Brian Dunne
Originally published: Town Tattler Vol 4 Issue 6
In this month’s edition of the Tattler, Minor Football Manager Brian Dunne was kind enough to give us his time and answer some questions relating to his involvement in the club. Brian has been a long-standing servant of the Portlaoise club, having played football at all levels up to senior. He is now heavily involved in a coaching capacity, and is the current Minor Football manager of the boys team. Below, Brian gives some great insight into his early days with the club, along with sharing some great memories of his time playing and coaching with the Town.
Growing up, memories of home, friends, life etc. the early days, first interest in the club
I first joined the club after transferring to Portlaoise in 1998 from The Rock GAA where I started playing with the under 12s in Fr Brown Avenue. Pat Ryan, Teddy McCormack, Noel Tynan, Jim McManus and Kieran Dunphy were our managers and guided us right up to Minor level. This is where I formed my first love for Portlaoise GAA and during this time I developed many friendships, many of which have lasted until today.
School was also fundamental towards my interest in GAA, through playing Cumann na mBunscol in both The Rock National School and St Paul’s Primary School Portlaoise. Pat Brophy RIP, and Kieran Brosnan led the charges in The Rock and St Paul’s. Despite not having success in Cumann na mBunscol, I have great memories of primary school football.
Unfortunately, we hadn’t much success with Portlaoise Club until we reached minor level in 2003. Despite this lack of success at the time, a number of players on the team, including myself, had won Leinster A Championships with Portlaoise CBS.
One of my fondest memories of this time was playing in Éire Óg against Knockbeg where, despite having a quiet game, I popped up with two points in the dying minutes which secured a one point win for Portlaoise CBS in the South Leinster A Colleges Final in 2002.
The bulk of that CBS team would go on to win an All-Ireland Final with the Laois Minors in 2003. Names like Craig Rogers, Peter McNulty, Barry Fitzgerald, Brendan Quigley, Colm Kelly, Michael John Tierney, and Chris Bergin were some of the prominent names on the team at the time, and all of these guys secured All-Ireland Minor medals with Laois that year. I was lucky enough to be part of the extended panel under the guidance of Seán Dempsey and John Mulligan.
That same year, at club level, we were also very strong. Portlaoise Minors played St Joseph’s in the final and secured the 2003 Laois Minor title. I have very fond and happy memories of this game. The double success of the Portlaoise and Laois Minor teams that year stands out for me as a very proud moment in my playing career as well as a great period for Laois Football.
In 2004, more success followed with both the school and the county. The Laois Minors took Leinster Championship honours, beating Kildare in Croke Park and I was on the panel. Meanwhile, in school we reached the All-Ireland Colleges Final against St Louis Kilkeel from Co. Down.
I was tasked that day with marking the famous Martin Clarke who may have gotten the better of me. Let’s just say I have never watched the video replay! All of this success in school was under the guidance of Jack Duggan RIP, Noel Donlon, Adrian White and Cyril Mulligan.
Part of the devastation of losing the All-Ireland Final was seeing the impact it also had on our committed coaches and teachers, who echoed our own huge disappointment in the weeks that followed. Winning the Leinster Championship did help ease the sting of losing, but it was still raw. Unfortunately, 2004 did not see great success for the Portlaoise Minor team either.
In 2005, we reached the Under-21 A Football Championship final with Portlaoise, where we drew with Stradbally Parish Gaels. Devastatingly, we were to lose out by a point in the replay to a very strong Stradbally team.
The following year, 2006, we had better success beating Ballylinan Glen Mor in a dogfight in Park Ratheniska. They had won the Minor-A Championship in 2004, and had players such as David Conway, the O’Shea’s and Donie Brennan on their team sheet, which helps to explain the significance of this win.
2007 was the toughest year for me personally having lost my uncle Pat. A few weeks later in the Under-21 semi-final against Stradbally Parish Gaels, coming out of the defence with the first ball, my elbow snapped underneath me and that was the end of my season.
We went on to beat St Joseph’s in the final where I was a spectator because of my injury. I spent most of my recuperation in Prague completing my Erasmus which was part of my college degree.
I was eager to return in 2008 which became renowned for the famous brawl against St Joseph’s in Ratheniska where many suspensions were handed out and the game was abandoned. Too many memories of this event to share!
The following year we beat The Heath in the County Final, which was also my last year playing under-21 with Portlaoise.
I played a good bit of intermediate, senior league and junior championships after this. I was always honoured to wear the jersey.
