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Laois Senior A Hurling Championship
Laois Senior A Hurling Championship
Irish	Craobh Sinsir Iomáint Laoise
Title holders	Rosenallis
Sponsors	Laois Shopping Centre

Laois Senior Hurling Championship
Laois Senior Hurling Championship
Current season or competition:; 2024 Laois Senior Hurling Championship
Irish	Craobh Sinsir Iomáint Laoise
Code	Hurling
Founded	1888
Region	Laois (GAA)
Trophy	Bob O'Keefe
No. of teams	8
Title holders	Clough–Ballacolla (7th title)
Most titles	Camross (27 titles)
Sponsors	Laois Shopping Centre
Official website	http://www.laoisgaa.ie

The Laois Senior Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition contested by top-tier Laois GAA clubs. The Laois County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1888.

Clough–Ballacolla are the title holders, defeating Rathdowney–Errill by 2-22 to 0-22 in the 2024 final.^[1]

Honours

The trophy presented to the winners is the Bob O'Keefe Cup.

The winners of the Laois Senior Championship qualify to represent their county in the Leinster Senior Club Hurling Championship. They often do well there and Clough–Ballacolla were in the 2021 Leinster Final after winning the Laois Senior Hurling Championship.^[2] The winners can, in turn, go on to play in the All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship.

Teams

2025 teams

The 10 teams competing in the 2025 Laois Senior Hurling Championship are:

Club	Location	Championship titles	Last championship title
Abbeyleix	Abbeyleix	8	1949
Ballinakill	Ballinakill	0	—
Borris-in-Ossory–Kilcotton	Borris-in-Ossory	1	2016
Camross	Coolrain	27	2023
Castletown	Castletown	8	2005
Clough–Ballacolla	Clough and Ballacolla	7	2024
Portlaoise	Portlaoise	11	2004
Rathdowney–Errill	Rathdowney and Errill	6	2019
Rosenallis	Rosenallis	0	—
The Harps	Cullohill and Durrow	0	—

