Slieve Bloom 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 ...

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

club in

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 ...

, Ireland.

Overview

The club was founded in 1947 and the club colours are orange and white. The club grounds are located from

Mountrath Mountrath () is a small town in County Laois, Ireland. The town lies on the R445 midway between Dublin and Limerick, exactly 96.5 km (60 mi) from both cities. The town was bypassed by the M7 motorway in 2010, leading to a significant ...

off the mountain road to

Clonaslee Clonaslee () is a village in north County Laois, Ireland, situated in the foothills of the Slieve Bloom Mountains on the R422 Mountmellick to Birr road. Clonaslee is approximately 100 km west of Dublin, and is close to the towns of Portl ...

. The townland that the field is located in is called Deerpark and the grounds were once part of the Deerpark estate. The club obtained the grounds from the land commission when the estate was divided. Previous to that the club had operated from the sportsfield at Clonin, Mountrath and also from Rushin,

. In later years the grounds were improved, the playing pitch was leveled and a perimeter fence was erected. In 1947 Slieve Bloom won the

Laois Junior Hurling Championship The Laois Junior Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition contested by lower-tier Laois GAA clubs. Ballypickas are the 2024 champions, defeating Borris-Kilcotton GAA in the final. As of then, they have won the most (9). Junior A T ...

but had to wait until 1983 to repeat that success. The Captain of the team in 1983 was Thomas Cuddy as the Slieve Bloom men beat Ballypickas in the final. Their only other championship title came in 1999 when they won

Laois Junior B Hurling Championship The Laois Junior Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition contested by lower-tier Laois GAA clubs. Ballypickas are the 2024 champions, defeating Borris-Kilcotton GAA in the final. As of then, they have won the most (9). Junior A T ...

title following a 2–4 to 0–7 win over neighbours Castletown. Slieve Bloom also won the Laois All-County Hurling League Division 4 title in 1999 with a repeat win over Castletown and added the Laois All-County Hurling League Division 3 title in 2002. In 2009 a new Gaelic football club was formed between members of both Slieve Bloom and Castletown. This new entity was a short lived union. In early 2015 the decision was made to part ways with the senior amalgamation and Slieve Bloom entered a team in the Junior A championship and Division 3 league. James Young from Clonaslee was appointed as the team trainer, his first such role. On 9 October 2016, Slieve Bloom won their first Junior A championship in 33 years beating Rathdowney-Errill in the final by 2–24 to 2–6, an 18 points win. Slieve Bloom's Laois senior hurler Ben Conroy scored 1–15.

Achievements

Laois Intermediate Hurling Championship The Laois Intermediate Hurling Championship (abbreviated to the Laois IHC) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Laois County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association for the third tier hurling teams in the county of Laois in Irela ...

2018 *

: (3) 1947, 1983, 2016 *

1999 *

Laois Junior B Football Championship 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 ...

2021 *

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 ...

2018 *

Laois All-County Hurling League 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. Histo ...

Div. 4 1999 *

Div. 3 2002

References

{{Laois GAA clubs Gaelic games clubs in County Laois Hurling clubs in County Laois 1947 establishments in Ireland