1- Extreme sadness at death of young Laois Garda Adrian Kelly
There is widespread sadness at the death of Adrian Kelly from Ballaghmore, a highly-regarded member of An Garda Síochána.
Adrian was stationed in Borris-in-Ossory where he was highly-regarded and well-known in the area and heavily involved with the Kyle GAA club.
Originally from Killoscully in Co Tipperary, Adrian passed away in Milford Hospice in Limerick.
2 – Laois searched as Criminal Assets Bureau raid ten locations and make several seizures
Laois was among a number of areas where the Criminal Assets Bureau carried out raids last week.
The search operation took place in the DMR West, DMR South, Laois and Kildare Regions on Friday April 29.
It targeted the commercial activities of a significant Dublin based Organised Crime Gang involved in drug trafficking and money laundering.
3 – Laois Abroad: Meet the 96-year-old Laois great-grandmother who has lived in San Francisco for more than 70 years
In our latest instalment of Laois Abroad, we chatted to Maureen Dowling, the 96-year-old Camross native who moved to San Francisco in America in 1948.
Maureen, originally a Delaney, grew up on a farm in Camross before moving to England where she worked as a nurse during World War II.
Maureen raised six children in San Francisco and they have all been to Laois many times.
4 – Quinlan the hero as Laois minor hurlers recover from Wexford comeback to reach Leinster semi finals
The Laois minor hurlers qualified for the Leinster semi finals following a dramatic encounter with Wexford on Saturday afternoon last week in O’Moore Park.
A fantastic display for 47 minutes left Laois seven points clear and they looked set to pull off victory.
But Wexford embarked on a massive comeback with two Cillian Byrne goals helping them to draw level.
And it looked like it would be another case of heartbreak for Laois when Wexford went ahead deep in injury time.
But with the final play of the game, a big high ball was sent into the Wexford area and Jer Quinlan latched onto it to win the game and send the Laois supporters into delirium.
5 – Death occurs of Sean Ramsbottom, former chairman of Laois GAA
The death occurred of Sean Ramsbottom Senior from Timahoe this week, the former highly-respected chairman of Laois GAA. He was in his 94th year.
Mr Ramsbottom was the county board chairman for 15 years, from 1973 to 1987, a very successful period for Laois on and off the field and his GAA involvement meant he was known and regarded the length and breadth of the country.
6 – End of the road for Laois minor footballers as Offaly record big win
Laois’s interest in the Leinster minor football championship came to an end in Tullamore on Wednesday evening when they were completely overpowered by Offaly.
Offaly raced into a 1-4 to no score lead after just five minutes and though they had the advantage of the breeze in the opening half, they were completely the dominant side.
In the end, Offaly were massive 2-20 to 1-5 winners.
7 – Laois duo play their part as Shannon return to club rugby’s top table
There was joyous scenes in Shannon rugby club in Limerick on Saturday afternoon as the famed outfit celebrated their return to Division 1A of the All Ireland League.
Shannon were 30-15 winners over Naas in the Division 1B promotion playoff, a win that brings them back to the top division for the first time since 2018-2019.
And central to their cause were two very promising young Laois players. Luke Rigney from Portlaoise started at prop with David Maher from Stradbally behind him in the second row.
8 – Wexford have too much as Laois hurlers fall to third successive championship loss
The Laois hurlers fell to their third straight Leinster championship loss in O’Moore Park on Sunday when they were heavily defeated by Wexford.
Laois only trailed by six points at half-time and though Wexford had that out to nine by the 50th minute, Laois collapsed following the sending of Fiachra C Fennell.
In the end Wexford had a massive 27 points to spare, 6-21 to 0-12.
9 – In Pictures: All smiles as Laois secondary school heads on first foreign school tour since Covid-19
TY students in Mountrath Community School embarked on a stunning and exciting cultural school tour to Verona, Venice and Lake Garda in Italy recently.
The trip, which took place last week, was a time for culture, history, sight seeing, shopping and much more for the intrepid explorers.
10 – Sadness and shock in Killenard and surrounding areas at sudden death of Alan Kavanagh
The community of Killenard was stunned this week with the shock and sudden passing of Alan Kavanagh.
Only in his late 30s, Mr Kavanagh was laid to rest on Thursday.
An accountant by profession, he had studied in DCU and later trained with Ernst & Young and worked in a financial role with Coca Cola.