List of finals

(r) = replay

Year	Winners		Runners-up
Year	Club	Score	Club	Score
1888	Rathdowney	2-02	Knockaroo	0-01
1889	Rathdowney	3-05	Skierke†	0-00
1890	Clonaslee	1-02	Rathdowney	1-00
1891	Clonaslee	w/o	Aghaboe†	scr
1892–1896	No competition
1897	Harristown†	0-08	Rathdowney	1-01
1898 ^[3]	Rathdowney	2-10	Ballacolla†	0-01
1899 ^[4]	Rathdowney	1-06 (on obj)	Knockaroo	1-11 (on obj)
1900	No competition
1901	Rathdowney
1902	Rathdowney
1903	Rathdowney
1904	Kilcotton	1-05	Rathdowney	1-03
1905	Kilcotton	4-11	Rathdowney	1-03
1906	Kilcotton	2-11	Camross	0-01
1907	Rathdowney	4-10	Ballacolla†	2-09
1908	Rathdowney	??	Clonaslee	??
1909^[5]	Kilcotton	2-11	Clonaslee	4-04
1910	Clonaslee	3-02	Kilcotton	3-01
1911	Rathdowney	7-01	Clonaslee	0-00
1912	Rathdowney	4-02	Kilcotton	1-02
1913	Kilcotton	3-03, 3-02 (r), 3-02 (r2)	Rathdowney	4-00, 3-02 (r), 2-01 (r2)
1914	Ballygeehan	0-09, 4-05 (r)	Kilcotton	0-09, 2-00 (r)
1915 ^[6]	Ballygeehan	5-03	Kilcotton	4-05
1916	Ballygeehan	4-04	Rathdowney	2-00
1917	Ballygeehan	3-00	Kilcotton	2-02
1918	Ballygeehan	3-00	Rathdowney	0-00
1919	Kilcotton	4-01	Ballygeehan	0-01
1920	Kilcotton	1-05	Rathdowney	1-03
1921	Rathdowney	3-00	Kilcotton	1-03
1922	Rathdowney	4-03	Portlaoise	2-01
1923	Kilcotton	5-02	Ballacolla	1-00
1924	Kilcotton	3-01	Rathdowney	2-01
1925	Rathdowney	3-03	Clonad	2-01
1926	Rathdowney	6-01	Ballacolla	2-00
1927	Abbeyleix	6-03	Rathdowney	3-02
1928	Portlaoise	0-04	Clonad	1-00
1929	Kilcotton	w/o	Portlaoise	scr
1930	Clonad	5-01	Ballygeehan	3-01
1931	Rathdowney	2-03	Clonad	1-04
1932	Abbeyleix	2-04	Clonad	1-02
1933	Clonad	5-03	Rathdowney	0-02
1934	Abbeyleix	2-05	Clonad	2-03
1935	Clonad	7-03	Rathdowney	1-05
1936	Rathdowney	6-04	Kilcotton	1-05
1937	Clonad	2-07	Abbeyleix	2-01
1938	Errill	2-05	Rathdowney	1-04
1939	Abbeyleix	2-09	Errill	1-03
1940	Abbeyleix	2-03	Kilcotton	0-03
1941	Rathdowney	2-02 (on obj)	Kilcotton	3-06 (on obj)
1942	Mountrath	3-02	Clonad	3-00
1943	Portlaoise	4-11	Rathdowney	4-03
1944	Abbeyleix	2-09	Kilcotton	0-03
1945 ^[7]	Abbeyleix	5-05	Camross	1-02
1946	Clonad	3-04	Abbeyleix	2-03
1947	Clonad	3-08	Abbeyleix	2-04
1948	Clonad	2-06	Abbeyleix	0-03
1949	Abbeyleix	7-03	Clonad	5-03
1950	Clonad	3-13	Errill	1-05
1951	Kyle	3-02	Rovers	2-02
1952^[8]	Errill	6-06	Clonad	3-04
1953^[9]	Clonad	2-14	Kyle	2-07
1954	Clonad	1-09	Errill	0-04
1955^[10]	Cullohill	5-09	Kyle	3-05
1956	Borris-in-Ossory	2-13	Cullohill	2-06
1957^[11]	Borris-in-Ossory	w/o	Cuddagh	scr
1958	Clonad	1-09, 3-04 (r)	Borris-in-Ossory	2-06, 1-09 (r)
1959	Camross	2-05	Cuddagh	3-01
1960	Borris-in-Ossory	2-06	Portlaoise	0-11
1961	Borris-in-Ossory	3-11	Cuddagh	0-04
1962	Clonad	1-08	Borris-in-Ossory	0-05
1963	Camross	2-09	St Canice's	2-06
1964	Cullohill	4-04	Camross	4-03
1965	Camross	3-10	St Canice's	3-06
1966	Camross	5-07	Rathdowney	2-04
1967	Camross	5-04	Clonad	3-04
1968	Camross	5-13	Cullohill	2-05
1969	Camross	3-13	Rathdowney	2-05
1970	Clonad	2-09	Clonaslee	2-06
1971	Camross	4-10	Clonad	3-08
1972	Borris-in-Ossory	4-06	Ballyfin	2-06
1973	Camross	5-13	Borris-in-Ossory	0-14
1974	Camross	1-15	Clonaslee	0-05
1975	Clonaslee	0-13	Clonad	0-08
1976	Camross	1-13	Clonaslee	1-09
1977	Camross	2-14	Portlaoise	0-05
1978	Camross	2-09	Borris-in-Ossory	0-05
1979	Camross	3-09	Ballinakill	1-07
1980	Camross	3-04	Portlaoise	1-08
1981	Portlaoise	2-13	Camross	4-05
1982	Portlaoise	2-12	Errill	1-08
1983	Portlaoise	3-10	Camross	3-05
1984	Portlaoise	1-08, 2-14 (r)	The Harps	2-05, 1-07 (r)
1985	Camross	1-05	Portlaoise	0-07
1986	Camross	4-09	Errill	2-14
1987	Portlaoise	2-13	Clonad	1-05
1988	Camross	1-13	Portlaoise	0-10
1989	Portlaoise	1-09, 0-12 (r)	Camross	2-06, 1-04 (r)
1990	Camross	2-13	Portlaoise	1-09
1991	Portlaoise	1-14	Clonad	0-07
1992	Clonad	0-16	Portlaoise	2-07
1993	Camross	1-13, 1-13 (r)	Portlaoise	2-10, 2-09 (r)
1994	Camross	2-08	Clonad	0-03
1995	Castletown	1-12	Portlaoise	0-11
1996	Camross	0-15	Castletown	1-05
1997	Castletown	3-14	The Harps	2-09
1998	Portlaoise	0-13	The Harps	0-11
1999	Castletown	2-06	Portlaoise	1-06
2000	Castletown	3-10	Camross	2-05
2001	Castletown	2-19	Tinnahinch	1-08
2002	Castletown	4-09	Tinnahinch	2-04
2003	Castletown	2-12	Portlaoise	1-11
2004	Portlaoise	2-08	Castletown	0-07
2005	Castletown	0-13, 1-08 (r)	Camross	1-10, 0-10 (r)
2006	Rathdowney–Errill	1-11	Tinnahinch	1-07
2007	Camross	5-09	Portlaoise	2-11
2008	Rathdowney–Errill	1-19	Portlaoise	2-15
2009	Clough–Ballacolla	2-13	Portlaoise	1-10
2010	Rathdowney–Errill	2-11	Camross	1-09
2011	Clough–Ballacolla	1-10	Portlaoise	0-11
2012^[12]^[13]	Rathdowney–Errill	1-11, 0-17 (r)	Clough–Ballacolla	2-08, 0-14 (r)
2013^[14]	Camross	2-12	Borris-in-Ossory–Kilcotton	1-12
2014^[15]	Rathdowney–Errill	1-20	Camross	0-10
2015^[16]	Clough–Ballacolla	0-20	Camross	1-14
2016^[17]	Borris-in-Ossory–Kilcotton	2-26, 1-18 (r)	Rathdowney–Errill	2-26, 2-10 (r)
2017^[18]	Camross	3-14	Clough–Ballacolla	1-19
2018	Camross	2-15	Rathdowney–Errill	0-19
2019	Rathdowney–Errill	0-17	Borris-in-Ossory–Kilcotton	1-09
2020	Clough–Ballacolla	1-22	Borris-in-Ossory–Kilcotton	1-17
2021^[19]	Clough–Ballacolla	1-25	Borris-in-Ossory–Kilcotton	2-21
2022	Clough–Ballacolla	1-24	Camross	0-16
2023	Camross	4-18	Abbeyleix St' Lazerian's	0-14
2024^[1]	Clough–Ballacolla	2-22	Rathdowney–Errill	0-22

