I was proud to fly the Athy Gaelic Football Club flag in the days
leading up to the recent County Final and equally proud, after the unwelcome
defeat on Sunday, of the players and the Athy supporters. Both represented the club honourably during
the match and in the aftermath of defeat.
Seamus Malone, now long dead, but once the leading light in the
resurgence of Gaelic games in Athy would be justifiably proud of the Club he
revived following the devastation wrought by emigration in the 1920s.
To be a member of a club, whether sporting or otherwise, is to be an
active member of the community. The
local GAA Club is the heartbeat of every local community in Ireland and here in
Athy the community although disappointed as a result of the County final defeat
is nevertheless immensely proud of the Athy clubs senior team.
To have been involved in one of the best County Finals played in
recent years in County Kildare, it’s a matter of some pride for the Athy club
and its members. Despite Sunday’s
defeat, the quality of Gaelic football in South Kildare is confirmed by the
success of local clubs in a variety of Gaelic Football Championship finals in
the last few weeks.
Castlemitchell Junior team under the captaincy of Ray Fitzgerald recently
won the Junior A Football title.
Interestingly, the team’s manager is Billy Delaney from Stradbally whose
father and name sake played for Laois and was team manager of the
Castlemitchell team which won the clubs first County title in 1953. Our near neighbours Castledermot won the
Intermediate Football championship within the past few weeks under team captain
Oisin Doherty and team manager Tony Gray.
Although situated next to the Kildare border and within the
adjoining County of Laois, Barrowhouse is for me more Kildare than County
Laois. Barrowhouse is part of the Parish
of St. Michael’s and historically both Athy and Barrowhouse are intrinsically
linked by events during the War of Independence. For those reasons, the success of the
Barrowhouse Junior Team in winning the Junior Championship this year is another
boost for Gaelic Football in this region.
The team captain of the Barrowhouse Juniors is Mikey Langton while John
Larkin is the teams manager. Barrowhouse last won the Intermediate title twenty
three years ago when many of the current team members’ fathers were on that
team. Four grandsons of Billy Malone
played in this year’s final while Liam Langton had the honour of his son Mikey,
captaining the team while two of his grandsons were on the team panel.
Both Athy and Rheban played in County Finals this year but neither
came away with the hoped for victory.
Rheban unfortunately lost the Minor B Football Final to Suncroft. The Rheban Captain Darren Lawler can however
take some consolation from the Leinster Minor medal he won with the Kildare County
team earlier this year. The Rheban Team
Managers were Martin Germaine and Alan Shaw.
The heartbreak of Athy’s defeat in the Senior County Championship
final was somewhat lessened in the knowledge that the final was one of the best
displays of Gaelic Football witnessed in a Kildare County Final for many
years. Much praise must go to the management
team of Brian Cardiff, Joe Kinihan and Timmy Dunne whose commitment and
dedication to the cause of Gaelic football in Athy is immense. Team Captain was
Mick Foley, one of the finest footballers ever to have played football with Athy
Gaelic Football Club and the only former All Star player from the south of the County.
Gaelic Football and hurling are part of our Irish sporting heritage
and the performance of the five local clubs in this year’s football championships
is one worthy of acknowledgement by the different local communities which they
represent.
A few days after the Athy Club won the 1942 senior title the
following report appeared in the Nationalist and Leinster Times.
‘Over a fortnight
ago, while walking along the Carlow Road, Athy, the writer saw a number of
shapes moving about in the dark in ghostly fashion in a field some 200 yards
from the road. Overcoming a sudden
impulse to return hastily to the brightly illumed town, the writer made for the
field to find the Athy senior football team doing a strenuous bout of training. The benefit of the course of training which
had been carried out regularly for a month was evident on Sunday when Athy
wrested the county senior championship from Carbury. Youth played a big part in Sunday’s
triumph. Seven members of the Athy team
are under 22 years and one under 18. The
team showed a number of changes compared with the side that went under to
Carbery in last year’s final. Such
youngsters as D. Shaughnessy, T. Fox and L. Murray are notable newcomers to
this year’s team.’
The defeat by Carbury in the 1941 final was followed a year later
with Athy’s victory over the same team.
Hopefully history will be repeated next year.
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