Laois footballers knocked out of Leinster Championship by Kildare in Newbridge

Laois' 2026 Leinster Senior Football Championship campaign is over after Kildare defeated Justin McNulty's side in Cedral St Conleth's Park in Newbridge on Sunday afternoon.

The game had been level at half-time, but Laois will look to the first 15 minutes after the restart as to where it all went wrong. Laois failed to score, while Kildare got five points in that period, and it was the difference between the sides in the end.

The first few minutes were very slow and both teams took their time to even create a scoring opportunity. Ben Loakman scored a free with three minutes played before Laois scored two points in a row through Daragh Galvin and Evan O'Carroll. Loakman took his and Kildare's tally to two with Kevin Swayne scoring a point off his left foot. Kildare went two points ahead shortly after when Darragh Kirwan (two) and Tommy Gill pointed for Kildare.

Laois' best spell of the first half followed when Paul Kingston scored a goal and a point in 90 seconds. He pointed from play before the Kildare goalkeeper kicked the ball straight to him, and he smashed it past him. Kingston pushed Laois 1-5 to 0-5 ahead with 20 minutes played.

Kildare got the goal back with three points unanswered from Eoin Cully, Darragh Swords and another fisted point from Cully. Laois' second goal arrived in the 25th minute when Rob Tyrrell broke down a kick-out to Conor Heffernan, who in turn gave it to Galvin. He finished to the back of the net at the second attempt. 

The home side's response was emphatic as they got the goal back almost immediately. Loakman had a shot at goal that rattled the crossbar and Cully was on hand to palm home the rebound. Darragh Kirwan kicked a two-pointer, and suddenly Kildare were ahead by two with seven points to play in the half. Laois ended the half with points from O'Carroll and a Kingston free. Kildare had the chance to get a second goal with the last kick of the half, but Loakman's penalty hit the crossbar after Alex Mohan fouled Swords in the square. 2-7 to 1-10 at half-time.

Kildare bossed the start of the second half and hit five points in a row through Cully, Gill, Kevin Feely, Swords and a second point from Cully. Paddy O'Sullivan finally ended Laois' 15 minutes without a score before Evan O'Carroll pointed to cut Kildare’s lead to just three points.

Ben McCormack came off the bench for Kildare to score his first of four points. Cully put Kildare five points up yet again with his fifth of the afternoon. Galvin and Ronan Coffey pointed for Laois with McCormack getting two for Kildare. The game-clinching score came shortly after when Darragh Kirwan ran at the Laois defence and tucked the ball underneath Roche. McCormack’s fourth point of the game put Kildare nine points up with six minutes to play.

Laois ended with somewhat of a flurry of scores as Roche kicked  two-point free after it was brought up as well as 45. Cian Nolan came on to score for Laois too. There was a goal chance for Laois in the middle of all that, but O’Carroll’s shot was cleared off the line by Brendan Gibbons.

Laois have a four-week break now before facing into the Tailteann Cup.

SCORERS – Kildare: Darragh Kirwan 1-4 (one two-pointer), Ben Loakman 1-2 (0-1 free), Eoin Cully 0-5, Ben McCormack 0-4, Darragh Swords and Tommy Gill 0-2 each, Kevin Feely 0-1 Laois: Paul Kingston 1-3 (0-1f), Daragh Galvin 1-2, Killian Roche (one two-pointer free, one 45’) and Evan O’Carroll 0-3 each, Ronan Coffey, Paddy O’Sullivan, Kevin Swayne and Cian Nolan 0-1 each. 

LAOIS: Killian Roche (Killeshin); Jack Lacey (St Joseph’s), Trevor Collins (Graiguecullen), Alex Mohan (Portarlington); Kevin Swayne (Portlaoise), Aaron McEvoy (Ballyroan-Abbey), Paddy O'Sullivan (Portarlington); Rob Tyrrell (Courtwood), Conor Heffernan (Killeshin); Ciaran Burke (Crettyard), Ronan Coffey (Portarlington), Brian Byrne (Graiguecullen); Paul Kingston (Arles-Killeen), Daragh Galvin (Portarlington), Evan O'Carroll (Crettyard). Subs: Ben Dempsey (Portlaoise) for Lacey (29 mins), Pa Kirwan for McEvoy (HT), Rioghan Murphy (Portarlington) for Byrne (49 mins), Cian Nolan (Park-Ratheniska) for Tyrrell (64 mins), Darren Brennan (Portlaoise) for Coffey (67 mins)

KILDARE: Cian Burke; Brian Byrne, Mark Dempsey, Ryan Burke; James McGrath, Eoin Lawlor, Tommy Gill; Brian McLoughlin, Brendan Gibbons; Darragh Ryan, Darragh Swords, Callum Bolton; Ben Loakman, Darragh Kirwan, Eoin Cully. Subs: Colm Moran for Lawlor (29-31 mins, Blood), Kevin Feely for Ryan (HT), Ben McCormack for Loakman (50 mins), Colm Moran for McLoughlin (56 mins), Neil Flynn for Bolton (64 mins), James Harris for McGrath (67 mins)

Referee: Conor Lane (Cork)