Notes

† The colours attached to Skierke, Aghaboe, Harristown and Ballacolla are those of the current parish teams and not necessarily those of the actual team at the time.

Roll of honour

#	Club	Wins	Years won
1	Camross	27	1959, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2007, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2023
2	Rathdowney	18	1888, 1889, 1898, 1899, 1902, 1903, 1907, 1908, 1911, 1912, 1921, 1922, 1925, 1926, 1931, 1936, 1941
3	Clonad	14	1930, 1933, 1935, 1937, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1950, 1953, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1970, 1992
4	Portlaoise	11	1928, 1943, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1998, 2004
5	Kilcotton	10	1904, 1905, 1906, 1909, 1913, 1919, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1929
6	Castletown	8	1995, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005
6	Abbeyleix	8	1927, 1932, 1934, 1939, 1940, 1944, 1945, 1949
7	Clough–Ballacolla	7	2009, 2011, 2015, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024
8	Rathdowney–Errill	6	2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2019
9	Borris-in-Ossory	5	1956, 1957, 1960, 1961, 1972
9	Ballygeehan	5	1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918
10	Clonaslee	4	1890, 1891, 1910, 1975
11	Cullohill	2	1955, 1964
11	Errill	2	1938, 1952
12	Kyle	1	1951
	Harristown		1897
	Mountrath		1942
	Borris-in-Ossory–Kilcotton		2016

