Dual star John O'Loughlin has become the latest Laois player to leave the county to join a club in Dublin.

The sanctioning of Eamon Fennell's long-awaited transfer to St Vincent's was the headline story to emerge from the Dublin County Board meeting on Tuesday night but O'Loughlin's move to St Brigid's will cause plenty of ripples of its own.

He joins Parnells quartet Darren Rooney, MJ Tierney, Colm Parkinson and Colm Begley, Fingallians' Brendan Quigley and Rory Stapleton of St Vincent's in making the switch to the capital, with all those transfers taking place within the past two years.

And the Mountmellick man, who scored a vital goal in Laois' opening Allianz Football League win over Meath earlier this month, admits he could not turn down the opportunity to join the Blanchardstown outfit, where he will take up a coaching position.

He told the Irish Independent, "I was approached by Brigid's a couple of weeks ago. It's too good an opportunity to turn down and I'm going to start working with them straight away when I finish college [in UCD] in May.

"It means leaving Mountmellick which is tough. I had to think long and hard about it, but I don't see it as a permanent thing." Tweet

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