Local Notes: Regeneration, sport news and a successful tractor run
Portlaw Village
We’re thrilled to share the fantastic news! We’ve been awarded the Best Comedy Award for 2025 by Liam Murphy, Arts Theatre critic of the Munster Express, for our production of Chapter 2 - Three One-Act Plays!
Huge thanks to Liam Murphy and the Munster Express for this incredible honour!
We’re so proud of our amazing cast, directors, crew, and committee - this award is for you! Only in our second year, and looking forward to the future.
Thanks for your support, and here’s to bringing Portlaw Players to many more audiences!
Huge congrats to our Panto colleague and future Portlaw Player, Ivan Kiely, for the Best Performance award as Jack in Portlaw Pantomimes -Jack and the Beanstalk in 2025.
So proud of you, Ivan.
All at Portlaw GAA, Camogie and LGFA would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the Kirwan family on their sad loss of Andrew (Andy).
As a player, Andy was a formidable force, playing with Newtown/Ballydurn in his early years and later with Portlaw GAA, where he made a significant contribution.
He started at corner back on our last Senior Hurling winning team in 1977 (pictured below) and he was also a key part of the Irish Tanners team that were crowned All Ireland Hurling champions in the 70’s.
Following in his footsteps, Andy’s sons also achieved significantly on the hurling field, with his grandchildren now following suit.
Andrew Jnr was the backbone of the Portlaw hurling and football teams for almost two decades throughout his career, winning many county titles along the way and is now coaching the next generation to hopefully do the same.
We extend our deepest condolences to Andy’s wife Phyllis, sons Andrew, David, Anthony and daughters Martina and Ellen, grandchildren and all his extended family and friends.
Funeral details: https://rip.ie/death-notice/andrew-andy-kirwan-waterford-portlaw-616839.
The club will hold a Guard of Honor for Andy at 10:30am outside the church in Newtown on Wednesday morning and we invite all members and ex-players to attend.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
Find out more about the plans to renew Portlaw town centre at Waterford Council’s upcoming public meeting on January 14.
Meet the Portlaw Town team and the design team behind the new plans at Portlaw Library on Wednesday, January 14, from 5pm - 8pm.
For more info, please visit: storymaps.arcgis.com/collections/caf9483e2f2d4556aba436f0fc161297.
New Year greetings from Fr. Francis. I hope and pray that everyone is keeping well. May this New Year bring you all joy and happiness.
As for me, I am doing better now after the angioplasty.
I am grateful to every one of you for praying for me during my difficulties.
You are all included in my daily prayers and masses.
It is a great joy to reach out to you through this small message.
Please do keep me in your prayers.
I will be returning before the end of the month.
I am very grateful to Fr. Paul, Fr. Brian, Fr. Russel, and Fr. Sebastian for their great support during my absence.
My sincere thanks to our Bishop Alphonsus for his concern and care.
May the Good Lord bless everyone this New Year.
Finally, I would like to thank our parish councillors in both parishes, together with our lovely sacristans, for their dedication.
See you all soon. I can’t wait to come back.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Francis
What a great day we had at the Tractor, Truck & Vintage Car Run last weekend!
The turnout was fantastic, the vehicles were outstanding, and the atmosphere was second to none.
A huge thank you to everyone who took part, whether you drove a tractor, truck, vintage car, or came along to support.
Your generosity helped make the event such a success and will go a long way towards supporting the Portlaw U15 & Minor Hurling Trip to New York 2026.
We would also like to sincerely thank all the volunteers who gave their time on the day, from registration and stewarding to refreshments and organisation.
These events simply wouldn’t be possible without your commitment and hard work.
The Irish Life GAA Healthy Clubs Step Challenge starts tomorrow!
January blues? Not a chance! This is your sign to get moving, lift the mood, and support Portlaw GAA,LGFA and Camogie club all at the same time!
All you have to do is:
Download the MyLIFE app Choose Portlaw as your club Connect your phone or fitness watch and start stepping!