Player records

Winning captains since 1950

1950 Pat Norton Clonad
1951 Michael Rigney Kyle
1952 Jimmy Murray Errill
1953 Andy Dunne Clonad
1954 Andy Dunne Clonad
1955 Lar Dunphy Cullohill
1956 Christy O'Brien Borris-in-Ossory
1957 Christy O'Brien Borris-in-Ossory
1958 Andy Dunne Clonad
1959 Fintan Lalor Camross
1960 Christy O'Brien Borris-in-Ossory
1961 Christy O'Brien Borris-in-Ossory
1962 Jimmy Fennell Clonad
1963 Fintan Lalor Camross
1964 Mt. (Mog) O'Mahoney Cullohill
1965 Tim Cuddy Camross
1966 Tim Cuddy Camross
1967 Tim Cuddy Camross
1968 Ger Cuddy Camross
1969 Ger Cuddy Camross
1970 George Conroy Clonad
1971 Jimmy Lyons Camross
1972 Brendan Dollard Borris-in-Ossory
1973 John Carroll Camross
1974 Christy Donovan Camross
1975 John O'Keefe Clonaslee
1976 Martin Cuddy Camross
1977 Paddy Dowling Camross
1978 Sean Cuddy Camross
1979 Michael Carroll Camross
1980 Richard Maloney Camross
1981 John Joe Ging Portlaoise
1982 John Joe Ging Portlaoise
1983 John Joe Ging Portlaoise
1984 John Joe Ging Portlaoise
1985 PJ Cuddy Camross
1986 Joe Doran Camross
1987 Sean Bergin Portlaoise
1988 Alo Delaney Camross
1989 John Bohane Portlaoise
1990 Pat Carroll Camross
1991 Seamus Plunkett Portlaoise
1992 Pat Norton Clonad
1993 Fintan Lalor Camross
1994 Tom Delaney Camross
1995 John O' Suillivan Castletown
1996 Matt Collier Camross
1997 Eamonn Kirwan Castletown
1998 Niall Rigney Portlaoise
1999 John Lyons Castletown
2000 Pat Phelan Castletown
2001 Fionan O'Suillivan Castletown
2002 Paul Cuddy Castletown
2003 David Cuddy Castletown
2004 Joe Phelan Portlaoise
2005 Robert Delaney Castletown
2006 Liam Wynne Rathdowney–Errill
2007 Fran Hogan Camrosss
2008 John Purcell Rathdowney–Errill
2009 Mick McEvoy Clough–Ballacolla
2010 Liam Tynan Rathdowney–Errill
2011 John A. Delaney Clough–Ballacolla
2012 Shane Dollard Rathdowney–Errill
2013 Tomás Burke Camross
2014 Alan Delaney Rathdowney–Errill
2015 Darren Maher Clough–Ballacolla
2016 Brian Stapleton Borris-in-Ossory–Kilcotton
2017 Joe Phelan & Zane Keenan Camross
2018 Niall Homes Camross
2019 Patrick Purcell Rathdowney–Errill
2020 Stephen Maher Clough–Ballacolla
2021 Stephen Maher Clough–Ballacolla
2022 Stephen Maher Clough–Ballacolla
2023 Darragh Duggan Camross

Records and statistics

Finals

Most wins:
- 27 Camross
Most consecutive wins:
- 5 Ballygeehan (1914–18), Camross (1965–69), Camross (1976–80) & Castletown (1999–2003)
Most defeats:
- 17 Portlaoise
Most consecutive defeats:
- 3 Abbeyleix (1946–48), Portlaoise (2007–09) & Borris-in-Ossory–Kilcotton (2019–21)
Most appearances:
- 37 Camross
Most appearances without a win:
- 4 Ballacolla (1898-1907-1923-1926)
Highest scoring match:
- 64 points (2016) Borris-in-Ossory–Kilcotton 2-26 Rathdowney-Errill 2-26 (possible All Ireland record for 60-minute county SHC final)
Lowest scoring match:
- 7 points (1928) Portlaoise 0-7 Clonad 1-0
Biggest winning margin:
- 22 points (1911) Rathdowney 7-1 Clonaslee 0-0
Highest scoring teams:
- 32 points (2016) Borris-in-Ossory–Kilcotton & Rathdowney-Errill
Highest scoring winning team:
- 30 points (2023) Camross
Highest scoring losing team:
- 27 points (2021) Borris-in-Ossory–Kilcotton GAA
Most goals match:
- 12 (1949) Abbeyleix 7-3 Clonad 5-3
Fewest goals match:
- 0 (1914, 1975, 1998 & 2012d)
Most goals team:
- 7 (1935) Clonad & (1949) Abbeyleix
Most goals losing team:
- 5 (1949) Clonad
Trivia:
- 10 finals have ended in draws
- 4 finals have been goalless (1914-1975-1998-2012r)
- 20 finals have occurred where the losing team scored more goals than the winning team (last: 2019)
- 3 finals have occurred where the winner scored two goals fewer than the losing team (1909-1981-1992)
- 23 finals have occurred where there were more goals than points (last: 1964)

