On Saturday night next at 19:00 in O Moore Park, Portlaoise, Tipperary travel to face Laois in the third round of the Allianz National Football League.

Having won their first game against Antrim and lost the second against Sligo this is a must win match for the Premier to keep their promotion hopes alive.

 

Allianz National Football League Division Three Table

 

	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	+/-	Points
Louth Sligo Offaly Longford Tipperary Laois Armagh Antrim	2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2	2 1 1 1 1 1 0 0	0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0	0 0 1 1 1 1 1 2	2-27 3-28 0-33 3-28 1-22 2-21 2-27 1-20	0-20 3-27 2-19 2-27 0-21 2-32 3-25 2-35	13 1 8 4 4 -11 -1 -18	4 3 2 2 2 2 1 0

For the first championship meeting between these two sides one has to travel back as far as 1889 when Bohercrowe, representing Tipperary, defeated Maryborough, representing Queens County, (Laois was known as Queens County since it was shired by Queen Mary in 1556 and the town of Portlaoise was called Maryborough until both were renamed following Irish independence) in only the second All Ireland senior football final 3-6 to 0-0, played in Inchicore in front of approximately 1,500.

Earlier that same year Bohercrowe, captained by Gil Kavanagh, defeated Carrick in the Tipperary senior football final, 2-7 to 0-0, and they later beat Cork in the Munster final 1-2 to 0-3. (source https://www.tippgaaarchives.com) As there were no representatives from Ulster or Connacht, both Tipperary and Laois qualified automatically for the All-Ireland final. This was to be the first of four All Ireland senior titles captured by Tipperary.

While the GAA was still in its infancy and the Gaelic revival was starting to grow it appears that the Catholic church weren’t too enamoured by Gaelic football back in 1889 judging by comments reportedly made by the Reverend Mr Rooney in the Newry Telegraph in April of that same year.

`At the usual weekly meeting of the Holy Family Confraternity in the Roman Catholic Church last Sunday, the Rev Mr Rooney, Assistant Spiritual Director, complained of a falling-off in the attendance and attributed this to the vile system of football playing which had come into vogue on Sundays and, which, he said was the cause of numbers of men and boys omitting to attend Mass and other devotions.

`This football playing on Sundays was, he had no doubt, an invention of the devil for the purpose of destroying souls. It was the cause of drunkenness and quarrelling on that day.

`The devil had been at the bottom of secret societies, such as Fenianism and Ribbonism, and when he found those detestable societies condemned and stamped out by the Catholic Church, the devil then invented this Sunday kicking, which he knew was doing so much harm.

`The Rev speaker implored every man and boy who heard him not to take part in these football matches, or even be present at them on Sundays and to do all in their power to put a stop to this vile habit.’ (source https://archive.is/Qi4m9 )

Thankfully Reverend Rooney can rest easy this weekend as the footballers of Tipperary and Laois clash on a Saturday!

In all Tipperary have played Laois four times in the championship with both sides victorious on two occasions.

The last time these two met in the championship was in round 3A of the qualifiers in 2014 when Tipperary, managed by current Laois boss Peter Creedon, overcame their Leinster opponents 3-17 to 4-9 to set up a last twelve meeting with Galway. With eight minutes remaining a David Conway goal levelled proceedings but two pointed frees and a late Barry Grogan goal ensured victory for Tipperary.

TIPPERARY: P Fitzgerald, G Mulhair, P Codd, C McDonald, C O’Riordan 0-2, R Kiely, P Acheson 0-1, S O’Brien, G Hannigan, M Quinlivan 0-3, J Coghlan, B Fox 0-2, B Grogan 1-3(0-1f), P Austin 0-4, C Sweeney 2-2(0-1f)
Subs: I Fahey for Mulhair (48), C Kennedy for Austin (10), B Mulvihill for Grogan (70+2).

LAOIS: G Brody, P McMahon, P Begley, P O’Leary, D Strong, R Kehoe, C Begley, K Meaney, J O’Loughlin 1-0, C Meredith 1-0, B Sheehan 0-1, N Donoher 1-1, R Munnelly, D Kingston 0-4(3fs), D O’Connor
Subs: J Finn for Munnelly inj (29), S Attride for Meaney (ht), D Conway 1-1 for O’Connor (ht), MJ Tierney 0-1(45) for Kehoe BC (44), E Costello 0-1 for C Begley inj(52), Meaney for McMahon BC (66).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkdkwDKMLPs

The last occasion that these two met under lights in Portlaoise in the league was a Division Two encounter in 2010, when Laois held out for a two-point win despite a brilliant second half comeback from Tipperary. At half time Laois had a comfortable 1-9 to 0-2 lead but inspired by a Philip Austin goal in the 57^th minute Tipperary drew level with nine to play but just ran out of steam as points from Brendan Quigley and Donal Miller gave the verdict to the home side.

One point of interest from this encounter was the jersey worn by current Tipperary selector and then goalkeeper Paul Fitzgerald. Anthracite and yellow in colour, it only appeared on two other occasions when Mathew O’ Donnell wore it against Kildare in the league while Brendan Cummins donned it for the hurling league encounter with Waterford that same year. For some reason it was quickly retired and never seen again.

Scorers — Laois: MJ Tierney 1-3 (0-1f); D Kingston 0-3 (0-1f); P Lawlor, C Og Greene 0-2 each; N Donoher, D Miller, B Quigley 0-1 each. Tipperary: B Grogan 0-5 (0-4f); P Austin 1-1; C Sweeney 0-3; G Hannigan, P Acheson 0-1 each.

Laois: C Gorman; J Scully, C Ryan, P McMahon; D Strong, J O’Loughlin, C Begley; B Quigley, C Og Greene; C Coss, A Doran, N Donoher; MJ Tierney, D Kingston, P Lawlor. Subs: M Timmons for Scully (45); R Munnelly for Doran (47); D Miller for Coss (62).

Tipperary: P Fitzgerald; C Morrissey, C McDonald, N Curran; C Aylward, R Costigan, C McGrath; G Hannigan, A Rockett; S Carey, P Austin, B Coen; S Hahessy, S Grogan, B Grogan. Subs: P Acheson for McDonald (26); H Coghlan for McGrath (35); C Sweeney for Coen (ht); J Cagney for Austin (59); C Dillon for Rockett (65).

Referee: Pat Fox (Westmeath)