Laois Senior Hurling Championship

The Laois Senior Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition contested by top-tier Laois GAA clubs. The Laois County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1888.

Clough–Ballacolla are the title holders, defeating Camross by 2-21 to 2-15 in the 2025 final.

Honours

The trophy presented to the winners is the Bob O'Keefe Cup.

The winners of the Laois Senior Championship qualify to represent their county in the Leinster Senior Club Hurling Championship. They often do well there and Clough–Ballacolla were in the 2021 Leinster Final after winning the Laois Senior Hurling Championship. The winners can, in turn, go on to play in the All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship.

Teams

2025 teams

The 10 teams competing in the 2025 Laois Senior Hurling Championship are:

List of finals

(r) = replay

Roll of honour

Player records

Winning captains since 1950

• 1950 Pat Norton Clonad
• 1951 Michael Rigney Kyle
• 1952 Jimmy Murray Errill
• 1953 Andy Dunne Clonad
• 1954 Andy Dunne Clonad
• 1955 Lar Dunphy Cullohill
• 1956 Christy O'Brien Borris-in-Ossory
• 1957 Christy O'Brien Borris-in-Ossory
• 1958 Andy Dunne Clonad
• 1959 Fintan Lalor Camross
• 1960 Christy O'Brien Borris-in-Ossory
• 1961 Christy O'Brien Borris-in-Ossory
• 1962 Jimmy Fennell Clonad
• 1963 Fintan Lalor Camross
• 1964 Mt. (Mog) O'Mahoney Cullohill
• 1965 Tim Cuddy Camross
• 1966 Tim Cuddy Camross
• 1967 Tim Cuddy Camross
• 1968 Ger Cuddy Camross
• 1969 Ger Cuddy Camross
• 1970 George Conroy Clonad
• 1971 Jimmy Lyons Camross
• 1972 Brendan Dollard Borris-in-Ossory
• 1973 John Carroll Camross
• 1974 Christy Donovan Camross
• 1975 John O'Keefe Clonaslee
• 1976 Martin Cuddy Camross
• 1977 Paddy Dowling Camross
• 1978 Sean Cuddy Camross
• 1979 Michael Carroll Camross
• 1980 Richard Maloney Camross
• 1981 John Joe Ging Portlaoise
• 1982 John Joe Ging Portlaoise
• 1983 John Joe Ging Portlaoise
• 1984 John Joe Ging Portlaoise
• 1985 PJ Cuddy Camross
• 1986 Joe Doran Camross
• 1987 Sean Bergin Portlaoise
• 1988 Alo Delaney Camross
• 1989 John Bohane Portlaoise
• 1990 Pat Carroll Camross
• 1991 Seamus Plunkett Portlaoise
• 1992 Pat Norton Clonad
• 1993 Fintan Lalor Camross
• 1994 Tom Delaney Camross
• 1995 John O' Suillivan Castletown
• 1996 Matt Collier Camross
• 1997 Eamonn Kirwan Castletown
• 1998 Niall Rigney Portlaoise
• 1999 John Lyons Castletown
• 2000 Pat Phelan Castletown
• 2001 Fionan O'Suillivan Castletown
• 2002 Paul Cuddy Castletown
• 2003 David Cuddy Castletown
• 2004 Joe Phelan Portlaoise
• 2005 Robert Delaney Castletown
• 2006 Liam Wynne Rathdowney–Errill
• 2007 Fran Hogan Camrosss
• 2008 John Purcell Rathdowney–Errill
• 2009 Mick McEvoy Clough–Ballacolla
• 2010 Liam Tynan Rathdowney–Errill
• 2011 John A. Delaney Clough–Ballacolla
• 2012 Shane Dollard Rathdowney–Errill
• 2013 Tomás Burke Camross
• 2014 Alan Delaney Rathdowney–Errill
• 2015 Darren Maher Clough–Ballacolla
• 2016 Brian Stapleton Borris-in-Ossory–Kilcotton
• 2017 Joe Phelan & Zane Keenan Camross
• 2018 Niall Homes Camross
• 2019 Patrick Purcell Rathdowney–Errill
• 2020 Stephen Maher Clough–Ballacolla
• 2021 Stephen Maher Clough–Ballacolla
• 2022 Stephen Maher Clough–Ballacolla
• 2023 Darragh Duggan Camross
• 2024 Aidan Corby Clough–Ballacolla
• 2025 Aidan Corby Clough–Ballacolla

