh Cup by Dublin.
The first talking point about tonight’s game is the fact that it is taking place in the football heartland of the county.
Bill Delaney Park in Stradbally has hosted many Laois football games in recent years – but this will be the first time it will see competitive hurling.
Obviously having floodlights is a necessity for this time of the year – which makes Stradbally more attractive for fixture makers.
Nevertheless, it will probably be the first time that many of the Laois team have ever played a game there.
Fitzgerald has named his team for tonight’s game and it shows 10 changes from the one that started against Wexford.
Firstly, Borris-Kilcotton’s Eoin Fleming is selected in goal with Cathal Dunne dropping out of the 26 altogether.
It is also a brand new full back line as Diarmuid Dooley (Rosenallis), Ian Shanahan (Ballinakill) and Padraic Dunne (The Harps) replace Donnchadh Hartnett, Lee Cleere and Ciaran McEvoy – with the first two coming out of the 26 also.
Podge Delaney remains at centre back but there will be debuts either side of him in the shape of Eoghan Murphy (The Harps) and Eoghan Cuddy (Camross).
Eoin Gaughan remains in midfield but Clough-Ballacolla’s Aidan Corby is in in place of captain David Dooley.
While the final three changes come in the forwards where Fionn Holland (Clonad), Colin Byrne (Abbeyleix) and Tomas Keyes (Camross) replace Martin Phelan, Aaron Dunphy and Cormac Byrne.
The game throws in at 7.30pm tonight and should Laois win, they are due to face Kilkenny in the Shield semi final on Sunday.
LAOIS: Eoin Fleming (Borris-Kilcotton); Diarmuid Dooley (Rosenallis), Ian Shanahan (Ballinakill), Padraic Dunne (The Harps); Eoghan Murphy (The Harps), Podge Delaney (The Harps), Eoghan Cuddy (Camross); Eoin Gaughan (Camross), Aidan Corby (Clough-Ballacolla); Jack Kelly (Rathdowney-Errill), Fionn Holland (Clonad), James Keyes (Colt-Shanahoe); Colin Byrne (Abbeyleix), Cillian Dunne (Clough-Ballacolla), Tomas Keyes (Camross)
SUBS: Eoin Reilly (Abbeyleix), Cormac Hogan (Clough-Ballacolla), Cody Comerford (The Harps), Ciaran McEvoy (Portlaoise), Ryan Mullaney (Castletown), Fiachra C-Fennell (Rosenallis), Aaron Dunphy (Borris-Kilcotton), Jack Breen (Castletown), David Dooley (Rosenallis), Martin Phelan (Castletown), Cormac Byrne (Abbeyleix)
SEE ALSO – Walsh Cup: Strong finish sees Wexford win out over Laois in Rathdowney
