Laois GAA Senior ‘B’ Hurling Final preview: The Harps v Abbeyleix St Lazarian’s

History will be made on Friday evening as The Harps and Abbeyleix St Lazarian’s contest the inaugural Senior ‘B’ Hurling Final, a competition introduced this year alongside the revamped structure of the Laois Senior Hurling Championship.

With ten teams now competing at senior level instead of eight, the Senior ‘B’ provides a new tier of competition, though neither of these sides would have expected to find themselves here at the start of the summer.

Both clubs entered the 2025 campaign with ambitions of reaching the knockout stages of the main Senior Championship, but finishing fourth in their respective five-team groups saw them drop into the newly-formed Senior ‘B’. 

The Harps made light work of Castletown in their semi-final, storming to a 4-24 to 0-16 victory in a game that doubled up as a relegation semi-final.  Abbeyleix, on the other hand, had a tighter battle against Portlaoise. They eventually emerged 0-19 to 0-16 winners, doing just enough to secure their place in the decider. 

Indeed, Abbeyleix have been one of the most consistent championship performers in recent years. They reached their first county final in over seven decades in 2023 – losing out to Camross – and followed that up with a semi-final appearance in 2024, where Rathdowney-Errill proved too strong. Their drop into the ‘B’ final this year is, therefore, a surprise, but they remain a dangerous side with plenty of talent.

For The Harps, recent history tells a different story. They have found themselves fighting relegation in each of the last three seasons, beating Ballinakill and Borris-Kilcotton in the 2022 and 2023 Relegation finals, and then Castletown in this year's relegation semi-final. While those results underline their resilience, the Cullohill-Durrow outfit will be determined to use this final as a platform to show they can rise above survival mode.

The sides already crossed paths earlier in the campaign, back in July, when The Harps came out on top 2-20 to 2-17. That narrow victory will give them belief heading into the final, though Abbeyleix will feel they are capable of turning the tables when silverware is on the line.

While this may not be the final either club envisioned when the season began, both will see it as an opportunity to finish the year with a trophy and avoid the bitter taste of underachievement. The first ever Senior ‘B’ title is up for grabs, and whoever claims it will hope it’s the start of moving back towards the sharp end of the Senior Championship rather than another battle for survival.