Kilcullen GAA

Infobox GAA club
club gaa = Kilcullen
crest =
irish = Cill Chuilin
county = Kildare
nickname = The rags
colours = Black and White
grounds =
founded =
honours =
pattern_la= |pattern_b=_whitehoops |pattern_ra=
leftarm=000000 |body=000000|rightarm=000000 |shorts=000000 |socks=000000
|

Kilcullen is a Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club in Kilcullen, County Kildare, Ireland, which played a leading role in developing the games in the county. Kilcullen town sports predate the GAA.

History

Kilcullen was a controversial affiliate of the early GAA. The club was founded on April 8 1888 and named after the south Kildare MP James Leahy, and changed to Sons of St. Brigid in 1889. The county board warned on May 20 1888 "that the Kilcullen club be hereby affiliated and that it be pointed out to them that the actions of the club will be closely watched by the county committee and if they are found to be the least bit antagonistic to the National movement they will be immediately suspended". RIC records from 1890 show that Kilcullen Sons of St Brigid had 40 members with officers listed as James Byrne, Pat Dowling, Denis Brennan and John Murphy. They earned their nickname at a match against Isles of the Sea from Ringsend at Clonturk Park in Dublin. Kilcullen’s jerseys were manufactured from the reconstituted Shackleton’s flour mill bags, and the Dublin team referred to them as “the rags.”

Gaelic Football

Kilcullen were beaten by Clane in the 1892 county final. Pat Garrett's Kilcullen team controversially beat Ballymore to win the 1915 junior championship and cause a major shock in their first senior championship match by defeating serial champions Roseberry, (the Kilcullen curate Fr Byrne had to intervene when the referee was assaulted), but lost to Maynooth in the county semi-final. The following year they contested their second county final winning the semi-final against Roseberry on objection. Kilcullen lost successive intermediate championships in 1954-1955. After becoming Intermediate champions in 1961, Kilcullen beat Monasterevin, Military College and Kill in a new took semi-final by 1-7 to 1-5, Eamonn Gilesman scored 1-1 for Kilcullen. They were forced to wait until the following year as a series of objections dogged the other semi-final, and lost to Moorefield 0-2 to 2-11.

In 2007 Kilcullen were relegated to Intermediate status, following a 0-12 to 1-12 defeat by Naas.

Hurling

Kilcullen were part of the hurling revival of 1906 and hurlers such as Tom O'Connell played on Kilcullen hurling teams at senior level in Kildare competition.

Camogie

Michelle Aspell was selected on the Kildare camogie team of the century.

Honours

*Kildare Senior F Finalists 1892. 1917. 1962.
*Intermediate F Champions 1945, 1956, 1961, 1976, 1998
*Junior A F Champions 1914, 1943, 1953, 1971, 1997
*Jack Higgins Cup 1953, 1971, 1997
*Leinster Junior Football Champions 1997
*Junior 'B' Football Champions 1970

Bibliography

* Kilcullen Gaelic Athletic Association 1889 1984 by Arty Aspell. Kilcullen GAA Nd, 75pp.
* 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.kilcullengaa.ie/ Kilcullen GAA Club]
* [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]