PREVIEW AND PREDICTIONS: Big Friday night ahead in the Laois LGFA SFC

The Laois LGFA Senior Championship has reached its first crunch weekend of fixtures, with two quarter-finals down for decision on Friday evening.

Timahoe and St Joseph’s are the two teams that finished top of their respective groups and will have their eyes firmly fixed on Friday’s games as they look to scope out their potential semi-final opponents.

The game of the round is the clash between St Conleth’s and Portlaoise. These two clubs have met in the last four senior finals, but one of them definitely won’t be playing in this year’s final at Laois Hire O’Moore Park on Saturday, October 10.

Portlaoise are the reigning champions, but have yet to hit the heights of their last few campaigns. They finished the group stages with just one win from three games, which came against relegation finalists Graiguecullen. They were beaten by seven points last time out by Group A table-toppers Timahoe. Their other defeat came in the opening round, when Ballyroan beat them by three points.

St Conleth’s finished second in their group with six points thanks to victories over Sarsfields and Park-Ratheniska. Their defeat came in between those two games, as semi-finalists St Joseph’s beat them by two points in Courtwood GAA.

Portlaoise have had St Conleth’s number in those county finals, with The Town winning three of the last four. Their only loss came in 2024, when St Conleth’s won by a single point.

I expect a fiercely contested battle between two sides who know what it takes to become county champions. Based on the form shown in the championship so far, I predict St Conleth’s to win and knock Portlaoise out in the quarter-finals.

The winner of Friday’s game will play Timahoe next weekend in the last four.

The game throws in at 7.30pm in O’Dempsey’s GAA on Friday, September 18.

Prediction: St Conleth’s

The other game on Friday evening sees Ballyroan and Sarsfields meet under the lights in Park-Ratheniska GAA.

Ballyroan began their 2026 SFC campaign with a shock win over county champions Portlaoise. Kate Whelan was immense in that game, scoring eight points of her side’s 1-11.

Round 2 saw them suffer a heavy defeat to Timahoe, but they showed great character last time out by beating Graiguecullen by five points to finish second in Group A.

They’re up against a Sarsfields side that only picked up their first points of the championship in their last game against Park-Ratheniska. That was a winner-takes-all clash, as whoever lost would be into a relegation final, while the winners would finish third and play in the quarter-finals.

They had lost narrowly to St Joseph’s in Round 2, but were well beaten in their opener against St Conleth’s, going down 3-14 to 4-3.

Both these quarter-finals are hard contests to call, but I predict Sarsfields will come through this one and set up a second clash of the championship against St Joseph’s next weekend.

The game throws in at 7.30pm in Park-Ratheniska GAA on Friday, September 18.

Prediction: Sarsfields

You can follow live updates from both games on the Leinster Express/Laois Live on Friday evening.