Profile: Mathew Keegan
Mathew came through the ranks as a duel player winning underage football and hurling titles for the “Town”.
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.
Mathew came through the ranks as a duel player winning underage football and hurling titles for the “Town”.
Player, selector, administrator and fund raiser. The Portlaoise great Jas O’Reilly.
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.
Ⓒ 1887 - 2025 - Portlaoise GAA - C'MON THE TOWN