About Laragh GAA Club

Laragh has been playing the game of Gaelic football the best part of a century. Down through the years there have been football teams in Glendalough, Clara Vale, Glenmacnass, Trooperstown, Derrybawn & Moneystown.

The Club as it stands today was set up in 1948. Prior to this it was known as Clara Vale/Laragh Football Club. It was decided that the winners of a three-match competition between Clara Vale and Laragh would determine the future name of the team. Laragh won the competition, but Clara Vale has continued to play a large part in the Club.

Going back to 1888 Laragh shared in a championship won by Clara Vale. Some of those involved in that success included James & John Kelly, John 'Bully' Kelly, John 'Bank' Byrne, James Byrne, Andy and Pat Kennedy, Tom Jenkinson, Bill O' Toole, Tiger O' Toole, Pat Carthy, Richard Carthy and Jem Doyle.

The Clara Vale team of 1920 included the following players: Kevin Nolan, Mick Devitt, Alec Osbourne, Tim, Denis, Jack and Joe Byrne, John Cullen, Martin Roche, Tom Meegan, Tom Murphy, Andy Caulfield, Paddy Cullen, Frank O' Rourke, John Windsor, Dan O' Neill and Peter O' Shea.

The Junior Championship was the first title won by the Club in 1939. The panel for that match was Bob Byrne, Jack 'Banker' Byrne, Tom McGuirk, Mick Miley, Jack Doyle, Dinny and Jimmy Timmons, Larry Timmons, Billy Timmons, Jimmy Connolly, Kevin Hughes, Paddy Hughes, Billy Hughes, Paddy McCabe, Seamus Healy, Joe Keenan (Captain), Ned Rooney, Billy Rooney, Mick Rooney and Mog Kavanagh. William Byrne of Tomriland father of Jimmy Byrne and former county star, trained this team from which emerged one of Laragh's greatest players, Bob Byrne.

Laragh won the Junior County Championship in 1954 and again in 1957, a period of great success for the Club. They were beaten by a very strong Wicklow Town team in the senior final in 1960.

In 1962 Laragh played Kilbride in the Senior Championship Final. Behind 0-9 to 0-1 at half time, they fought back to force a draw at 1-11 each. In the replay Kilbride won by a single point 1-9 to 2-5 after a Laragh free in the dying minutes was deflected over the bar when it looked as if it was heading for the back of the net. They went on that year to win the Dunne Cup, beating Rathnew 2-6 to 1-4. They then shared the Handball Shield with Wicklow 1-3 each.

The seventies brought a new generation of players to the Laragh team. Laragh's next success was in 1972 when they won the County Intermediate Championship by beating Valleymount 2-9 to 1-5 at Aughrim.

In 1974, due to lack of numbers, Laragh was fored to go back to Juvenile Grade again. Two years later, in 1976 they won the Junior Championship when they beat Blessington. They followed this by winning the Intermediate Championship in 1982 by beating Bray Emmets 0-10 to 0-3. Laragh held their senior ranks until 1988, when having two bad sesaons relegation to the Junior status followed. They quickly bounced back by winning the Junior Championship in 1990 beating Arklow Rocks 3-5 to 0-7 and winning the League without loosing a match for the year.