Home Sport GAA Laois senior footballers name 36-player squad ahead of National League campaign

Laois senior footballers name 36-player squad ahead of National League campaign

Laois senior football manager Justin McNulty has named a 36-player panel ahead of the National Football League.

Laois will begin life in Division 3 this Saturday evening as they host Limerick in O’Moore Park.

And two days out from that, the squad that will compete in it has been revealed.

Laois had a big panel for the O’Byrne Cup but some of the players who featured in that have not made the final 36.

Liam Knowles (Stradbally), Joey Shelley (Rosenallis), Eoin Montague (Emo) and Dan Boland (Courtwood) all played in at least one of the games against Dublin and Carlow but are now gone – with Boland presumably returning to the U-20s.

Interestingly, McNulty has chosen to keep two players who are eligible for U-20 – the Portlaoise duo of Ben O’Connor and Darren Brennan.

They are two of 20 players included in the 36 that did not feature for Laois last season at all.

Courtwood’s Cian Doyle, Alan Kinsella, Eoghan Slattery, Matthew Byron and Robert Tyrrell are all in while so too are Portarlington’s Daragh Galvin, Alex Mohan and Rioghan Murphy.

Jack Lacey and Mikie Dempsey of St Joseph’s return after missing 2025 with injury while Ballyroan-Abbey’s Killian Byrne and Conaire Gee are in for the first time.

It is a similar story with Crettyard duo Evan O’Carroll and Ciaran Burke who are back after an injury-hit 2025 as Cian Nolan (Park-Ratheniska) and Cian Ryle (Kilcavan) have made the cut for the first time.

While after opting out in 2025, Arles-Killeen’s Paul Kingston is back and he is joined for the first time by clubmate Colin Dunne.

Some of the big absentees from last years panel include Damon Larkin, Mark Barry, Seamus Lacey, Danny O’Reilly, James Kelly and Michael Doran.

While Padraig Kirwan, Benny Carroll, Shaun Fitzpatrick. John Brennan and Ryan Brady are absent through injury with Fionn Holland opting to represent the Laois hurlers.

You can check out the panel in full below:

Laois Senior Football National League Panel 2026 

Cian Doyle (Courtwood)
Alan Kinsella (Courtwood)
Eoghan Slattery (Courtwood)
Matthew Byron (Courtwood)
Robert Tyrrell (Courtwood)
Daragh Galvin (Portarlington)
Alex Mohan (Portarlington)
Paddy O’Sullivan (Portarlington)
Rioghan Murphy (Portarlington)
Ronan Coffey (Portarlington)
Ben Dempsey (Portlaoise)
Ben O’Connor (Portlaoise)
Darren Brennan (Portlaoise)
Josh Hogan (Portlaoise)
Kevin Swayne (Portlaoise)
Aaron Cooney (St Joseph’s)
Jack Lacey (St Joseph’s)
Mikie Dempsey (St Joseph’s)
Killian Byrne (Ballyroan-Abbey)
Conaire Gee (Ballyroan-Abbey)
Aaron McEvoy (Ballyroan-Abbey)
Brian Byrne (Graiguecullen)
Trevor Collins (Graiguecullen)
Cathal Lee (Clonaslee-St Manman’s)
Niall Corbet (Clonaslee-St Manman’s)
Cian Nolan (Park-Ratheniska)
Simon Fingleton (Park-Ratheniska)
Evan O’Carroll (Crettyard)
Ciaran Burke (Crettyard)
Colin Dunne (Arles-Killeen)
Paul Kingston (Arles-Killeen)
Conor Heffernan (Killeshin)
Killian Roche (Killeshin)
Jake Darcy (Annanough)
Cian Ryle (Kilcavan)
Sean O’Neill (The Rock)

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