Laois Today: Some brilliant Paul Dargan photos from a busy weekend of Laois football championship action

A September weekend and a typically busy couple of days on the GAA pitches of Laois.

But in a year where supporters aren’t permitted to attend games due to the Coronavirus-related restrictions, it’s led to an entirely different atmosphere at the games.

And for Laois GAA PRO Paul Dargan it has ensured that he is having a particularly hectic couple of weeks.

The advent of the LaoisTV live streaming service which has seen all the Laois senior hurling and almost all of the Laois senior football games broadcast online has led to a whole new workload.

The Graigue man is co-ordinating the whole LaoisTV project – dealing with cameramen, commentators and co-commentators and any of a range of assorted issues in the background.

It has meant essentially full days in MW Hire O’Moore Park every Saturday and Sunday and a number of hours on the midweek evenings when there are games on too. Considering he also runs his own Sign and Design business in Kilkenny, it is some workload.

And somehow, he is also finding time to take a selection of high quality photos during the games too.

This week he again captured the essence of the whole thing. From the action on the field, to TV team on duty to the innovative supporters trying to find ways to watch the game in person.

He brilliantly snapped James Finn’s crucial goal for Ballyfin, one that Ballyroan-Abbey goalkeeper Andrew Bonham almost prevented from going over the line.

He got St Joseph’s manager and Laois GAA legend Joe Higgins delivering a passionate team talk; commentators Damien Carter and Alan Malone on duty during the Graiguecullen v The Heath game in the LOETB Centre of Excellence, watching the action from a scaffolding put up by great Laois GAA servant Jody Conway from Arles-Kilcruise.

And he has Austin ‘Watt’ Clancy and former referee John Conway in discussion while doing umpire for Joe Brennan as well as former Portlaoise manager Niall Rigney looking over the fence at the Centre of Excellence as well as a number of Heath supporters sitting up on a couple of large bales of straw.

In years to come all those photos will be reminder of what a mad year it really was.