Crettyard () is a hamlet in

County Laois County Laois ( ; gle, Contae Laoise) 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 medie ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It is situated on the border with

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny ( gle, Contae Chill Chainnigh) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the cou ...

, near Newtown, at the junction of the N78

national primary route A national primary road ( ga, Bóthar príomha náisiúnta) is a road classification in Ireland. National primary roads form the major routes between the major urban centres. There are 2649 km of national primary roads. This category of ro ...

and the R431 regional road.

Education

Schools serving the area include Newtown National School and Mayo National School.

Sports

Athletics

The local athletics club, St Abban's AC, was established in 1955. The club has had a number of successes at county, provincial and national level throughout the years producing international athletes such as Barry Pender (High Jump), Paul Byrne (400mH), Brian Kelly (800m), Eoin Kelly (Triple Jump), Saragh Buggy (Triple Jump), Nessa Millet (400mh - National Junior Record Holder 2013), and Ruby Millet (Long Jump - National Junior Indoor Record Holder - 2019). The club's facility is located just off the Carlow - Castlecomer Rd and consists of a cinder style track with tartan on LJ, TJ, PV and HJ areas. It also has a loop for longer distances.

Gaelic games

The village is home to

Crettyard GAA Crettyard GAA is a Gaelic Athletic Association gaelic football club in Crettyard near Newtown in County Laois, Ireland. The club is located near the Laois-Kilkenny border. History Shortly after the GAA was founded in 1884, there were two cl ...

club.

Soccer

Crettyard United compete in the Carlow premier division. They have won the division on several occasions. They also compete in the Leinster Senior Cup.

References