Every step you take helps our club climb the leaderboard and puts us in with a chance to win a share of €30,000.
Walk on your own, walk with friends, walk the dog, walk to clear the head – it all counts!
Perfect motivation to shake off January, boost your energy! Start tomorrow – don’t miss out.
Almost 50 kids from our Under 6 Wellkids group attended SETU Arena today for a fun event to finish off the Christmas holidays.
They enjoyed free play in the hall with bouncy castles, football and the interactive wall.
A great day was finished with food together upstairs in the pavilion restaurant.
Thank you to SETU Arena and their staff for hosting us and looking after us so well.
Wellkids is for boys and girls aged from three - six years old.
Training will recommence again in a few weeks and we hope to welcome loads of new kids for the 2026 season.
Membership is free and no equipment is needed.
Congrats to our u20 Portlaw /Ballyduff Lower Footballers who beat An Ghaeltacht earlier today at Colligan GAA in the u20C County Final.
The lads played some great football throughout and despite a strong comeback from An Ghaeltacht in the second half, the lads found another gear again and finished off a dominant display in style.
Final score 4-8 to 0-08. Goals coming from MOTM Pauric Walsh and Conor Foley.
This team have played excellent football over the past few weeks with talented young players from Portlaw and Ballyduff who play brilliantly together, making this a real parish effort.
Congrats to the management team, also of Paul Shankey, Jack O’ Donnell, John Squelchy Walsh, Eoin Cummins, Harry Murphy and DJ Foran.
Enjoy the celebrations, lads.
As 2025 draws to a close, We would like to wish all our members, their families and our fantastic supporters a happy and healthy 2026.
This year has been a great year for our small club.
Our underage teams have gone from strength to strength, with many of them unfortunately narrowly missing out in finals and semi-finals.
Keep working hard, your time will come.
Our ladies are flying it with great numbers of all ages.
Our older girls are looking forward to their trip to Birmingham in March.
It will be a fabulous experience for them all.
Our Junior teams have had a super year, with our U17’s winning the League Cup and our Youth’s also winning their League Cup.
A fantastic achievement for them both, with most players on both teams.
Our 2B’s are league champions after having a super season and securing the coveted top spot.
Well done all. Well deserved.
Our Premier team started the year well by reaching the 1/4 finals of the Munster Junior Cup, a fantastic achievement for our small, young squad.
They then finished the year in a super third place in the Premier League, their best finish since that momentous league win 27 years ago.
The team also progressed out of the area in Munster Junior Cup at the end of the year, being narrowly beaten in Killorglin on penalties.
Two of our players hit the top spot for leading goal scorers in the Junior League.
Dean Walsh with the 2B title, scoring 19 goals to help secure the league win for the lads.
Samuel Deevy with the Youth A top spot, scoring 17 goals in 13 games and scoring 41 goals in all competitions, a new club record that will be hard to beat.
As always, the biggest thank you to our huge crowd of supporters who week in week out show up at home and away games doesn’t go unnoticed by the club and players alike.
To our match, jersey and club sponsors the biggest thank you much appreciated.
All in all, a super year for our club.
And here’s hoping 2026 will be a good one for all involved.
Portlaw Utd 3 v 5 Villa Our U13’s were out on Saturday for a top-of-the-table clash against Villa.
Portlaw were very slow to start, with keeper Brian Grant making a number of saves to keep us in the game.
Villa’s pressure ensured they had a two-goal lead at halftime.
Portlaw got three goals in the second half, but each goal was countered by a Villa goal to ensure the two-goal lead was maintained.
A disappointing result for the team that had been undefeated up to this point.
A special mention for Brian Grant, whose saves ensured Portlaw were still in the game throughout this match.
Well done to Villa and the team can use this result to spur them on their second half of the season.
We would again like to thank everyone who signed up for the Club Supporters Development Syndicate to date.
Tonight we held our latest draw with the lucky winners.
First prize - €100 - John Dooley Second prize - €50 - Ber Duggan Third prize - €25 - Barbara O’Mahoney