Teams

By decade

The most successful team of each decade, judged by number of Laois Senior Hurling Championship titles, is as follows:

1880s: 2 for Rathdowney (1888–89)
1890s: 2 each for Clonaslee (1890–91) and Rathdowney (1898–99)
1900s: 5 for Rathdowney (1901-02-03-07-08)
1910s: 5 for Ballygeehan (1914-15-16-17-18)
1920s: 4 for Rathdowney (1921-22-25-26)
1930s: 4 for Clonad (1930-33-35-37)
1940s: 4 for Abbeyleix (1940-44-45-49)
1950s: 4 for Clonad (1950-53-54-58)
1960s: 6 for Camross (1963-65-66-67-68-69)
1970s: 7 for Camross (1971-73-74-76-77-78-79)
1980s: 6 for Portlaoise (1981-82-83-84-87-89)
1990s: 4 for Camross (1990-93-94-96)
2000s: 5 for Castletown (2000-01-02-03-05)
2010s: 4 for Rathdowney–Errill (2010-12-14-19)

Gaps

Top ten longest gaps between successive championship titles:

91 years: Clough–Ballacolla (1918–2009) [as Ballygeehan in 1918]
65 years: Clonaslee (1910–1975)
38 years: Portlaoise (1943–1981)
22 years: Clonad (1970–1992)
19 years: Clonaslee (1891–1910)
15 years: Portlaoise (1928–1943)
14 years: Errill (1938–1952)
11 years: Borris-in-Ossory (1961–1972)
11 years: Camross (1996–2007)
09 years: Rathdowney (1889–1898)
09 years: Rathdowney (1912–1921)
09 years: Clonad (1937–1946)
09 years: Cullohill (1955–1964)

Starts (first 1–10 finals)

Best

1 final : (1-0) Rathdowney (1888), Clonaslee (1890), Harristown (1897), Ballygeehan (1914), Abbeyleix (1927), Mountrath (1942), Kyle (1951, Cullohill (1955), Borris-in-Ossory (1956), Castletown (1995), Rathdowney–Errill (2006)
2 finals: (2-0) Rathdowney (1889), Clonaslee (1891), Ballygeehan (1915), Abbeyleix (1932), Borris-in-Ossory (1957), Rathdowney-Errill (2008)
3 finals: (3-0) Ballygeehan (1916), Abbeyleix (1934), Rathdowney-Errill (2010)
4 finals: (4-0) Ballygeehan (1917), Rathdowney–Errill (2012)
5 finals: (5-0) Ballygeehan (1918), Rathdowney–Errill (2014)
6 finals: (5-1) (Ballygeehan (1919), Abbeyleix (1940), Castletown (2001), Rathdowney–Errill (2016)
7 finals: (6-1) Abbeyleix (1944), Castletown (2002)
8 finals: (7-1) Abbeyleix (1945), Castletown (2003)
9 finals: (7-2) Rathdowney (1903), Abbeyleix (1946), Castletown (2004)
10 finals: (8-2) Castletown (2005)

