Courtwood GAA () is a

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...

gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

club, located in the north east corner of

County Laois County Laois ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Hist ...

in Ireland. The club is located in the eastern half of

Emo Emo () is a genre of rock music characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and from the Washington, D.C., hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands ...

parish with a small catchment area south of the village of

Ballybrittas Ballybrittas (, IPA: �bˠalʲəˈbʲɾʲɪt̪ˠaːʃ is a small village in the northeast of County Laois, Ireland situated on the R445 about 5 km SW of Monasterevin, County Kildare. Formerly on the N7 Dublin - Limerick road, the village i ...

and mainly covered by the local school Rath NS. The locality is bordered on one side by

County Kildare County Kildare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the Local gove ...

and by three neighbouring clubs in

Laois County Laois ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Hist ...

: Annanough, O'Dempsey's and

. At adult level, the club is a football club only, although a period in the 2000s saw Courtwood dabble in the small ball game. Courtwood currently field football teams at

Senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

and junior C.

History

Gaelic football has been played in the area since the foundation of the GAA in 1884 with evidence of the first club named Courtwood existing as early as 1888 and competing in the earliest known

Laois Senior Football Championship The Laois Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by top-tier Laois GAA clubs. The Laois County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1888. Portarlington won the 2024 title, af ...

s. The 1892

final was actually played in Courtwood. The early 1900s saw the original Courtwood club fade from existence to be replaced in the area by a club named Ballybrittas which in turn was replaced by the Jamestown club. The current Courtwood club was reformed in 1962 and played its first game on 1 April 1962 beating Wolfhill by 3-5 to 0-1. Previous to this, players from the locality played with either the Jamestown or Annanough clubs. Courtwood has won the Laois Junior Football Championship three times (1970, 1986 and 2014) and the Laois Intermediate Football Championship three times (1971, 1987 and 2018) and won three league titles

Laois All-County Football League The Laois All-County Football League (ACFL) is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by Laois GAA The Laois County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) () or Laois GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, ...

Division Three in 2015 and Division Two in 2018 and 2023. In 2006, Courtwood's second team won the Laois Junior "C" Football Championship. At underage level, Courtwood have successfully combined with Emo on a number of occasions to win county titles. Emo won the Laois Minor Football Championship in 1964 and 1965 and the Laois Under 21 Football Championship in 1966 and 1967, with players from Courtwood playing on the winning teams. The two clubs also combined to win the Under 21 title again in 1989 and 1990 as Courtwood/Emo and returned to win the Under 21 B title again in 2012. Courtwood as a separate entity won the 2003 Laois Minor "B" Football Championship and Emo/Courtwood returned to the county roll of honour in 2008 winning the Laois Minor "B" Football Championship, having lost out in the 2007 final of the same competition. In 2011 and 2012, an Emo, Courtwood and The Rock minor combination won two Laois Minor "B" Football Championships and two Laois Minor Football League B titles. In 2016, Emo, Courtwood and The Rock again joined forces at minor level and won the Laois Minor Football Championship. 2019 then saw Emo/Courtwood win another minor championship with the under 20 title following later in the year under the Courtwood/Emo banner Captained by Rory Doyle and Niall Gorman. At the younger age levels St Paul's has been quite successful in recent years. The under 14 team won the county Féile in 2013 and went on to win the county championship and retain the title in 2014. They also won the under 16 championship in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Juvenile setup

Juvenile football and hurling affairs are catered for by St Pauls Juvenile GAA club, an amalgamation with fellow parishioners,

. Courtwood also amalgamate with

at minor (under 17) and under 20 level.

Achievements

Laois Intermediate Football Championship The Laois Intermediate Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by mid-tier Laois GAA clubs. The Laois County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1907. Crettyard are the title holders ...

(3) 1971, 1987, 2018 *

Laois Junior Football Championships 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 Cha ...

(3) 1970, 1986, 2014 *

Laois Junior C Football Championship The Laois Junior Football Championships are the lower-tier Laois Club Championships, 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 sim ...

(1) 2006 * Laois All-County Football League Div. 3: (1) 2015 * Laois All-County Football League Div. 2: (2) 2018, 2023 * Laois Under-21 Football Championship (2) 1989 (with

), 1990 (with

) * Laois Under-20 Football Championship (1) 2019 (with

) * Laois Under-21 B Football Championship (2) 2012 (with

) and 2005 * Laois Minor Football Championship (2) 2016 (with

and The Rock), 2019 (with

) * Laois Minor B Football Championship (8) 1987, 1989, 1992, 2008, 2022 (all with Emo), 2011 and 2012 (with

and The Rock), 2003 * Laois Minor B Football League (2) 2011 and 2012 (with

and The Rock)

Famous players and members

Courtwood is the home club of Fergal Byron, the 2003 All-Star goalkeeper who was also instrumental in Laois's 2003 Leinster SFC triumph. He was joined in 2007 on the Laois senior panel by Niall Donoher, a minor and under 21 star with Laois.

George Doyle George Doyle is a former Gaelic footballer and manager from County Laois. He played on the Laois senior football team throughout the 1990s, primarily as a defender but also in midfield. During that period he was also selected to play on the ...

and John O'Connell both played senior football with Laois in the 1990s while Danny Luttrell and Tommy Dunne were on the Laois team beaten in the Leinster SFC final in 1968. In 2014, former Courtwood player

Eddie Kinsella Eddie Kinsella is a former Gaelic football referee from County Laois. He is a member of the Courtwood club. Kinsella refereed the 2014 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final between Donegal and Kerry at Croke Park. Before this he had ...

refereed the

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) () is the premier inter-county competition in Gaelic football. County (Gaelic games), County teams compete against each other and the winner is declared All-Ireland Champions. Organised by the ...

final between Kerry and Donegal, with his four umpires Alan O'Halloran, Pat O'Connell, Arthur O'Connor and Niall Murphy also all club members. In recent years, Courtwood have supplied a number of players to Laois senior, under 20/21 and minor football teams including Luke Doyle, Mark O'Halloran, Conor Hogan, Danny Luttrell, Alan Kinsella, Matthew Byron, Niall Dunne, Sean O'Flynn, Seth Burns Mooney, Paul O'Flynn, Nathan Little, Sam Krebs, Adam O'Halloran, Cian Doyle, Collins Ugochukwu, Ryan Little and Dan Boland. The first ever Laois team to win an All-Ireland football title was the 1973 junior team and Courtwood players Danny Luttrell, Paddy Dunne and Ned Flynn all played on that winning team. Offaly

winning medallist in 1971 and 1972, Larry Coughlan, played for Courtwood for a period in the mid 1970s beginning in April 1974.

Players

* Fergal Byron * Larry Coughlan * Niall Donoher *

* Tommy Dunne * Danny Luttrell * John O'Connell * Sean O'Flynn

Managers

External links

Courtwood GAA Official Website

Laoistalk – Laois GAA News Website

References

Minor B win of 2003

2007 Intermediate final defeat

2006 Junior win

{{Laois GAA clubs Gaelic games clubs in County Laois Gaelic football clubs in County Laois