Records and statistics

Finals

• Most wins:
• 27 Camross
• Most consecutive wins:
• 5 Ballygeehan (1914–18), Camross (1965–69), Camross (1976–80) & Castletown (1999–2003)
• Most defeats:
• 17 Portlaoise
• Most consecutive defeats:
• 3 Abbeyleix (1946–48), Portlaoise (2007–09) & Borris-in-Ossory–Kilcotton (2019–21)
• Most appearances:
• 37 Camross
• Most appearances without a win:
• 4 Ballacolla (1898-1907-1923-1926)
• Highest scoring match:
• 64 points (2016) Borris-in-Ossory–Kilcotton 2-26 Rathdowney-Errill 2-26 (possible All Ireland record for 60-minute county SHC final)
• Lowest scoring match:
• 7 points (1928) Portlaoise 0-7 Clonad 1-0
• Biggest winning margin:
• 22 points (1911) Rathdowney 7-1 Clonaslee 0-0
• Highest scoring teams:
• 32 points (2016) Borris-in-Ossory–Kilcotton & Rathdowney-Errill
• Highest scoring winning team:
• 30 points (2023) Camross
• Highest scoring losing team:
• 27 points (2021) Borris-in-Ossory–Kilcotton GAA
• Most goals match:
• 12 (1949) Abbeyleix 7-3 Clonad 5-3
• Fewest goals match:
• 0 (1914, 1975, 1998 & 2012d)
• Most goals team:
• 7 (1935) Clonad & (1949) Abbeyleix
• Most goals losing team:
• 5 (1949) Clonad
• Trivia:
• 10 finals have ended in draws
• 4 finals have been goalless (1914-1975-1998-2012r)
• 20 finals have occurred where the losing team scored more goals than the winning team (last: 2019)
• 3 finals have occurred where the winner scored two goals fewer than the losing team (1909-1981-1992)
• 23 finals have occurred where there were more goals than points (last: 1964)

Teams

By decade

The most successful team of each decade, judged by number of Laois Senior Hurling Championship titles, is as follows:

• 1880s: 2 for Rathdowney (1888–89)
• 1890s: 2 each for Clonaslee (1890–91) and Rathdowney (1898–99)
• 1900s: 5 for Rathdowney (1901-02-03-07-08)
• 1910s: 5 for Ballygeehan (1914-15-16-17-18)
• 1920s: 4 for Rathdowney (1921-22-25-26)
• 1930s: 4 for Clonad (1930-33-35-37)
• 1940s: 4 for Abbeyleix (1940-44-45-49)
• 1950s: 4 for Clonad (1950-53-54-58)
• 1960s: 6 for Camross (1963-65-66-67-68-69)
• 1970s: 7 for Camross (1971-73-74-76-77-78-79)
• 1980s: 6 for Portlaoise (1981-82-83-84-87-89)
• 1990s: 4 for Camross (1990-93-94-96)
• 2000s: 5 for Castletown (2000-01-02-03-05)
• 2010s: 4 for Rathdowney–Errill (2010-12-14-19)

Gaps

Top ten longest gaps between successive championship titles:

