Laois Intermediate Football Championship

Laois Intermediate Football Championship
Irish	Craobh Peile Idir Mheain Laoise
Founded	1907
Title holders	Crettyard (5th title)
First winner	Killenard
Most titles	Clonaslee–St Manman's (6 [1] titles)
Sponsors	Laois Shopping Centre [2]

The Laois Intermediate Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by mid-tier Laois GAA clubs. The Laois County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1907.

Crettyard are the title holders (2024), having defeated Mountmellick in the final.

Format

The Intermediate Championship has a 'back door' and operates similarly to the Senior Championship (and Junior Championship C only) by going for a straight knockout but the 'back door' is in place for anyone losing out. ^[3]

The draw is first made for round 1 of the championship. ^[4] The draw is then made for round 2 of the championship. ^[5]

The final is held in O'Moore Park. ^[6]

Honours

The winners of the Laois Intermediate Championship qualify to represent their county in the Leinster Intermediate Club Football Championship. The winners can, in turn, go on to play in the All-Ireland Intermediate Club Football Championship. They often do well outside the county, with the likes of Ballyroan Abbey (2008) ^[7] and Crettyard (2005) ^[8] among the clubs from Laois to win at least one Leinster Championship after winning the Laois Intermediate Football Championship. Ballyroan Abbey are the only Laois GAA club to have played in Leinster finals at senior and intermediate, Galway GAA club St Michael's narrowly defeating them in the All-Ireland semi-final. ^[9]

History

It was first held in 1907, with Killenard the victors. ^[10]

There was no championship in 1911, and none again from 1913 through 1917 and 1919 through 1933. ^[11]

In the mid-1990s, Rosenallis won the Intermediate Championship straight after winning the Junior Championship, putting back-to-back titles together. ^[12]

It was once the "Campion Sparrow Laois Intermediate Football Championship" for sponsorship reasons (as recently as 2012) ^[13] but no more.

The 2017 final went to a replay before Emo got the better of Portlaoise. ^[14]

During the pandemic year of 2020, the Laois Intermediate Football Championship achieved the distinction of being the only adult football championship completed in the county that year. ^[15]

List of finals

Year	Winner	Opponent
1907	Killenard [16]
1908	Abbeyleix [17]
1909	Ballyroan [18]
1910	Vicarstown [19]
1911 [20]	No competition
1912	Rathdowney [21]
1913 [22]	No competition
1914 [23]	No competition
1915 [24]	No competition
1916 [25]	No competition
1917 [26]	No competition
1918	Vicarstown [27]
1919 [28]	No competition
1920 [29]	No competition
1921 [30]	No competition
1922 [31]	No competition
1923 [32]	No competition
1924 [33]	No competition
1925 [34]	No competition
1926 [35]	No competition
1927 [36]	No competition
1928 [37]	No competition
1929 [38]	No competition
1930 [39]	No competition
1931 [40]	No competition
1932 [41]	No competition
1933 [42]	No competition
1934	Abbeyleix [43]	The Heath
1935	Ballybrittas [44]	Clonad
1936	Annanough [45]	Clonad
1937	Ballybrittas [46]	Clonad
1938	Ballyadams [47]
1939	Portlaoise [48]
1940	Annanough [49]	Worsted Mills
1941	Jamestown [50]
1942	Flemings Fireclay [51]	The Heath
1943	The Heath [52]	Mountmellick
1944	Ballylinan [53]	Portarlington
1945	Portarlington [54]
1946	Annanough [55]	Timahoe
1947	Park [56]
1948	Ballylinan [57] [ contradictory ]	Timahoe
1949	Annanough [58]	Barrowhouse
1950	Wolfhill [59]
1951	St Fintan's Hospital [60]
1952	O'Dempsey's [61]	Mountmellick
1953	The Heath [62]
1954	Clonad [63]	Jamestown
1955	Portarlington [64]	Portlaoise
1956	Portlaoise [65]	Barrowhouse
1957	Ballylinan [66]	Barrowhouse
1958	Killeshin [67]	Barrowhouse
1959	Stradbally [68]	Fairymount
1960	St Fintan's Hospital [69]	Portarlington
1961	Ballylinan [70]	Kilcavan
1962	Timahoe [71]	Kilcavan
1963	Stradbally [72]	Emo
1964	Emo [73]	Crettyard
1965	Crettyard [74]	St Fintan's Hospital
1966	Ballyroan [75]	Arles
1967	Arles [76]	Mountmellick
1968	Mountmellick [77]	St Fintan's Hospital
1969	St Joseph's [78]	Portlaoise
1970	St Fintan's Hospital [79]	Ballyroan
1971	Courtwood [80]	Portarlington
1972	Portlaoise [81]	Portarlington
1973	St Fintans Hospital [82] [ contradictory ]	Mountmellick
1974	Killeshin [83]	Ballyfin
1975 [84]	Portlaoise 0-12	Barrowhouse 1-8
1976	Crettyard [85]	The Heath
1977	O'Dempsey's [86]	Barrowhouse
1978	Annanough [87]	Park
1979	Ballyroan [88]	Barrowhouse
1980	Barrowhouse [89]	Clonaslee–St Manman's
1981	Clonaslee–St Manman's [90]	Park
1982	Portlaoise [91]	Killeshin
1983	Stradbally [92]	Killeshin
1984	Crettyard [93]	The Rock
1985	Barrowhouse [94]	The Rock
1986	The Heath [95]	The Rock
1987	Courtwood [96]	Portarlington
1988	Park–Ratheniska [97]	Graiguecullen
1989	Spink [98]	Portarlington
1990	Portarlington [99]	The Harps
1991	Portarlington [100]	The Harps
1992	Barrowhouse [101]	Mountmellick [102]
1993	Killeshin [103] [104]	The Rock
1994	The Harps [105]	Mountmellick [106]
1995	Rosenallis [107]	The Rock
1996	The Rock [108]	St Michael's
1997 [109]	Arles–Killeen [110] 2-6	Arles–Kilcruise 0-10
1998	Clonaslee–St Manman's [111]	Arles–Kilcruise
1999	Arles–Kilcruise [112]	Courtwood
2000	Timahoe [113]	Annanough
2001	Arles–Killeen [114]	Annanough
2002	Clonaslee–St Manman's [115]	Mountmellick [116]
2003	Arles–Killeen [117]	Ballyroan
2004	Timahoe [118]	Mountmellick [119]
2005	Crettyard [120]	Courtwood
2006 [121]	Mountmellick 1-12	Annanough 1-6
2007	Graiguecullen [122]	Courtwood
2008 [123]	Ballyroan Abbey [124] [125]	Park–Ratheniska
2009 [126]	Clonaslee–St Manman's [127]	Killeshin
2010 [128]	Timahoe [129] 0-15	Portlaoise [130] 0-9
2011 [131]	Killeshin [132]	Ballyroan Abbey [133]
2012 [134]	Emo 2-12	Ballyroan Abbey [135] 1-10
2013 [136]	Ballyroan Abbey 1-9	Clonaslee–St Manman's 0-6
2014	Ballyfin [137]	Timahoe
2015	Clonaslee–St Manman's	Annanough
2016 [138] [139] [140] [141]	O'Dempsey's 1-13	Timahoe 1-12
2017 [142] [143]	Emo [144] 3-6 3-11 (R)	Portlaoise [145] [146] 1-12 3-4 (R)
2018 [147]	Courtwood	Mountmellick Gaels
2019 [148]	Rosenallis	Clonaslee–St Manman's
2020 [149]	Clonaslee–St Manman's [150] 1-13	Crettyard 1-10
2021 [151] [152]	Park–Ratheniska	Mountmellick
2022 [153]	The Heath 1-13	Arles–Kilcruise 0-8
2023	Ballylinan	Crettyard
2024	Crettyard	Mountmellick

