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The week that was: Our most read stories of the past seven days

1 – Up and Coming: Meet the Ballinakill entrepreneur who has developed his own brand of water

This week on our Up and Coming series, we spoke to Ballinakill entrepreneur Edwyn Siney.

He is a driven 29-year-old who has developed his own brand of water – Brew Water.

2 – Murphy brothers on song as Portarlington see off Ballyfin to reach first SFC final since 2001

Portarlington brothers Colm and David Murphy scored all bar four of their sides total between them as they saw off Ballyfin to reach their first Laois SFC final since 2001.

Martin Murphy’s charges got on top in the second quarter of the game and never looked back as they advanced to face Graiguecullen in Sunday’s decider.

3 – Brilliant Graiguecullen on form to book first final place since 2011

A polished performance from Graiguecullen saw them qualify for the 2020 SFC final last weekend.

Kevin Doogue’s charges survived a first half wobble and showed great composure to see off Emo while playing against the wind in the second half.

4 – Laois hurlers to the fore as Spink claim Junior ‘B’ glory

Spink claimed Junior ‘B’ glory following a fine win over Graiguceullen in O’Moore Park last weekend.

Sean Downey, Charles Dwyer and Paul Simms, their laois hurling trio, were to the fore as they ran out four point winners.

5 – Eight clubs represented on the first football Team of the Week for 2021

The return of club matches in Laois means one thing – the return of the LaoisToday Teams of the Week.

Last weekend saw significant football action with plenty of outstanding games from 2020 being played.

6 – First senior county finals for Mulhare and Dunne as referee appointments made for this weekend

The delayed 2020 Laois senior hurling and football finals will take place this weekend – and Laois GAA have made significant appointments in terms of the match officials.

Seamus Mulhare from The Heath will referee his first senior football final when he takes charge of the Portarlington v Graiguecullen game on Sunday.

While Padraig Dunne from Colt will oversee the hurling decider between Clough-Ballacolla and Borris-Kilcotton on Saturday night. It will also be a first senior final for Dunne.

7 – End of an era as 170-year-old Laois post office shuts its doors for pastures new

Friday August 5 marked the end of an era in the village of Borris-In-Ossory as the present Post Office closed its doors for the last time.

In keeping with changes made countrywide by An Post, the Post Office will now move to its new location in the Daybreak store down the street.

8 – Property Watch: Five rural homes for sale around Laois for under €300,000

On last week’s Property Watch, we took a look at some of the rural homes currently for sale around Laois for under €300,000.

We featured homes from Durrow, Emo, Camross, Castletown and Abbeyleix. The price range is from €225,000 to €295,000.

9 – Electric Picnic organiser ‘to fight this week to get refusal decision reversed’

The Managing Director of music promoter MCD said that he will ‘fight this week’ to have the decision to refuse a licence for Electric Picnic for 2021 overturned.

But we have had no update on this fight which may suggest that it didn’t go anywhere.

10 – Sadness at death of well-known Portlaoise woman Patsy Keating

The death has taken place of Patsy Keating (nee Lynch), a well-known and liked Portlaoise woman.

Mrs Keating, who lived in Fieldbrook on the Dublin Road, was a popular staff member in Laois County Council for a number of years.