Ahead of a 25-year reunion of the All Ireland-winning Laois minor footballers in October, we looked back at their glorious 1997 success.
This evening in Portlaoise, a group of lads in their early 40s will gather to drink a few pints, share a few memories and look back on the summer of 1997 and their All Ireland-winning exploits.
This year is the 25th anniversary of Laois’s 1997 All Ireland minor football triumph, a remarkable time in the county’s GAA history.
From 1995-1998, the Laois minors were a big deal, losing the Leinster minor final of 1995 after a three-game saga with Westmeath before winning the All Ireland in 1996, backing it up in 1997 and the reaching the final again in 1998.
Players from all those four teams went on to be mainstays of the Laois seniors for the best part of a decade after that, many of them picking up Leinster senior medals in 2003.
After the hysteria of 1996, few thought repeating the trick a year later was doable.
Gabriel Lawlor, having been over the 1995 and 1996 teams, moved up to U-21 in 1997. Ollie Phelan, who’d been a selector under Lawlor, remained as minor manager and was joined by Portlaoise’s Martin Parkinson and Crettyard’s Ger Kelly as selectors.
Only three of the starting team in 1996 were underage in 1997 – Martin Buggy, Stephen Kelly and Brian ‘Beano’ McDonald – but the likes of Tommy Mulligan, Diarmuid Mullins, John Paul Kehoe, Tom Lynch and Shane Hennessy had been subs in 1996 and were involved again.
Phelan said he saw plenty of potential in the 1997 crop but they were very nearly caught in the early stages of the championship, which was played on a straight knockout basis.
On a Saturday evening in May, they began their campaign with a 0-9 to 0-8 win over Offaly.
“It doesn’t get much closer than this,” wrote Brian Keyes in the opening paragraph of his match report in that week’s Leinster Express.
“Laois had their All Ireland title on the line and it was one of last year’s heroes, Stephen Kelly, who kept the county on course to retaining it with a pointed injury time free – the decisive kick of the match.”
And it was just as tight two weeks later against, of all teams, Kilkenny.
There wasn’t much between the sides for most of the game but a Gary Kavanagh goal had Laois 1-14 to 1-4 up heading into the final ten minutes. It seemed as if Laois would see it out with a degree of comfort from there.
But Kilkenny hit 3-1 in quick succession to draw level as full-time approached. Michael Kavanagh and Noel Hickey were among the Kilkenny starters who’d go on to become household hurling names but it was none other than Henry Shefflin who got the equalising goal and “played a leading role in his side’s revival” according to the match report at the time.
But Laois held their nerve and “a great move finished with Brian McDonald placing Kieran Kelly for a goal”. Laois just about did enough to win 2-14 to 4-5. They were heading back to Croke Park.
But that scrape against Kilkenny led to widespread change on the team. Having not appeared in either of the opening two games, there was a new name on the team sheet for the semi-final. Joe Higgins from St Joseph’s was in at centre-back.
In addition Michael Leigh was now in goals and his club-mate Paul McDonald was corner-back. Darren Rooney pushed up to midfield, having been in defence in the early rounds, and Stephen Kelly went from midfield to full-forward. Kieran Kelly also took over the captaincy from his Ballylinan colleague Mark Hovendon.
The changes worked. Though a highly-rated Meath outfit were next up but Laois were on a roll now and they won 1-12 to 0-7. “Beano roasts The Royals,” was the Leinster Express headline.
McDonald was still only 17 and underage for another year but he was a huge star at the time. He finished with 0-8 that day, following on from 0-7 v Kilkenny.
That semi-final win over Meath on July 6 was the curtain-raiser to a drawn senior semi-final between Meath and Kildare – and as it took three games to separate them, it was August 16 before the Leinster final was played.
Standing in Laois’s way in the provincial final was Wicklow. Again Laois found a way, eventually doing enough to see off a stern challenge to win 2-11 to 0-10, the goals from Kieran Kelly and Hovendon coming late on.
Croke Park was like a second home to Laois at this stage and they were back there again a couple of weeks later to play Mayo in the All Ireland semi-final.
Beano hit 2-3 on this occasion and Kieran Kelly got the other goal as Laois triumphed 3-8 to 1-9.
For the second year running, the scramble for All Ireland final tickets was underway.
On the other side of the draw, Tyrone, managed by a certain Mickey Harte, beat Kerry after an extra-time replayed epic.
Laois and Tyrone would be the curtain raiser to the senior final between Kerry and Mayo at the end of September.
Tyrone had been well forewarned on Laois’s dangerman – but they hadn’t counted on Stephen Kelly stepping up to the extent that he did.
While Beano was restricted to 0-2, Kelly finished with 2-3 as Laois made the most of a good start and an early Mark Hovendon goal to win 3-11 to 1-14 win. For the second year running Laois were All Ireland minor champions.
And the celebrations duly followed.
Kieran Kelly accepted the Tom Markham Cup in the Hogan Stand and Laois once again got a hero’s reception in Portlaoise the following evening when thousands turned out to welcome them home.
Phelan would once again guide Laois to the All Ireland final in 1998 but Tyrone were really coming of age and with Harte still at the helm, they won their All Ireland, captained by Cormac McAnallen.
The big Ballyfin man would stay in charge for another couple of years – but their luck ran out in 1999 when they kicked countless wides in an early round loss to Offaly in O’Moore Park.
Westmeath would beat Laois after a replay in 2000 in a semi-final in Croke Park and Phelan’s time would finish up shortly after and he remains disappointed to this day that further opportunities at senior and U-21 didn’t come his way.
For the players, a lot of them had fine careers at club and county level after. Eight of the starting minors in the 1997 All Ireland minor final were part of the 2003 senior setup, so too were a couple more of the 1997 minor subs.
Twenty five years on and a handful are involved at club level in management and officer roles.
SEE ALSO – Check out more from our Laois Football Memory series here