The impact of my elbow injury and work life commitments, I was commuting to Dublin, meant my GAA career took a different path than I may have expected.
Favourite Club Memories
My favourite club memory is from 2005. It was the run up to the All-Ireland Final and Portlaoise had secured the County and Leinster Titles. The buzz and pride around the town and county continues to stand out in my mind to this day.
2009 also holds great memories for me. In December, Portlaoise beat Garrycastle in the Leinster Final. This was the start of what became a very successful period in club history. This team was a combination of youth and experience and as a supporter it was a joy to watch.
Best Game You Were At/Played In:
At: The best Portlaoise game I was ever at was the Senior Club All Ireland 2005 where Portlaoise played Crossmaglen in Parnell Park. The atmosphere that day was unbelievable and the match was a dogfight from start to finish. Portlaoise support was massive. Eoin Bland had a stormer on Oisín McConville. The game was just so tight, heart rates were high, it was an epic win.
Played: The best game I played in was the Under-21 Final against Ballylinan Glenmore. Similar to the Crossmaglen match every ball was fought for and to come out with a win was the icing on the cake.
Best Players You Played With/Watched
Played: I was fortunate to play alongside many top players but Cahir Healy and Peter McNulty RIP stand out the most for me.
Watched: From players such as Ian Fitzgerald, Wooly, Bruno, Aidan Fennelly and Kevin Fitzpatrick and right up to today Paul Cahillane, Kieran Lillis and Conor Boyle, to name a few.
Current Involvement with the Club
I’m currently the under-17 team manager alongside Kevin Gorman, Cha Fitzpatrick and Paul Cahillane; and this is something I enjoy doing. I’ve been with this team since their first year under-13.
We have had success at all ages which have been great highs. It has been satisfying to lift trophies, watch these players grow and both witness and be involved on the winning days.
However, we have, unfortunately, had some devastating ones too. I’m referring of course to the loss of David Brown, who I was privileged to coach from when he was under 13. I cannot put into words the impact the loss of our teammate David had and continues to have on our team. His memory and the strength that his family and the club as a whole has shown keeps us all going.
David reminded me of Cahir Healy, a dual star, brave, always willing to make and win the dirty ball, modest and consistently giving his all for the Portlaoise jersey. We continue to think of him in some way every time we gather.
I also love the school/club link that allows me to promote Portlaoise GAA in my daily job when coaching Cumann na mBunscol teams year on year with so many of my dedicated colleagues in Holy Family Senior School.
What the club means to you
The club means a lot to me. I rarely miss a championship match, I love being in Rathleague on any given evening coaching, chatting, meeting other club members.
Many close friendships have been formed through my involvement with Portlaoise GAA Club. I have so many great memories over the years. We have come through some tough times together and the last few years have made me realise that club really is family.
I have been involved in the club in some shape or form for the past 26 years and enjoyed and continue to enjoy every minute of it.
Hopes for the club going forward
That the club continues on its upward trend. I feel the club is in a really strong position at the moment. I can see first-hand, due to my work as a primary school teacher in Holy Family Senior School, how much work is really going on for the town at club level.
Early morning coaching sessions before school with the likes of Pat Critchley, Colm Clear, Tommy Mulligan, Gareth Keogh, Teddy Fennelly, Kevin Fitzpatrick, our GPO Jamie and the many willing teachers is a sign of the passion and commitment that the club represents.
These people volunteer purely because of their passion for the games and the agenda is purely to develop skills in all children.
My other hope is that people continue to appreciate how much time and effort goes into every aspect of managing and coaching teams voluntarily and the outside pressures and criticism doesn’t drive people away from these roles.
Most importantly, my main hope is that one day I will sit in the stand in O’Moore Park and watch a crop of my current under-17 players line out with our senior team and keep our club thriving. I’ve no doubt that this will happen and, please God, I will witness it for many years to come.
The School/Town Link
We won Roinn 1 Cumann na mBunscol football in October 2023 and contested a Roinn 1 hurling final also, narrowly beaten by a strong Castletown side. Winning the double would’ve been a historic achievement for Holy Family Senior School boys but the future of Town football/hurling is bright with so many of these young lads representing us at club level.
I’m not forgetting our girls’ football and camogie teams who have also had great success in Cumann na mBunscol and have already achieved this double win for the school.
Again, the work going into developing these girls never stops in the school and has propelled many talented underage teams in our club down through the years.