34 man panel announced for Laois minor hurlers as Championship starts on Saturday

Laois minor hurling manager Declan Qualter has announced a 34 man panel for this year's Leinster minor hurling championship campaign.

Laois get their campaign up and running this Saturday in O'Moore Park at 2pm when they take on Kildare in their first outing. Laois, Offaly and Kildare are in tier two of the championship and form a three team group.

All three teams will come out of the group but the group winners go straight to a quarter final while the second and third placed team go to preliminary quarter finals where they will play the top two teams from tier three.

By all accounts Offaly are strong at minor level this year but Laois will not be looking past the challenge of Kildare who will be looking to get back on track after shipping a heavy defeat to Offaly in their opening game. Two wins from two would put Laois into a quarter final and a win on Saturday would put them half way there.

Camross man Eoghan Cuddy will captain the squad with The Harps Ciaran Flynn acting as vice Captain.

Along with Qualter who manages the side, former Waterford manager Derek McGrath is also involved in the backroom team along with Damien Carter and Tadhg Doran.

The panel in full is as follows;

Eoghan Cuddy (Camross) 
Tom Cuddy (Camross)
Josh Hynes (Camross)
Ben Deegan (Camross)
Aaron Carroll (Camross)
Emmet Bergin (Camross)
Kevin Byrne (Camross)
Ciaran Flynn (The Harps)

Liam Kirby (The Harps)
Will Duggan (The Harps)
Bobby Murphy (The Harps)
Eoin Murphy (The Harps)
Justin Duggan (The Harps)
Mark Downey (The Harps)
Joe Pearson (Clough-Ballacolla)
Tom Brennan (Cough-Ballacolla)
Cormac Hogan (Clough-Ballacolla)
Kevin Hyland (Clough-Ballacolla)
Peter Rafter (Clough-Ballacolla)
Evan Cassin (Clough-Ballacolla)
Tom O’Keeffe (Abbeyleix)
Eil Quinn (Abbeyleix)
Cormac Byrne (Abbeyleix)
Jack Breen (Castletown)
Rory Kelly (Castletown)
Sean Og Byrne (Castletown)
Jer Quinlan (Borris-Kilcotton)
Ciaran Coss (Borris-Kilcotton)
Andrew McDonagh (Ballinakill)
Caelum O’Brien (Mountrath)
Enda Shorthall (Park-Ratheniska-Timahoe)
Brochan O’Reilly (Portlaoise)
Jordan Downey (Portarlington)
Jacques Dowling (Rathdowney-Errill)