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.
In the Summer of 1998 Portlaoise Senior Hurlers were in the midst of their preparations for a senior Hurling Championship game. Seamus “Cheddar” Plunkett was our manager then and, as the Players togged out in the dressing room, he was pacing the side of the main pitch waiting for a juvenile football match to finish so he could set out his cones and drills.
Cyril Duggan is without doubt one of the finest dual players the club has ever produced. Speak to anyone who was lucky to see him play or play with him and they will tell you the same.
Mathew came through the ranks as a duel player winning underage football and hurling titles for the “Town”.
