Ardclough GAA

Infobox GAA club
club gaa = Ardclough GAA
crest =
irish = Ard Cloch
county = Kildare
province=Leinster
nickname = The Clocks
club colours = Red, Black and Yellow
grounds = Dan Graham Park
founded = 1936
pattern_la=_mooloo|pattern_b=_mooloo|pattern_ra=_mooloo|leftarm=FFFFFF|body=FFFFFF|rightarm=FFFFFF|shorts=000000|socks=000000
h3=12|f3=1|c3=1

Ardclough is a Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club in Ardclough, County Kildare, Republic of Ireland, whose biggest achievements include winning the Kildare County Senior Football Championship after a replayed final against the Army in 1949, winning 12 Kildare County Senior Hurling Championships, the latest in 2006 beating Confey in the final, defeating Buffer's Alley in the 1976 Leinster Senior Club Hurling Championship and winning the Leinster Intermediate Hurling Championship in 2006. Five Ardclough players featured on the Kildare hurling team of the millennium: Richie Cullen, Tommy Christian, Bobby Burke, Johnny Walsh and Mick Dwane. Bridget Cushen was selected on the Kildare camogie team of the century. Current (2008) Kildare senior hurling panelists include Colm Buggy, Richie Hoban, Tony Spain, Brendan Byrne and Brian Coulston.

History

RIC records from 1890 show that Hazlehatch Irish Harpers, based on Lord Concurry's field near Skeagh, had 70 members with officers listed as Ambrose Dwyer, Christy Fitzsimons, Michael Saunders and John Cantwell. John Buggle is listed as an officer with Kilteel King O'Tooles club. Thomas Kenny from Ardclough bore the nickname "The Harper" Kenny all his life. An Ardclough club competed in the 1924-27 championships. The current club was founded at a meeting in Mick Treacy's workshop in 1936, growing out of an under-14 team organised by Fr O'Brien at Ardclough national school, and the hurling club founded by Mick Houlihan in 1949. The club is recently funded by local entreprenheur John Buggy, father to the two boys, Colm and Sean, who line out for both the clubs senior football and hurling panels.

Gaelic Football

Ardclough were the smallest community to win the Kildare football championship when Dan Graham's team beat a star-studded Army team in the replay of the 1949 county final, drawing a record attendance of 10,035 to the replay in St Conleth's Park. Goalkeeper Jim Nolan was the star of the drawn match, Christy Burke was the star of the replay, when a Dick McKenna goal before half-time and a series of points from the "Butcher" Graham and Jimmy Butler gave Ardclough a I-11 to 2-6 victory. They lost the 1953 semi-final by a point and beat both the Army and Sarsfields in Leader Cup finals before being regraded in 1958. Their rivalry with Sarsfields exploded into controversy in the 1950 county semi-final before a record 7,730 attendance. Ardclough's 1968 Jack Higgins Cup winners merged with the survivors of Kills' 1962 semi-final team to create area team Wolfe Tones which went to the 1971 semi-final and a three point defeat to Carbury. Ardclough won the Junior A and Jack Higgins Cup in championship in 2000.

Ardclough forms St Edward’s along with Rathcoffey and Straffan for underage purposes and St Edward's fields teams at all levels from Under 9 to Under 21.

Hurling

Ardclough contested 20 county finals in success between 1963 and 1985, including a notorious battle with Éire Óg in 1973. The club beat Buffer's Alley in the 1976 Leinster Senior Club Hurling Championship and was the first from Kildare to win an All Ireland Feile Division 4 in 1993. Ardclough regarded senior for the second time after winning the 1959 Junior championship and a morale-boost by the victory of their minors in 1956, inspired by Tim Gleeson and Kieran O'Malley. The careers of Tommy Christian, Mick Dwane, Colm O'Malley and Bobby Burke spanned all twenty years. The 16-year-old Richie Cullen played his first final at centrefield in 1966 and afterwards at full-back. Wexford born Ned Walsh came in 1967 and was joined by his brother, free-scoring Johnny Walsh in 1970. Ardclough contested nine successive finals against Éire Óg 1965-74, a record for any grade in football and hurling, including their first title in 1968 when one of their minors, Richie Cullen, captained the team. Der Connor, John Cummins and Mick Dwane contributed to the 2-12 total against 3-3 for Éire Óg. Counting semi-finals the sides met for 14 years in a row. Even though it took 19 years to win their next senior title Ardclough played a prominent role in Kildare hurling, losing the 1998 final by a point to Colm Byrne’s late free for Coill Dubh. Ardclough returned to beat Coill Dubh 2-12 to 0-11 in the 2004 county final with goals from Andy Whelan and Padraig O'Malley. Ardclough regained the title on 2006 with a crushing win over Confey. They then went on to make history winning the Leinster Intermediate Club Hurling Championship beating Ratharney of Westmeath in the final.

Camogie

Ardclough camogie club was founded in 1962 by Mick Houlihan, Patrick O’Connor and Ann Johnson, the original colours were brown and yellow, now black, red and yellow,. Josie O’Connor captained the team that won the championship in 1968.

Honours

*Kildare GAA Club of the Year 2006

Hurling

* Kildare Senior Hurling Championship Winners (12): 1968, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 2004 & 2006
* Senior Hurling League Champions (14): 1966, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 2005
* Centenary Senior Hurling Championship (1): 1984
* Under-21 Hurling Championship (4): 1964, 1997, 1998, 1999
* Minor Hurling Champions (5): 1956, 1968, 1995, 1996, 2006
* Minor Hurling B Championship Champions (2): 2004, 2005
* Leinster Intermediate Club Hurling Championship Winners (1): 2006

Football

* Kildare Senior Football Championship winners (1): 1949
* Senior Football League Champions (2): 1949, 1950
* Intermediate Football Champions (1): 1943
* Junior Football Champions (3): 1941, 1959, 1968
* Junior Hurling Champions (3):1949, 1954, 1959
* Junior Football Championship champions (4): 1941, 1959, 1968, 2000
* Intermediate Football League Champions (1): 1959
* Junior Football League (4):1940, 1943, 1944, 1951
* Senior Football League Division 3 Champions (1): 1976

Camogie

* Senior Camogie Champions 1968
* Intermediate camogie champions 1988
* Junior Camogie Champions 1983, 2000
* Camogie Senior League runners-up 1967, 1969, 1971
* Intermediate League 1988

Bibliography

* Kildare GAA: A Centenary History, by Eoghan Corry, CLG Chill Dara, 1984, ISBN 0-9509370-0-2 hb ISBN 0-9509370-1-0 pb
* Kildare GAA yearbook, 1972, 1974, 1978, 1979, 1980 and 2000- in sequence especially the Millennium yearbook of 2000
* Soaring Sliothars: Centenary of Kildare Camogie 1904-2004 by Joan O'Flynn Kildare County Camogie Board.

External links

* [http://www.ardcloughgaa.com/ Ardclough GAA Website]
* [http://kildare.gaa.ie/ Kildare GAA site]
* [http://www.clubgaa.ie/kildare/ Kildare GAA club sites]
* [http://www.hoganstand.com/Kildare/ Kildare on Hoganstand.com]