Laois Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship Preview

The Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship is set to be one of the fiercely contested championships in Laois this year with many of the eight sides well equipped to take the title.

Clonalsee St Manman's will be hopeful of reaching another final after their appearance in 2022's final. The result on the day wouldn't have been the one they were hoping for but they'll build on the fact that they got to the final in the first place.

Portlaoise will have ambitions of getting back to the top table of hurling after their semi-final defeat to eventual champions Abbeyleix St Lazarians. They have secured their place in Division 1 for next year following a superb victory over fellow Premier Intermediate side Ballinakill in the Division 2 final a few weeks ago. With Tommy Fitzgerald at the helm, the former Laois hurler will be pushing his side to achieve a perfect year with a league and championship double.

Ballinakill have suffered a massive loss for the opening games of the championship with Gearoid Lynch heading Stateside to ply his trade with Fr. Tom Burke's in Boston. Killian Fitzpatrick has come into the manager's role this year having been the Ballyfin football manager for the last few seasons. He'll have seen positives throughout the league campaign and like Portlaoise they'll want to be playing in Division 1 and the Senior Hurling Championship in 2024.

Fitzpatrick will be hoping that Brian Duggan can continue his fine scoring form as his side face a tough group alongside Camross, Portlaoise and Rathdowney-Errill. They come into the championship having been relegated after extra-time by The Harps in last year's relegation final so an instant return is on their agenda.

Clough-Ballacolla go in search of fourth straight hurling championship

Laois Senior Hurling Championship Preview

Slieve Bloom will come into the championship hoping to be on the right side of the draw this time around as last year, they had to fight till the death to secure their status with a two-point victory over Trumera in the relegation final. They have lost Ross Holmes to Clonad so hopefully they can once again ensure they stay up.

Camross were beaten by Clonaslee at the semi-final stage last year so they'll want to go one step further in the 2023 championship. Clough-Ballacolla and Rathdowney-Errill have the potential to be in and around the last four should they not lose any key members from their panels to the first team.

Group A Fixtures:

Round 1
Friday July 21
Slieve Bloom v Clough-Ballacolla

Clonaslee St Manman's v Ballyfin-TBC

Round 2
Friday August 4
Clough-Ballacolla v Clonaslee St Manman's

Saturday August 5
Slieve Bloom v Ballyfin

Round 3
Friday August 18
Clough-Ballacolla v Ballyfin

Sunday August 20
Clonaslee St Manman's v Slieve Bloom

Group B Fixtures:

Round 1
Thursday July 20
Camross v Ballinakill

Friday July 21
Portlaoise v Rathdowney-Errill

Round 2
Friday August 4
Portlaoise v Camross

Sunday August 6
Ballinakill v Rathdowney-Errill

Round 3
Thursday August 17
Portlaoise v Ballinakill

Friday August 18
Camross v Rathdowney-Errill