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.
Paddy Brennan is a legendary figure in the Portlaoise club.
He won minor hurling championships with the Rovers Club
and when that club merged with Portlaoise in the early 1950s,
Paddy threw in his lot with the Town. He went on to star with
his club and also in the blue and white of Laois for many
years.
Jimmy Doyle was one of the giants of hurling. Born and reared within the shadow of hurling’s great amphitheatre, Semple Stadium, he went on to become one of the greatest hurlers of all time.
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”.
