Fennelly: Home advantage only consolation for drawing Cork

LAOIS hurlers got the short straw when they were paired with Cork in the opening game in the All-Ireland qualifier series on Saturday week, with team manager Brendan Fennelly admitting that “the only consolation” was a home game in Portlaoise.

Antrim will play Westmeath in the other first-round game in what will be the first ever championship meeting between them.

For Cork and Laois it won’t be quite a ‘first,’ but a notable pairing nonetheless in the sense that the only previous time the counties clashed in the championship was almost a hundred years ago.