Worst

1 final : (0-1) Kilcotton (1888), Skierke (1889), Aghaboe (1891), Ballacolla (1898), Camross (1906), Portlaoise (1922), Clonad (1925), Errill (1933), Rovers (1951), Cuddagh (1957), Ballyfin (1972), Ballinakill (1979), The Harps (1984), Tinnahinch (2001), Borris-in-Ossory–Kilcotton (2013)
2 finals: (0-2) Kilcotton (1899), Ballacolla (1907), Clonad (1928), Camross (1945), Cuddagh (1959), The Harps (1997), Tinnahinch (2002)
3 finals: (0-3) Ballacolla (1923), Cuddagh (1961), The Harps (1998), Tinnahinch (2006)
4 finals: (0-4) Ballacolla (1926)
5 finals: (1-4) Clonad (1932), Borris-in-Ossory–Kilcotton (2021)
6 finals: (2-4) Clonad (1933), Errill (1954), Portlaoise (1977)
7 finals: (2-5) Clonad (1934), Portlaoise (1980), Errill (1982)
8 finals: (2-6) Errill (1986)
9 finals: (4-5) Clonad (1939), Clonaslee (1975), Portlaoise (1982)
10finals: (4-6) Clonad (1942), Clonaslee (1976), Portlaoise (1983)

Laois Senior A Hurling Championship

This competition has existed in various guises since 1995.^[20] It was originally played as the Dick Palmer Cup up to 2009, then became a competition ancillary to the main championship. In the earlier years, clubs would qualify for the Senior B by not reaching a certain stage of the main competition.

Since 2010, it has been a proper Tier2 competition, with promotion/relegation to/from the Senior Hurling Championship and from 2015, it has been called the Senior A Hurling Championship.

Year	Winner	Score	Opponent	Score
2012	Clough–Ballacolla	0-16	Camross	2-05
2013	Abbeyleix	4-12	Ballyfin	0-09
2014	Ballinakill	0-22	St Fintan's, Mountrath	1-12
2015	Portlaoise	1-14	Clonaslee	1-11
2016	Castletown	1–11	Ballyfin Gaels	0–13
2017	Ballyfin Gaels	0–15	Colt	0–12
2018	Portlaoise	1-13	The Harps	1-11
2019	Rosenallis	1-12	The Harps	1-11
2020	Portlaoise Or The Harps		Portlaoise Or The Harps
2021
2022

References

^ ^a ^b Cooper, Gavin (6 October 2024). "Superb second-half sees Clough-Ballacolla crowned Laois GAA Senior Hurling champions". Leinster Express.
^ O'Brien, Kevin (19 December 2021). "Ballyhale Shamrocks land 11th Leinster crown after 27-point hammering of Clough–Ballacolla". The42.ie. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
^ Kilkenny Moderator - Saturday 26 November 1898 P4
^ Kilkenny Moderator - Saturday 18 November 1899
^ Leinster Express 1831-current, Saturday, 26 March 1910; Page: 5
^ Carlow Nationalist - Saturday 02 September 1916 P5
^ Irish Press 1931-1995, Monday, 15 October 1945; Page: 4
^ Leinster Express 1831-current, Saturday, 27 September 1952; Page: 6
^ Leinster Express 1831-current, Saturday, 10 October 1953; Page: 3
^ Leinster Express 1831-current, Saturday, 15 October 1955; Page: 4
^ Cuddagh requested a postponement, on the grounds of injuries, which was turned down at an emergency meeting in October 1957. Cuddagh refused to play the final.
^ "Laois SHC final replay: comeback win for Rathdowney". Hogan Stand. 22 October 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
^ "Laois SHC final: King to the rescue". Hogan Stand. 15 October 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
^ "Keenan leads Camross to glory". Irish Independent. 30 September 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
^ "Rathdowney–Errill dethrone Camross in Laois". Irish Times. 29 September 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
^ "Maher the hero for Clough–Ballacolla". Irish Independent. 28 September 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
^ "King sets up sequel after Laois exhibition". Irish Independent. 10 October 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
^ "Laois SHC final: Hyland's efforts all in vain as Camross reign supreme". Hogan Stand. 24 September 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
^ Egan, Kevin (7 November 2021). "Clough–Ballacolla edge thriller to retain Laois SHC". RTÉ.ie.
^ The Laois GAA Records Bible 1888–2016 by John Phelan