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REVEALED | The Laois sporting Mount Rushmore

Laois were the latest county to get the Mount Rushmore treatment on OTB AM this morning - as four...



REVEALED | The Laois sporting...
Football

REVEALED | The Laois sporting Mount Rushmore

Laois were the latest county to get the Mount Rushmore treatment on OTB AM this morning - as four sportspeople from the O'Moore County were selected to be carved into granite.

Cliona Foley and Shane Keegan joined Adrian and Eoin to give us their picks - and it's not a bad mountain at all they've ended up with!

Here is the Laois sporting Mount Rushmore in full:

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GAELIC FOOTBALL - Tommy Murphy

The Graiguecullen man was the first name up, and Cliona's argument for Murphy, who was picked on the Team of the Millennium, was hard to argue against.

"It is a big GAA county, you can't look past Tommy Murphy. The Tommy Murphy Cup is famously called after him, he was known as the 'Boy Wonder.'

"He played for Laois minors at 15, for the seniors at 16 in an All-Ireland semi-final replay against Kerry that they lost by a point.

"He was famous in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s - [he] was the only one on the Team of the Millennium from a county that didn't win an All-Ireland final."

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ATHLETICS - Anne Keenan-Buckley

The Portlaoise athlete represented Ireland at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, finishing 24th in the 3000 metres. She is also the former manager of the Irish cross-country team, and Cliona explained why she must be included on the mountain.

"When I was growing up she was one of these people who was constantly in the local and national papers, and a huge source of pride for us.

"In 2003 they celebrated the 30th anniversary of the World Cross-Country Championships, I remember being at it and getting a book and discovering she was the third woman in the world to have raced at the most world cross-country events.

"People who run cross-country are hard. In 2002 she was 12th overall, she helped Ireland win a Team Bronze, and was 40 at the time!"

20 February 2000. Ann Keenan Buckley, North Laois AC, (437) leads runner-up Rosemary Ryan, on her way to victory in the Senior Women's 6,000m race at the AAI Inter Club Cross Country Championships at the ALSAA Complex, Dublin. Athletics. Picture credit; David Maher/SPORTSFILE

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HURLING / GAELIC FOOTBALL - Pat Critchley

Critchley won eight senior county championships in Laois - four for gaelic football and four for hurling, and Cliona says he represents everything that is great about the Midlands county.

"I was lucky enough to go to college with him many moons ago... Laois' only hurling All-Star, a brilliant hurler and part of that Laois team that made National League semi-finals in the 1980s.

"A brilliant basketball player, Portlaoise is a big basketball town... the man behind so much success for other people."

28 July 2013; Laois manager Pat Critchley. Electric Ireland GAA Hurling All-Ireland Minor Championship, Quarter-Final, Galway v Laois, Semple Stadium, Thurles, Co. Tipperary. Picture credit: Stephen McCarthy / SPORTSFILE

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AFL - Zach Tuohy

Cliona opted for Ireland's all-time international women's try scorer Alison Miller for her final spot, but she was replaced at the last-minute by Aussie Rules star Zach Tuohy.

Shane Keegan made the argument for the Geelong player's inclusion.

"What he has done going across to Australia, it's the equivalent... if we did have a soccer player who went off to England and carved out a phenomenal career for himself in an environment as tough as that.

"What Zach is doing now... 187 appearances, it leaves him third [for Irish AFL appearances] behind Jim Stynes and Tadgh Kennelly, it's absolutely phenomenal."

10 November 2017; Zach Tuohy is interviewed by a Channel 7 New reporter afterthe Ireland International Rules Squad training at the Gaelic Football and Hurling Association of South Australia, St. Mary's Park, Adelaide, Australia Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile

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Missed any of our Mount Rushmore county-by-county series? Watch back all episodes here! 

Here is Nathan Murphy's selection of Mayo

Here is Colm Boohig's selection of Cork

Here is Will O'Callaghan and Paul Rouse's selection of Offaly

Here is Shane Hannon and Gráinne McElwain's selection of Monaghan

Here is Diarmuid Lyng and Liam Griffin's selection of Wexford

Here is Neil Treacy and Jack Anderson's selection of Limerick

Here is Enda Coll and Kieran Cunningham's selection of Donegal

Here is Máire-Treasa Nic-Cheallaigh and Michael Lyster's selection of Galway

Here is Adrian Barry and Conor Moore's selection of Westmeath

Here is Ronan Mullen and Dan McDonnell's selection of Louth

Here is Alan Quinlan and Michael Quinlivan's selection of Tipperary

Here is Tommy Rooney and Hector Ó'hEochagáin's selection of Meath

Here is Conor Deegan and Donal O'Neill's selection of Down

Here is Ger Gilroy and Joe Molloy's selection of Kildare

Here is Thom Malone and Paul Howard's selection of Wicklow

Here is Dave McIntyre and Paul Fitzpatrick's selection of Cavan

Here is Arthur O'Dea and Alan Cawley's selection of Sligo

Here is Eoin Sheahan and Kieran Donaghy's selection of Kerry

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Adrian Barry Cliona Foley Eoin Sheahan Laois Laois GAA Mount Rushmore Off The Ball Otb Am Shane Keegan