LaoisToday

Nobody, green, blue or otherwise, could have foreseen the ease with which Ireland dismantled Scotland on Saturday night. Mark Comerford is joined by Steven Miller and Alan Hartnett to look back on that fantastic pool-topping performance. We also take stock of a historic weekend that saw Portugal shock Fiji, and Argentina book their place in the knockouts at the expense of Japan. We examine the Ire...

In this special episode of the Talking Sport podcast, we interview Billy Phelan, the Abbeyleix man who has recently published a very impressive history of the local GAA club. Ahead of Sunday's Laois senior hurling final, he chats about how the club fell on hard times after being dominant in the 1940s, playing in two senior semi-finals himself, the story behind the name St Lasarien's and why Abbeyl...

We are just days away from the big Pool B decider between Ireland and Scotland. The sides will meet at 8pm (Irish time) on Saturday evening in Paris. Mark Comerford is joined by Steven Miller and Alan Hartnett to preview that game, and dissect the permutations of ifs, buts and maybes. After a turgid week of fixtures in Round 4, we look at the possibility of an expanded World Cup, with the 2027 tou...

Steven Miller from LaoisToday was a guest on Midlands 103 this week where he looked at the Fine Gael candidates likely to be seeking to replace Charlie Flanagan as a TD

We are less than a week removed from Ireland's historic win over South Africa in Pool B of the Rugby World Cup, and there is still a huge sense of excitement around that game. Mark Comerford is joined by Steven Miller and Alan Hartnett to look back on all the action from that night in Paris, as well as what it means for Ireland going forward. We also ask why Irish people allow themselves to get so...

Episode 3 of our Rugby World Cup Podcast is here, as we look ahead to Ireland’s titanic clash with South Africa. The game, which kicks off on Saturday evening at 8pm, is being billed as the biggest game of rugby since the World Cup Final four years ago. It will be reigning World Champions (South Africa) v the world’s No. 1 team (Ireland). Mark Comerford is joined by Alan Hartnett and Steven Miller...

The latest Love Laois Podcast sees us joined by Pat Critchley following the publication of his latest book 'A Coaching Way - Insights, Strategies and Tools for Successful Coaching'.  In a wide-ranging chat, Pat discusses his early forays into coaching almost 50 years ago when he took over an U-14 basketball team when he was still only U-16 himself.  Since then he has accumulated thousands upon tho...

The 2023 Rugby World Cup is up and running in France, and what an opening weekend it was. Mark Comerford is joined by Alan Hartnett and Steven Miller look back at all the action from Round 1, including the controversy surrounding the national anthems. Having won well in their opening game, we look ahead to Ireland's Round 2 fixture with Tonga. There is also an impromptu Romanian history lesson, a...

The 2023 Rugby World Cup kicks off this Friday with hosts France taking on three-time champions, New Zealand. After two wonderful years, Ireland are heading into the tournament as the world's number one side. Andy Farrell's men get their campaign underway on Saturday afternoon against Romania. Mark Comerford joins Alan Hartnett and Steven Miller to look ahead to what promises to be one of the grea...

IFA presidential candidate Francie Gorman is the latest guest on our Love Laois podcast. The Spink native is set to launch his presidential campaign this Friday night in the Abbeyleix Manor Hotel and ahead of that, he chatted with LaoisToday about his reasons for running, his passion for farming and how he really enjoys representing farmers at the highest level. From environmental challenges to di...

Renowned business consultant Blaise Brosnan brings his Owner-Manager Development Programme to Laois this autumn and ahead of the 15-week programme, he spoke to LaoisToday about his background, some of his key pointers and what he covers on the course. This interview is part of a promotional campaign by Laois Local Enterprise Office. You can register your expression of interest here.

David Walsh-Kemmis from the Ballykilcavan Brewery is our special guest on this week's LoveLaois Podcast.  David chats to us about his family history, his decision to diversify away from traditional farming to set up a craft brewery and his plans for the future.  He discusses some of the recent awards won by his business and how his approach now is different somewhat from when he started out a coup...

County underage squads, schools hurling and football, Go Games and Setanta and O'Moore Og programmes were all up for discussion when Shane Keegan, Laois GAA's new Head of Coaching and Games, dropped into us for an interview last week.  Rathdowney native Keegan has recently been appointed to the key full-time role in Laois GAA, taking over the role previously filled by Mike Henchy, though it now ha...