• 91 years: Clough–Ballacolla (1918–2009) [as Ballygeehan in 1918]
• 65 years: Clonaslee (1910–1975)
• 38 years: Portlaoise (1943–1981)
• 22 years: Clonad (1970–1992)
• 19 years: Clonaslee (1891–1910)
• 15 years: Portlaoise (1928–1943)
• 14 years: Errill (1938–1952)
• 11 years: Borris-in-Ossory (1961–1972)
• 11 years: Camross (1996–2007)
• 09 years: Rathdowney (1889–1898)
• 09 years: Rathdowney (1912–1921)
• 09 years: Clonad (1937–1946)
• 09 years: Cullohill (1955–1964)

Starts (first 1–10 finals)

Best

• 1 final : (1-0) Rathdowney (1888), Clonaslee (1890), Harristown (1897), Ballygeehan (1914), Abbeyleix (1927), Mountrath (1942), Kyle (1951, Cullohill (1955), Borris-in-Ossory (1956), Castletown (1995), Rathdowney–Errill (2006)
• 2 finals: (2-0) Rathdowney (1889), Clonaslee (1891), Ballygeehan (1915), Abbeyleix (1932), Borris-in-Ossory (1957), Rathdowney-Errill (2008)
• 3 finals: (3-0) Ballygeehan (1916), Abbeyleix (1934), Rathdowney-Errill (2010)
• 4 finals: (4-0) Ballygeehan (1917), Rathdowney–Errill (2012)
• 5 finals: (5-0) Ballygeehan (1918), Rathdowney–Errill (2014)
• 6 finals: (5-1) (Ballygeehan (1919), Abbeyleix (1940), Castletown (2001), Rathdowney–Errill (2016)
• 7 finals: (6-1) Abbeyleix (1944), Castletown (2002)
• 8 finals: (7-1) Abbeyleix (1945), Castletown (2003)
• 9 finals: (7-2) Rathdowney (1903), Abbeyleix (1946), Castletown (2004)
• 10 finals: (8-2) Castletown (2005)

Worst

• 1 final : (0-1) Kilcotton (1888), Skierke (1889), Aghaboe (1891), Ballacolla (1898), Camross (1906), Portlaoise (1922), Clonad (1925), Errill (1933), Rovers (1951), Cuddagh (1957), Ballyfin (1972), Ballinakill (1979), The Harps (1984), Tinnahinch (2001), Borris-in-Ossory–Kilcotton (2013)
• 2 finals: (0-2) Kilcotton (1899), Ballacolla (1907), Clonad (1928), Camross (1945), Cuddagh (1959), The Harps (1997), Tinnahinch (2002)
• 3 finals: (0-3) Ballacolla (1923), Cuddagh (1961), The Harps (1998), Tinnahinch (2006)
• 4 finals: (0-4) Ballacolla (1926)
• 5 finals: (1-4) Clonad (1932), Borris-in-Ossory–Kilcotton (2021)
• 6 finals: (2-4) Clonad (1933), Errill (1954), Portlaoise (1977)
• 7 finals: (2-5) Clonad (1934), Portlaoise (1980), Errill (1982)
• 8 finals: (2-6) Errill (1986)
• 9 finals: (4-5) Clonad (1939), Clonaslee (1975), Portlaoise (1982)
• 10finals: (4-6) Clonad (1942), Clonaslee (1976), Portlaoise (1983)

Laois Senior A Hurling Championship

This competition has existed in various guises since 1995. It was originally played as the Dick Palmer Cup up to 2009, then became a competition ancillary to the main championship. In the earlier years, clubs would qualify for the Senior B by not reaching a certain stage of the main competition.

Since 2010, it has been a proper Tier2 competition, with promotion/relegation to/from the Senior Hurling Championship and from 2015, it has been called the Senior A Hurling Championship.

See also

• Laois Senior Hurling Championship
• Laois Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship
• Laois Intermediate Hurling Championship
• Laois Junior A Hurling Championship
• Laois Junior B Hurling Championship
• Laois Junior C Hurling Championship

References

External links

• Official Laois Website
• Laois on Hoganstand
• Laois Club GAA