Profile: Paddy Campion

Paddy Campion became the club’s first Honorary President in 1943, the year Portlaoise won its second senior hurling title. He scored a vital goal when Laois won its only All-Ireland senior hurling final in 1915. A Rathdowney man, Paddy came to the Town in 1933 and immediately threw in his lot with the local club. He soon became chairman and directed the club through many of the lean years of the 1930s and ‘40s. He was one of those great supporters who reformed Portlaoise GAA in 1949 and from thence it prospered. Paddy was also closely associated with the local CYMS and Boxing Club and was vice-chairman of Laois GAA for a number of years, a position he held at the time of his death in 1957. Two of his sons, Ned and Hugh, played with Portlaoise. Ned was a mentor and delegate for many years and Hugh went on to become chairman of Kildare GAA.