PJ Cuddy was a

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

player with

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 ...

and Camross. He was voted on the "Laois Team of the Millennium", and has been called "the best full forward of his generation" by the

Leinster Express The ''Leinster Express'' is a regional newspaper in Ireland that serves County Laois. The paper was part of the Leinster Leader Group, which was sold to Johnston Press in late 2005. The paper is currently owned by Iconic Newspapers, who acquire ...

Biography

Cuddy played with Laois for more than 15 years. The youngest of a family of 11, Cuddy acquired a passion for hurling at an early age. He was just 18 when he won his first

Laois Senior Hurling Championship The Laois Senior Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition contested by top-tier Laois GAA clubs. The Laois GAA, Laois County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1888. Clough–Ballacolla GAA, Clough–Bal ...

medal with Camross in 1976. Later that season, Camross captured the

Leinster Senior Club Hurling Championship The Leinster Senior Club Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the AIB Leinster GAA Hurling Senior Club Championship) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association and conte ...

title with a victory over James Stephens (Kilkenny). They subsequently beat Ballycran (Down) in the All-Ireland semi-final but were denied the final title by Cork kingpins Glen Rovers. Cuddy went on to captain the Laois under 21 team in 1979. Laois reached the Leinster final that year but their captain missed the defeat to Offaly after being sent off in an earlier game. It was the only time in his career that he missed a game through suspension. The following year, Cuddy was promoted to the senior team (his brothers Ger and Sean had also played senior for Laois) and he made his debut as a substitute in a

National Hurling League The National Hurling League is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition featuring teams from Ireland and England. Founded in 1925 by the Gaelic Athletic Association, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation within the l ...

defeat to Clare at Portlaoise. He was selected from the start for Laois’ next outing against Antrim. Despite the defeat to Clare, the O’Moore County succeeded in gaining promotion to Division 1 in 1981 and were drawn to face Tipperary in the quarter-final. Tipp were favourites, but two goals from Cuddy turned the game in Laois’ favour. They subsequently lost to neighbours and bogey side Offaly at the penultimate round stage. A

Railway Cup The GAA Interprovincial Championship ( ga, An Corn Idir-Chúigeach) or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster ...

winner with Leinster in 1988, Cuddy brought his inter-county career to a close in 1996 with no silverware to show for his years of service. At club level, however, he garnered 12 county senior championship medals. The Cuddy name is synonymous with Camross hurling. At one stage, there were seven Cuddys on the club's senior team. Twenty years on from his first Leinster club championship success, Cuddy won his second Leinster medal in 1996 when Camross defeated O’Toole's of Dublin in the provincial decider. Camross’ bid for the All-Ireland title was eventually ended by Athenry of Galway. In 2009, he became the new manager of Camross.

References

Laois inter-county hurlers Camross hurlers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people {{Laois-hurling-bio-stub