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 Championship and Intermediate Championship by going for a straight knockout.

Portlaoise Portlaoise ( ), or Port Laoise (), is the county town of County Laois, Ireland. It is located in the Midland Region, Ireland, South Midlands in the province of Leinster. The 2016 census shows that the town's population increased by 9.5% to 22,050 ...

are the title holders (2022) defeating Barrowhouse in the Final.

Laois Junior Football Championship

The Laois Junior Football Championship is an annual

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

competition contested by lower-tier

Laois GAA The Laois County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Luthchleas Gael Coiste Laois) or Laois GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Laois. The county board i ...

clubs.

are the title holders (2022) defeating Barrowhouse in the Final.

Honours

The trophy presented to the winners is the Shaw Cup. The winners of the Laois Junior Championship qualify to represent their county in the

Leinster Junior Club Football Championship The Leinster Junior Club Football Championship is a Gaelic football competition between the winners of the Junior football competitions in 10 counties of Leinster, the Intermediate football champions of Kilkenny, the Intermediate football runners- ...

. The winners can, in turn, go on to play in the

All-Ireland Junior Club Football Championship The All-Ireland Junior Club Football Championship is a Gaelic football competition which began in 2002 and is played by the junior club champions of each county. Prior to that a number of unofficial competitions were held. The winners of each cou ...

. They often do well outside the county, with the likes of Rosenallis (2016) and Park–Ratheniska (2006) among the clubs from Laois to win at least one Leinster Championship after winning the Laois Junior Football Championship. The winners enter the All-Ireland at the quarter-final stage, unless drawn against the British champions in the quarter-finals.

History

The Laois Junior A Football Championship was first held in 1906, with Durrow the victors. In the mid-1990s, Rosenallis won the Junior Championship and then went on to win the Intermediate Championship back-to-back. Laois full-back Martin Dempsey played in the 2004 final, at centre-forward. In 2016, Rosenallis won a dual championship — junior football and intermediate hurling. Laois players Tom Kelly (2003 All Star and 2005

International Rules Series The International Rules Series is a senior men's international rules football competition between the Australia international rules football team (selected by the Australian Football League) and the Ireland international rules football team (se ...

Player of the Series) and

Noel Garvan Noel Garvan is a former inter-county Gaelic footballer from County Laois. He plays for the St Joseph's club. He usually played at midfield for Laois and played a huge part in 2003 when Laois ended the 57-year wait for the Leinster Senior Fo ...

(who also won a

Leinster Senior Football Championship The Leinster Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Leinster Championship and shortened to Leinster SFC, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA ...

in 2003) were involved in the 2017 final.

List of finals

Laois Junior B Football Championship

The Laois Junior B Football Championship is an annual

competition contested by fourth grade

clubs. ? are the title holders (2022) defeating ? in the Final. The trophy presented to the winners is the Chris Lalor Cup. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

delayed the completion of the 2020 Laois Junior B Football Championship until the second half of 2021. The semi-finals were played in October 2020. The final was played in August 2021.

List of finals

Laois Junior C Football Championship

The Laois Junior C Football Championship is an annual

competition contested by fifth grade

clubs.

Rathdowney Rathdowney or Rathdowny () is a town in southwest County Laois, Ireland. It lies some 32 km southwest of Portlaoise in the Irish Midlands, at the point where the R433 regional road from Abbeyleix to Templemore is crossed by the R435 ...

are the title holders (2022) defeating

Courtwood Courtwood GAA ( ga, Cumann Luthchleas Gael Coill na Cúirte) is a Gaelic Athletic Association gaelic football club, located in the north east corner of County Laois in Ireland. The club is located in the eastern half of Emo parish with a small ca ...

in the Final. An actor participated in the 2020 Junior C Championship.

List of finals

References

{{Laois GAA, state=expanded 3