Talking Sport

A big occasion for female sport in Laois this weekend lends itself to a special episode of the LaoisToday Talking Sport Podcast. 

The Portlaoise AFC U-14 girls soccer team are in the national FAI Cup final this coming Sunday. 

It's an historic occasion as it's the first time a team from the club will play in a national final. Indeed it's the first time in 20 years that a team from the Midlands league has reached a national final.

Even more impressive is that it comes less than seven years after Portlaoise AFC fielded a girls team for the first time ever. 

Getting to this final is no mean achievement given that hundreds of clubs at the start of the competition has now been whittled down to just two. 

After beating Shelbourne in the semi-final, Portlaoise now play Greystones in the final this Sunday in the AUL Complex in Dublin. 

And ahead of that game, Shane Keegan, Portlaoise's first team coach and a former manager at Wexford Youths, Galway Utd and Dundalk, sat down with Portlaoise U-14 manager Dave McCall.

The morning after the night before.

The latest LaoisToday Talking Sport Podcast looks back on last night’s wonderful occasion in O’Moore Park as a crowd of over 12,000 turned up to watch the Leinster minor hurling final.

An outstanding Offaly team were 0-21 to 0-13 winners for their first Leinster title since 2000 but Laois have as good as they got in a thunderous match.

Steven and Alan look back on the game, report that all missing children were reunited with their parents and give credit where it’s due - to all in Laois and Leinster GAA that made the night such a success.

And the season is far from over with Laois now having to play Clare and Galway with a chance to reach an All Ireland semi-final.

With the Laois minor hurlers in Leinster final action, we look forward to their big showdown with Offaly in O'Moore Park. 

Alan gives us a player-by-player guide to the starting Laois team, we hear from Laois selector Damien Carter and we go on a ramble down memory lane to correct the record, chat about a cup presentation that never was and one of the most disgraceful refereering decisions of all time - way back in 1978. 

We also hear from Laois senior hurling manager Seamas 'Cheddar' Plunkett in the aftermath of the loss to Galway at the weekend and how Laois find themselves in yet another relegation battle. 

Plus we quickly look back on a hugely dramatic evening of club football league action and heap praise on those who came up with a brilliant new format. 

It was another extremely busy week on the GAA front and another hectic one is in store. 

The story of last week were the Laois minor hurlers who reached their first Leinster final in almost a decade. 

Their victory over Kilkenny was the county's first since the 1960s and sparked wild scenes of celebration. 

It was not as happy a story for the Laois Ladies who endured extra time heartbreak against Wexford. 

The Laois camogie team also lost their semi final and they both face a wait until the All-Ireland series. 

The clubs leagues are also hotting up while the Laois senior hurlers face a tough encounter with Galway. 

Steven Miller and Alan Hartnett are here to run through all the talking points and look ahead to the weekend. 

After another tough weekend for the Laois hurlers and a 27-point loss to Wexford, we ponder whether the Leinster round robin championship offers any benefit to Laois?

Would they be better off in the Joe McDonagh Cup?

But we also look back on a brilliant win for the Laois minor hurlers against Wexford the previous day - and they now take on Kilkenny this weekend. 

Plus we chat Laois camogie, the county minor football team, Laois ladies advance in the Leinster championship and how the Laois men's senior team are shaping up for the Tailteann Cup - and how that competition might look. 

Plus we talk Cumann na mBunscol, Laois Masters, Feile finals and club league action. 

What a weekend, but not in a good way.

The Laois senior footballers and hurlers were both in Leinster championship action over the past couple of days but the weekend results make for grim reading for Laois supporters.

On Saturday, the hurlers were beaten by Kilkenny on a score line of 2-34 to 1-14 while on Sundays the footballers endured another new low as they crashed out of the Leinster championship to Wicklow.

At one stage in the second half they were 16 points down before a late comeback meant there were only six in it at the end, 5-15 to 4-12.

But this was another dreadfully poor result coming on the back of relegation to Division 4 just a couple of weeks ago.

On our latest Talking Sport Podcast, we chat about both those games as well as discussing Laois’s narrow win over Offaly in the Leinster ladies intermediate football championship.

Plus we discuss briefly the recent club league action following a busy schedule of games on Friday night. 

We are in the throngs of inter-county activity at the moment with a host of Laois teams in action. 

On this week's Podcast, the first half of the show is all about hurling. 

The Laois senior hurlers were beaten by Dublin on Saturday and we look back at that plus ahead to Kilkenny. 

The Laois U-20 hurlers were eliminated by Wexford while the minors lost to Offaly but are back in action this weekend against Westmeath. 

The Laois senior footballers begin their Leinster campaign this Sunday away to Wicklow. 

The U-20s were eliminated by Kildare last week while the minors face Louth in their final group match on Wednesday. 

Steven Miller and Alan Hartnett are here once again to review all of the games and look ahead to the ones at the weekend. 

Ahead of this weekend's Leinster football championship match between Laois and Wicklow in Aughrim, we caught up with former Laois and Stradbally player Darragh McEvoy, who has been deeply involved in the game in Wicklow having moved to work and live there almost 20 years ago.

While McEvoy has a great insight on Wicklow football (he's currently a selector/coach with the Wicklow minor footballers), he also has a personal story with many layers too.

An outstanding underage footballer, he played championship for Laois when he was 20 - but missed out on 2003 and most of the glory years under Mick O'Dwyer.

And in this podcast he talks about his experience of those years, winning a championship with Stradbally in 2005 and making the switch to St Pat's of Wicklow in 2008 where he's based in the county as a Garda.

But he also chats about a serious health scare when he had a tumour removed from his lung at only 26 years of age, and recalls in heart-breaking detail how he and his wife suffered stillbirth in 2017.

In a wide-ranging chat he discusses his memories growing up playing with Stradbally, his famed family connections and what it was like returning to the club briefly in 2016 to help them win another famous county final success.

You can listen to the episode below in full on Soundcloud or on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

The volume of our Podcasts has decreased to one per week at present but we have another jam-packed show here.

It is a huge week of county action with senior hurlers, U-20 hurlers, U-20 footballers, minor hurlers and Laois ladies all in action. 

The Leinster hurling championship begins this weekend with Laois away to Dublin. 

Shane Stapleton from Our Game joins Steven to give the view from the capital ahead of the game. 

Alan and Steven then look ahead to all of the other county games that are taking place this week.

They also discuss the club leagues which are now well in full swing. 

The volume of our Podcasts has decreased to one per week at present but we have another jam-packed show here. 

While the senior inter-county teams are on something of a mid-season break, there is plenty to talk about at underage level. 

The Laois minor footballers took on Dublin at the weekend and Steven was present to watch them lose. 

Steven stayed for the double header where the Laois U-20 hurlers had much better luck against Antrim. 

They now face Kildare this weekend while the Laois minor hurlers begin their adventure against the same opponents. 

Club matches are also in full swing with Steven and Alan out at games in the top Divisions of hurling and football.