Profile: Dr. Thomas F. O’Higgins
Dr. Thomas F. O’Higgins, who chaired the first meeting of Portlaoise GAA, in 1887. He was a popular G.P. in Stradbally for many years.
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Paddy was a member of the Laois minor hurling team of 1934 that won Leinster honours and was pipped by a point by Tipperary in a farcical finish to the All-Ireland final which was kept going for over ten minutes of extra time until the Munster men got the winning score. His father, also Paddy, was a well-known boxing coach and was an ally for many years of the legendary Portlaoise boxing supremo, Garda Billy Blackwell, who helped establish Portlaoise Boxing Club as one of the foremost in the country. His sister, Rosie, was wife of another famous Laois hurler of the period, Mick Hopper, and their son Noel, also a great supporter of the “Town”, was a classy player for Portlaoise under age teams in the 1950s.
Dr. Thomas F. O’Higgins, who chaired the first meeting of Portlaoise GAA, in 1887. He was a popular G.P. in Stradbally for many years.
If there was any one player who symbolised the never-say-die spirit that inspired Portlaoise to become one of the country’s top GAA Clubs in the 1960s and early ‘70s is has to be Pascal Delaney, know to friend and foe alike as “The Red Lad”.
Colm Browne has achieved almost everything a Gaelic player could wish for. At Club level Colm has won ten Laois Senior Championships, four under 21s and two Minor Medals…
Ⓒ 1887 - 2025 - Portlaoise GAA - C'MON THE TOWN