Much has changed in the four decades since Laois were crowned National Football League Division One champions and bounced onwards to the summer earmarked as potential Leinster and All-Ireland champions.
The Micko years were still a distance away. Indeed, in the summer of 1986 O’Dwyer was still busy leading his native Kerry up the steps of the Hogan Stand.
Before that season, the last meaningful piece of silverware won by Laois was the Leinster title in 1946, so claiming the 1985-86 league title was a big accomplishment.
Laois beat Monaghan 2-6 to 2-5 in the final at Croke Park in May 1986 – a team that included Michael Dempsey and Liam Irwin and was captained by Colm Browne. It remains one of the biggest days in the county’s history at Croke Park.
Kieran Brennan from the St Joseph’s club was the Laois manager at the time, guiding his native county to what was only their second, and so far last, Division One league crown.
“They were great times, it’s hard to think it was so long ago,” says Brennan, who also played with Laois between 1966 and 1978.
“When you think back on it, it went so quickly, like time does. But winning the league was something special. They were a great group of players, with everybody uniting to give their all for Laois.”
In the days and weeks that followed, Laois found themselves talked up as live contenders for Leinster and even All-Ireland honours.
“The funny thing is that league win did change the mentality – it certainly did for me, anyhow,” says Brennan.
“As players growing up, I suppose we had been losing all our lives, so no matter what way you approached or prepared for a match, at the back of your mind you’re still subconsciously thinking, ‘we’re going to lose in the last 10 minutes.’
“But when I woke up the morning after winning the National League final, for the first time in my life this thing was gone out of my head completely.”
A couple of weeks later, Laois beat Kerry at the official reopening of O’Moore Park in Portlaoise. With momentum on their side, the road back to Croke Park appeared to stretch out ahead of Laois.
But first they had to negotiate the road to Aughrim. Despite efforts by Laois to have that Leinster SFC quarter-final against Wicklow moved on the basis it wasn’t suitable to host the clash, the fixture went ahead in Aughrim.
The ground was heaving that afternoon, with somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 crammed around a pitch with no perimeter fence. It was one of those baking hot summer days of old, all blue skies and white string vests.
“There was no place on the sideline for us even to sit. We were actually walking up and down the line with the crowd right up behind us, there was hardly anywhere to move,” recalls Brennan.
Manager Mick O'Dwyer celebrates with selector Declan O'Loughlin after Laois claimed the Leinster SFC title at Croke Park in 2003. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho
Manager Mick O'Dwyer celebrates with selector Declan O'Loughlin after Laois claimed the Leinster SFC title at Croke Park in 2003. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho
And such was the phone-box size of the Laois dressingroom, the subs had to stand outside the door as the team talk was delivered. And out on the pitch, a group of Wicklow fans had even brought along a goat.
Brennan tells the story about overhearing an exchange between supporters where a roar went towards the owner of the goat that he should put the animal on the field to play, only for a Laois fan to snap back: “There’s already enough of them in there.”
On that sunny June afternoon in 1986, the legend of Aughrim was born – a venue forever to be known in GAA parlance thereafter as “a difficult place to go”.
Laois had three players, all forwards, sent off: Willie Brennan, Christy McGuire and Tom Prendergast. Gerry Browne was forced off with a broken nose. Wicklow had Nick O’Neill sent off but won the game 2-10 to 1-9, and referee Carthage Buckley needed an escort out of the ground after the game. The GAA had its Battle of Aughrim.
“We finished the game with 12 players and it was obviously a very disappointing result. But fair play to Wicklow, take nothing away from them on the day, they won the game,” says Brennan.
But that surprise defeat derailed the Laois progress and in many ways they never fully recovered. The following year they finished mid-table in the league before exiting the championship following a Leinster quarter-final to Meath.
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Despite the disappointment of that 1986 loss in Aughrim, Brennan has always felt the 1985 Leinster SFC was actually the one that got away. Laois beat Carlow and Meath to set up a final against Dublin, but came out the wrong side of a 0-10 to 0-4 scoreline.
Brennan managed his native county for four years but after moving to Dublin he got heavily involved with Ballinteer St Johns, where he became a key driving force in the club’s development. He carried out several roles, including spending 20 years as clubhouse caretaker.
But his county allegiances have always remained linked to the blue and white of Laois. He followed the team during the Micko era, taking great pride in watching their Leinster title triumph in 2003.
And to mark the occasion of Ballinteer’s new pavilion around that same time, Brennan ensured O’Dwyer’s Laois would play at the official opening.
Brennan and O’Dwyer remain the last two managers to deliver major silverware to the county.
“Micko was great, he really was a fantastic man,” says Brennan. “He did great work for Laois.”
A sprightly 80 years young, Brennan continues to be a regular at Laois games and watched them several times during the recent league campaign. He will be in Tullamore on Saturday evening when the current crew open their 2026 Leinster SFC campaign against Offaly.
“The league mightn’t have gone as well as Laois would have liked but there were some good performances during it as well,” says Brennan.
“Traditionally, Offaly are a strong championship county, but Laois certainly won’t be travelling without hope.”