The Laois Junior Football Championships are the lower-tier Laois Club Football Championships.
The Junior A and Junior B Championships use group phases then down to eight-four-two and the Junior C Championship operates similarly to the Senior Championship and Intermediate Championship by going for a straight knockout.
Portlaoise are the title holders (2022), having defeated Barrowhouse in the final.
Laois Junior Football Championship
The Laois Junior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by lower-tier Laois GAA clubs.
Kilcavan are the title holders (2024) defeating St Joseph's in the final.
Honours The trophy presented to the winners is the Shaw Cup.
The winners of the Laois Junior Championship qualify to represent their county in the Leinster Junior Club Football Championship. The winners can, in turn, go on to play in the All-Ireland Junior Club Football Championship. They often do well outside the county, with the likes of Rosenallis (2016) and Park–Ratheniska (2006) among the clubs from Laois to win at least one Leinster Championship after winning the Laois Junior Football Championship. The winners enter the All-Ireland at the quarter-final stage, unless drawn against the British champions in the quarter-finals.
History The Laois Junior A Football Championship was first held in 1906, with Durrow the victors.
In the mid-1990s, Rosenallis won the Junior Championship and then went on to win the Intermediate Championship back-to-back.
Laois full-back Martin Dempsey played in the 2004 final, at centre-forward.
In 2016, Rosenallis won a dual championship — junior football and intermediate hurling.
Laois players Tom Kelly (2003 All Star and 2005 International Rules Series Player of the Series) and Noel Garvan (who also won a Leinster Senior Football Championship in 2003) were involved in the 2017 final.
List of finals Year Winner Opponent 1906 Durrow 1907 Ballyroan 1908 Portlaoise 1909 Ballybrittas 1910 Durrow 1911 Portlaoise 1912 No competition 1913 Ratheniska 1914 The Heath 1915 Ballybrittas 1916 No competition 1917 No competition 1918 Borris-in-Ossory 1919 Portarlington 1920 Wolfhill 1921 Mountmellick 1922 Greenroad, Portlaoise 1923 No competition 1924 No competition 1925 No competition 1926 The Hollow 1927 Barrowhouse 1928 Loughteague 1929 Mountmellick 1930 The Heath 1931 Portarlington 1932 Abbeyleix 1933 Ballylinan 1934 Clonad 1935 Portlaoise 1936 Graiguecullen 1937 Ballylinan 1938 Jamestown 1939 St Fintan's, Mountrath 1940 Clonad 1941 Mountmellick Ballyfin 1942 Park Old Pound 1943 Park 1944 Spink Ballybrittas 1945 Ballyadams 1946 Barrowhouse 1947 Kilminchy 1948 Jamestown Mountmellick 1949 The Heath 1950 St Fintan's Hospital 1951 O'Dempseys 1952 Fairymount Jamestown 1953 Jamestown 1954 Portarlington Spink 1955 Graiguecullen Portlaoise 1956 Ballylinan 1957 Killeshin Mountmellick 1958 Stradbally St Fintan's Hospital 1959 St Fintan's Hospital Kilcavan 1960 Kilcavan Timahoe 1961 Crettyard Ballylinan 1962 Emo Portlaoise 1963 Ballyroan Portarlington 1964 St Fintan's Hospital Kilcavan 1965 Arles Portlaoise 1966 Mountmellick Kilcavan 1967 St Joseph's Portlaoise 1968 Portarlington Courtwood 1969 Killeshin Rathdowney 1970 Courtwood Abbeyleix 1971 Ballylinan Kilcavan 1972 Mountmellick Ballinakill 1973 Portlaoise Abbeyleix 1974 Barrowhouse Abbeyleix 1975 Graiguecullen Durrow 1976 St Joseph's Park 1977 Portlaoise 0-10 St Manman's 1-4 1978 St Manman's The Rock 1979 The Rock Ballinakill 1980 Camross Ballyfin 1981 Killeshin St Fintan's, Mountrath 1982 Durrow St Joseph's 1983 Portarlington Portlaoise 1984 Stradbally St Fintan's, Mountrath 1985 The Heath St Joseph's 1986 Courtwood Ballyroan 1987 Spink Portlaoise 1988 Portlaoise Rosenallis 1989 The Harps Ballyroan 1990 The Heath Rosenallis 1991 Arles–Kilcruise Rosenallis 1992 Portlaoise St Manman's 1993 Kilcavan St Joseph's 1994 Rosenallis St Manman's 1995 Ballyfin Ballyroan 1996 Arles–Kilcruise St Manman's 1997 St Manman's St Fintan's, Mountrath 1998 Ballyroan Portlaoise 1999 Portlaoise Graiguecullen 2000 The Harps Abbeyleix 2001 Abbeyleix Stradbally 2002 Portlaoise Stradbally 2003 Stradbally The Heath 2004 Kilcavan 1-11 St Joseph's 1-8 2005 Portlaoise Park–Ratheniska 2006 Park–Ratheniska Barrowhouse 2007 Ballinakill St Joseph's 2008 Killeshin The Heath 2009 The Heath Ballyfin 2010 Ballyfin Spink 2011 Spink 1-10 Graiguecullen 2-04 2012 Graiguecullen 2013 Kilcavan 2014 Courtwood 2015 Barrowhouse 2016 Rosenallis 2017 2018 2019 2020 Park–Ratheniska 2021 2022 Portlaoise 1-11 Barrowhouse 0-08 2023 2024 Kilcavan St Joseph's 2025
Laois Junior B Football Championship The Laois Junior B Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by fourth grade Laois GAA clubs.