“What are you going to say about that?” There was a good Laois crowd in Croke Park yesterday for the Tailteann Cup semi-final clash – but not for the first time, the county’s supporters and senior football team left with their tail between their legs. This was a particularly hard one to take, essentially over after a couple of minutes and eventually finishing on a scoreline of 8-16 to 2-12. Never...

The Laois footballers are in Croke Park this Sunday for the Tailteann Cup semi-final and ahead of the game we are joined by experienced defender Robbie Pigott to chat about the game. The Portarlington man discusses the season so far, and its various ups and downs, as well as talking about how this is a great opportunity for Laois. He also looks back on his own memories supporting Laois as a child...

The Laois senior footballers have kept their season alive by defeating Limerick in the Gaelic Grounds. Things were looking bleak for Laois when they fell five points down with 44 minutes on the clock. But the heart and determination of these players can never be questioned and they clawed their way back into the game. Colm Murphy's goal was crucial as they ran out three point winners to advance to...

On the latest edition of the Talking Sport Podcast, we have taken a comprehensive look at the club football and hurling leagues.  Alan Hartnett and Steven Miller will give you a 40 minute run down on where all 13 divisions lie.  The lads begin with hurling where the top three Divisions will conclude in the coming days.  Division 4 to 6 are now at semi final stage and some exciting games are antici...

After no LoveLaois Podcast last week because of the Bank Holiday Monday, we're back with plenty to talk about. Reporter Mark Comerford makes his Podcast debut and has a fairly shocking story from The Heath while Alan has had a very busy time of it recently. He spells out the details of the recent saga in Laois County Council in relation to live streaming of public meetings - and also reports on hi...

This week's LoveLaois Podcast is a little later than usual coming to you - but our special guest this week is Philip Meagher, the well-known Portlaoise-based solicitor who is now the main man behind Laois's newest music festival, Forest Fest. The three-day festival takes place once again this year in Emo on the weekend of July 21-23 and Philip joins us to chat about how the whole thing came about....

On this week's LoveLaois Podcast we're joined by Martin Crowley, one of the driving forces behind the Shine 2023 event which takes place in Emo Court this Saturday, May 27. Shine is a joint venture between Emo GAA club and the Laois Chamber of Commerce and combines a trade fair featuring over 100 exhibitors alongside Ireland's Fittest Team competition, a gruelling sporting challenge that is centre...

In the latest Love Laois Podcast, Steven and Alan discuss the Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien visiting Laois this week. As well as that they chat about the controversy surrounding Matt Barrett, partner of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, and his social media posts recently at the Royal coronation. There's more chat about The Ditch as well as the story of Sean Mortimer, the Camross man who is set to co...

In our latest LoveLaois Podcast, we're joined by former LaoisToday photographer Julie Anne Miller who is now living in Sydney in Australia. She chats to us about her photographic work in Sydney where she focuses on the Irish community and runs an Instagram page and website, An Astrail. Julie Anne tells us about the type of event she covers, how it differs from what she did in Ireland - and the ele...

On this week's LoveLaois Podcast, we chat about one of the big recent local stories - the decision of Cllr Aisling Moran to leave the Fine Gael party and what it might mean at next year's Local Elections.  We also discuss Sinn Fein's announcement of their new candidate Maria McCormack, who will run alongside Caroline Dwane-Stanley, in Portlaoise.  Plus we ponder the big saga at national level last...

In the latest LaoisToday #LoveLaois podcast, Steven and Alan discuss some of the big local stories of the past seven days. They chat about council meetings, how they work, the types of motions you can see and what really drive the councillors made. Three new roundabouts for Portlaoise, the scourge of illegal dumping and the only junction in Ireland where you give way to the traffic coming from you...

In the second episode of our new #LoveLaois Podcast we hear from newly-crowned Laois Rose Sinead Dowd. Based in Cullohill, she tells the brilliant story of how she grew up in New York before convincing her parents to allow her move to Ireland when she was just 16 to live with her cousins. She is now an English and Geography teacher in Scoil Chriost Ri in Portlaoise and will represent Laois in the...