League honours are up for grabs this week and next as the Laois LGFA Division finals take centre stage
.
FOUR champions will be crowned, with Timahoe, St Conleth's, Ballyfin, Shanahoe, Ballyroan and Graiguecullen all hoping to finish their league campaigns on a high.
Timahoe and Ballyfin are both represented in two finals and will be hoping to complete a league double.
The Laois LGFA Division 1 final will see Timahoe take on St Conleth’s tomorrow (Saturday) in Ratheniska.
Division 1 was played under a different format this year, with the ten teams split into two groups of five. Rather than playing the other teams in their own group, each side faced all five teams from the opposite group, with the standings determined by those results.
However, the cross-over format exposed its flaws by the end of the league campaign.
St Conleth’s topped Group A with six points, having recorded two wins and suffered three defeats, while Ballyroan finished second on four points after one win, one draw and three losses.
Group B, meanwhile, was considerably more competitive. Timahoe finished top with a perfect return of five wins from five, while St Joseph’s claimed second place with four wins and a draw. Sarsfields accumulated 12 points from four wins and a defeat, while Portlaoise finished on 10 points with three wins, one draw and one loss. Even bottom side Graiguecullen ended with seven points, more than St Conleth’s total despite the latter topping Group A and reaching the final.
The semi-finals followed the group standings, with St Conleth’s facing Ballyroan and Timahoe taking on St Joseph’s.
St Conleth’s eased past Ballyroan thanks to a superb attacking display from Laura Carroll, who scored 3-3, while Aoibhe Byron contributed 1-9. Timahoe booked their place in the decider with a two-point win over St Joseph’s, 2-11 to 0-15. Remarkably, all of Timahoe’s scores came from Mo Nerney (1-9) and Niamh Dundon (1-2).
The finalists have already met once this season, with Timahoe claiming a six-point victory when the sides met at the end of March, 2-11 to 2-5.
St Conleth’s were beaten semi-finalists last year, losing to a Portlaoise side that had been chasing a third successive league title before eventually being denied by Sarsfields in the final. Many of the St Conleth’s players who featured in last week’s semi-final victory over Ballyroan also lined out in last year's Division 2 final defeat to Portlaoise's second team.
Throw-in on Saturday is at 7pm in Ratheniska.
Division 2 sees Ballyfin take on Shanahoe in Stradbally this evening (Friday) in Stradbally at 7.45pm.
Table-toppers Ballyfin head into the final as favourites after winning all five of their league games before recording a convincing 1-16 to 0-6 victory over Portlaoise's second team in the semi-final.
They will face a Shanahoe side that finished second in the standings on 10 points, with three wins, one draw and one defeat. Shanahoe got the better of Killeshin in the semi-finals, 1-7 to 0-7.
The finalists met in the opening round of the league, with Ballyfin emerging four-point winners on a scoreline of 1-10 to 2-3.
Ballyfin's second team are also in league final action as they prepare to take on Ballyroan's second string in the Division 3 decider.
Ballyfin topped Group A before defeating St Joseph's 1-11 to 0-11 in the semi-final. Ballyroan, meanwhile, finished top of Group B with four wins from four and head into the final in impressive form after hammering The Heath 4-12 to 1-3 in the other semi-final.
Ballyfin are also unbeaten in the league, recording three wins and a draw. They overcame The Heath, Rathdowney-Errill and Shanahoe, while their only dropped points came in a 1-13 to 3-7 draw with Clonaslee St Manman's.
The final takes place on Saturday next, 18 July 18, at 5pm in Annanough GAA.
The final tier sees Graiguecullen and Timahoe go head-to-head for the Division 4 title.
With only five teams in the division, the league was played on a round-robin basis before first faced fourth and second played third in the semi-finals.
At the end of the league phase, Killeshin finished top after winning all four of their matches. Timahoe, St Brigid's and Graiguecullen completed the top four, with newly established Ballinakill finishing fifth.
Killeshin and Graiguecullen met in one semi-final, with Graiguecullen registering an impressive 2-12 to 0-7 victory over their neighbours. In the other, Timahoe and St Brigid's served up a seven-goal thriller, with Timahoe emerging 4-10 to 3-5 winners.
Graiguecullen and Timahoe also met in the final round of the league on Sunday, May 24. On that occasion, Timahoe came out on top in a low-scoring contest, winning 0-11 to 1-4.
The final takes place in Arles Killeen on Monday next, 13July, with throw-in at 8pm.