Wins listed by club

#	Club	Wins	Years won
1	Clonaslee–St Manman's	6	1981, 1998, 2002, 2009, 2015, 2020
2	Ballylinan	5	1944, 1948, 1957, 1961, 2023
	Annanough	5	1936, 1940, 1946, 1949, 1978
	Portlaoise	5	1939, 1956, 1972, 1975, 1982
	Crettyard	5	1965, 1976, 1984, 2005, 2024
6	Timahoe	4	1962, 2000, 2004, 2010
	Killeshin	4	1958, 1974, 1993, 2011
	The Heath	4	1943, 1953, 1986, 2022
9	St Fintan's Hospital	3	1951, 1960, 1970
	Barrowhouse	3	1980, 1985, 1992
	Arles–Killeen	3	1997, 2001, 2003
	Emo	3	1964, 2012, 2017
	Courtwood	3	1971, 1987, 2018
	O'Dempsey's	3	1952, 1977, 2016
15	Mountmellick	2	1968, 2006
	Arles–Kilcruise	2	1967, 1999
	Ballyroan Abbey	2	2008, 2013
	Rosenallis	2	1995, 2019
	Park–Ratheniska	2	1988, 2021
20	Jamestown	1	1941
	Stradbally	1	1959
	Wolfhill	1	1950
	St Joseph's	1	1969
	Spink	1	1989
	The Harps	1	1994
	The Rock	1	1996
	Graiguecullen	1	2007
	Ballyfin	1	2014
	Rathdowney	1	1912

References

1. "Clonaslee lead the way on the 2020 intermediate football Team of the Year". 22 November 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2022. The only adult football championship in Laois to be completed this year was the intermediate grade where Clonaslee claimed a record sixth title.
2. Miller, Steven (15 September 2017). "Portlaoise into Laois intermediate football decider" . Retrieved 10 November 2022.
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5. "Draw made for Round 2 of the Laois Intermediate Football Championship". Laois Today. 5 September 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
6. "34 great pictures as Emo celebrate winning intermediate football county final". 7 October 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2022. Emo GAA supporters paid hardly the slightest bit of notice to the teeming rain in O'Moore Park on Friday night as they celebrated winning the Laois IFC title after a replay win over Portlaoise.
7. Ganly, Conor (11 October 2022). "MEMORY LANE IN PICTURES: Laois GAA club celebrates on the double at dinner dance". Ireland Live. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
8. "Remember the Game: Crettyard claim intermediate football honours in 2005". 17 May 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
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12. Delaney, Pat (4 November 2016). "Rosenallis have it too easy on their 21st birthday". Laois Nationalist . Retrieved 10 November 2022.
13. Cooper, Gavin (30 July 2019). "Remember the Game: Emo claim Intermediate football glory in 2012". Laois Today. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
14. "34 great pictures as Emo celebrate winning intermediate football county final". 7 October 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2022. Emo GAA supporters paid hardly the slightest bit of notice to the teeming rain in O'Moore Park on Friday night as they celebrated winning the Laois IFC title after a replay win over Portlaoise. The sides had played out a thrilling draw six days earlier...
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