Fergal Byron. Keeping his career highs and lows, talking about Micko and what is next for Laois.

Fergal Byron. Keeping his career highs and lows, talking about Micko and what is next for Laois.

By Steven Kelly. 8th of June 2022

Fergal Byron is considered to be one of the finest Goalkeepers in Laois football history. The Courtwood shot-stopper was the catalyst, behind his county's march to the Leinster final victory over Kildare in 2003. Playing with the likes of Chris Conway, Padraig Clancy, Brian Beano McDonald amongst others, this Laois side was regarded as one of the finest sides in recent history.  This was around the time that Tyrone and Armagh were becoming strong. His side wasn’t far off making an All- Ireland. Armagh got the better of Laois by 2 points in the quarter-finals in 2003, having won the All- Ireland the previous year. Fergal explains “having won a Leinster final, we as a group of players felt disappointed that we didn’t build on this success.” Where did all begin for Byron?

“I would have started playing football in Primary school in Rath NS. We were a very small country school at the time. I remember playing in a Cumann Na MBunscoil final when I was in 6th class. Back then we didn’t have any under 8’s or 10s or nurseries or anything like that. You would have played school football and u12s with the club. My local club is Courtwood where I would have learnt my trade. Rugby would have actually been my first love. My father played Rugby locally and to this day I would watch games. At the time unfortunately there weren’t any teams about, so I threw myself into Gaelic Football. My big dream was to play for the senior team.”

Having started his trade out the field, Byron was given his chance as a keeper and this was something he grabbed with both hands. “Emmett Burke of St Josephs was the first choice on the team.  He went up to the senior side in 1995. I then got to play in goals for the Laois under 21s, having won a Leinster championship medal with Laois in 1994, playing cornerback. I progressed onto the senior side in 1997. It was a bit strange how it happened. We played Mayo in the national league in Portlaoise. The game was on after the county final. St Joseph’s were playing in the game before so Emmett decided he didn’t want to play in the Mayo game. I was only delighted to play. It was the making of my senior career. My heroes growing up would have been John O’ Leary of Dublin. He was an amazing goalkeeper at the time and then I obviously grew up during the Jack Charlton era. I idolised Packy Bonner. Timing is most definitely everything and you really have to grab it when it presents itself. The thing about being a Goalkeeper is you have to work very hard to get to the top and you have to want to play in there, otherwise, there really isn’t any point and you are only kidding yourself.”

Being a Goalkeeper requires a lot of self-discipline. You have to be calm in situations and be excellent at shot-stopping. Fergal has one person to thank in particular. “This is no word of a lie Ross Munnelly would stay back after training and take 30-40 shots on me. This was essentially my training session. I remember feeling like I was only a kid coming into the senior set-up. In 1997 there were lads in there I looked up to massively. By the time 2003 came around word was getting around that Micko was going to be coming on board. I had honestly thought about packing it in, but when Micko came in I knew I had to stay.” Mick O’ Dwyer had previously managed Kildare to an All-Ireland in 1998 and the feeling was he could do something special with Laois. Fergal has only positive things to say about the man. “People have their perceptions of what Micko was like. From the first training session, he made us believe we could do great things. I remember after the first training session he said to us that he saw 4-5 all-stars in this team. At the time we didn’t believe him, but once he had time it was evident that he gave us the belief that we could mix it with the very best.” 

Having endured a Leinster campaign which included wins over Meath and Dublin, Laois locked horns with near neighbours Kildare in the 2003 final. Micko had a way of keeping the attention away from his group. “Honestly I was very relaxed going into the final. Micko had cameras following him everywhere. This was something that we weren’t used to at all. If anything it took the pressure off us as players. He did everything he could to let us perform at our best. People always say to me how did you perform in front of 60-70 thousand people in Croke Park. This sounds strange but you are so focused on the game that the background noise doesn’t bother you.”  See highlights of the final in 2003: https://youtu.be/Bcj6c022LhE

Following the 2-13 to 1-13 win in the Leinster Final, the expectations grew around the county. Micko was making dreams come true. “The buzz was definitely around the county back then, you could feel it. I remember the first training session back there were hundreds of supporters in Portlaoise. We were getting ready for an All- Ireland quarter-final against Armagh. Micko didn't let us do much football, as he wanted to keep our heads firmly levelled. He ran us into the ground. That told us as players and the supporters that we wanted to achieve more. Unfortunately, Armagh beat us by 2 points, in a game we could have won. The lads talk about the fact we didn’t make an All-Ireland with the group we had.”

Fergal believes that being organised off the pitch can very much help you on it “I always say from organising your bag before matches and training to the foods you eat, it all definitely helps you that is for sure. I even say it to my children who play, although sometimes I have to realise that everybody is different. Football is different nowadays. Lads play today but after the game doesn't really talk about it. I remember going to games to watch opposition players. Times have definitely changed. I was always trying to improve and winning an All-Star in 2003 and playing on Railway cup teams with Leinster, made everything worthwhile.”

Byron’s Laois side had a disappointing 2022 campaign. After getting to the O’Byrne cup final against Dublin, Laois had a positive win away to Louth in the league before being relegated to Division 4. This was followed up by a defeat to Wicklow in the Leinster campaign, before being beaten by Westmeath in the Tailteann Cup. The days of Leinster glory seem so far from reach, but Byron is more hopeful. “I have to say it is hard to see the positives after the year we saw. However, I do see the work being done at minor and U20 levels and I fully believe that getting the players at a younger age more physically equipped is the way forward. I have seen this as a coach with teams. The likes of Meath, Kildare and Dublin are ahead of us in terms of strength and conditioning. We have recently hired 10 new coaches to help bring on the standard at a local level and this may take 3-5 years to see improvements, but I am optimistic that we will have teams more able to compete again soon. The modern GAA player has changed and we need to acknowledge that and must keep up with this ourselves. Watch this space.” 

It is fair to say that Fergal Byron has given many years to the blue and white of Laois and is hoping he can save football in the county and keep the talent coming through. Here is hoping.