The trophy presented to the winners is the Chris Lalor Cup.
The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the completion of the 2020 Laois Junior B Football Championship until the second half of 2021. The semi-finals were played in October 2020. The final was played in August 2021.
List of finals
Year Winner Opponent 1972 Park Ballyroan 1973 Mountmellick Slieve Bloom 1974 Rathdowney Durrow 1975 St Fintan's Hospital The Heath 1976 Timahoe Mountmellick 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 Stradbally Rosenallis 1984 Kilcavan Courtwood 1985 Graiguecullen 1986 Spink 1-09 Rosenallis 1-08 1987 Rosenallis 1988 The Heath Arles–Kilcruise 1989 Timahoe St Fintan's, Colt 1990 Arles–Kilcruise Ballylinan 1991 Ballyfin Crettyard 1992 O'Dempsey's The Heath 1993 Crettyard Camross 1994 Castletown Emo 1995 Arles–Kilcruise St Fintan's, Mountrath 1996 St Fintan's, Mountrath Ballylinan 1997 The Heath Abbeyleix 1998 St Fintan's, Colt Crettyard 1999 Abbeyleix Stradbally 2000 Stradbally Rathdowney 2001 Crettyard Camross 2002 Portlaoise Arles–Killeen 2003 Stradbally Spink 2004 Spink 1-08 Castletown 1-07 2005 Camross 3-14 Emo 2-5 2006 Mountmellick O'Dempsey's 2007 Ballylinan O'Dempsey's 2008 The Rock St Fintan's, Colt 2009 O'Dempsey's St Fintan's, Colt 2010 Portlaoise St Manman's 2011 Graiguecullen 1-9 St Fintan's, Colt 1-7 2012 2013 2014 Graiguecullen 2015 2016 2017 Errill 2018 2019 Errill 2020 Spink Graiguecullen 2021 2022 Camross 3-9 Errill 0-8 2022 2024 Stradbally Rosenallis 2025 Errill Portarlington 2026 PortarlingtonCastletown
Laois Junior C Football Championship The Laois Junior C Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by fifth grade Laois GAA clubs. St Joseph's are the title holders (2024) defeating Courtwood in the Final.
An actor participated in the 2020 Junior C Championship.
List of finals (R) = Replay Year Winner Opponent Captain 1998 Rathdowney 1-11 Errill 0-05 Jim Doherty 1999 Clough–Ballacolla 2-08 Borris-in-Ossory 0-03 Pat Whelan 2000 Errill 2-07 Borris-in-Ossory 0-09 Paul Delaney 2001 The Harps 2-13 Kilcotton 0-05 Kevin Shortall 2002 Rosenallis 0-7, 1-9(R) O'Dempsey's 0-7, 2-5(R) Seán McKane 2003 Portlaoise 5-6 Arles–Kilcruise 1-6 Liam Browne 2004 Trumera 0-12 The Harps 2-3 John O'Connor 2005 Arles–Kilcruise 2-8 Shanahoe 2-6 Kevin Kealy 2006 Courtwood 0-13 The Heath 2-4 Stephen Wilson 2007 St Manman's 2-9 Ballyfin 0-3 Martin Fallon 2008 Portlaoise 2-10 Ballyfin 0-8 Paul Sutton 2009 Portlaoise 0-10, 1-11(R) Shamrocks 1-7, 1-7(R) Gary McCormack 2010 The Heath 1-13 Shamrocks 2-5 John Browne 2011 O'Dempsey's 0-14 Portlaoise 0-13 Pat Behan 2012 Slieve Bloom/Castletown 1-10 Camross 2-5 Martin Delaney 2013 Graiguecullen 2-16 Annanough 1-5 Donny Hurley 2014 Camross 1-10 Spink 0-7 Paul Delaney 2015 Rosenallis 2-9 Clonaslee 1-7 Tom Hyland 2016 Errill 2-6 Rathdowney GAA 1-6 Patrick Purcell 2017 Castletown 1-13 Rathdowney 1-6 John Gaughan 2018 Slieve Bloom 1-10 St Fintan's, Colt/ Clonad 1-7 John Lowry 2019 Graiguecullen 6-10 St Fintan's, Colt 1-5 Peter Branagan 2020 Kilcotton 3-8 St Fintan's, Colt 1-3 2021 Ballyfin 0-11 Park–Ratheniska 0-9 2022 Rathdowney 5-12 Courtwood 0-10 2023 Clonaslee–St Manman's 0-10 Arles–Kilcruise 0-04 2024 St Joseph's 1-08 Courtwood 0-08 2025 Stradbally Graiguecullen 2026 Courtwood O'Dempseys
References