Offaly GAA Club to celebrate 100th anniversary

Pictured above: The Kilclonfert squad that won a famous Junior “B” Football Championship in 1990. Front, left to right: Joe Duffy (Manager), Noel Lenehan (club president), Eddie Scally, Sean Harte (selector), Michael Lenehan, Ger Brennan, Gerry Donoghue, Seamus Campbell (captain) with mascot Robert Campbell, John Forde, Christy Donohue, Brendan Spillane, Tom Moore,Martin McCreanor, Michael Donoghue, Alo Seery. Back, Sean McCreanor, Matt Kelly, Kevin Quinn, Mick Seery, Ignatius Harte, Ray Brennan, Richard Mangan, Mossy Roe, Liam Kirwan, Camillus Kelly, Martin Brickland, Ray Mangan, Vincent Donoghue, Arthur Hanlon, Ollie Donoghue (trainer). 

ONE of Offaly's smallest but proudest clubs will be celebrating their 100^th anniversary at a gala dinner dance shortly. Kilclonfert GAA have their big reunion planned for the Bridge House Hotel in Tullamore on Friday, February 14 and it promises to be an occasion full of nostalgia and great memories.

Formed in 1924, Kilclonfert GAA Club represents all that is good about the GAA. They have survived against the odds, keeping going in every era and the central role the GAA plays in the community's sense of identity, the pride locals have in it is evident to all.

A small very rural club in Daingean parish, Kilclonfert is surrounded on each side by Daingean, Ballycommon and St Brigid's in Offaly and Tyrrellspass in Westmeath.

Success has been in short supply for them and their rare championship wins have been the source of great celebration. There have been times when they have been out of existence and there have been plenty of other eras, including the current one, when numbers were an issue, when they were swimming against the tide and playing into the wind at the same time.

Yet the desire to have their own club has been almost ever present and they have done extremely well to keep the flag flying for over a century. The club of current Offaly senior football joint manager, Declan Kelly, Kilclonfert has been the home to some fantastic characters and passionate Offaly supporters over the years. It is real football country, the hub of the area and they have also developed excellent playing facilities.

Players from the club have played central roles on successful parish underage teams with St Vincent's and their predecessors and while county players have been in short supply, they have provided footballers for Offaly minor, U20/21 and senior sides over the years.

Kilclonfert first appeared on the list of affiliated clubs in Offaly in 1924/1925 and it is interesting to have a brief look at that list. There were less clubs in existence than now, some have either gone or been subsumed into amalgamations but many are still there. The list was: Birr, Kinnitty, Drumcullen. Coolderry, Killoughey and Kilcormac, Clara, Birr, Belmont, Clareen (Seir Kieran), Edenderry, Tullamore, Rahan, Shinrone, Ferbane, Doon, Cloghan, Durow, Ballinagar, Daingean, Rhode, Bracknagh, Geashill, Cloneygowan, Killeigh, Lusmagh, Kilclonfert, Clonbullogue.

Kilclonfert is a typical small community. It doesn't have a village or centre as such though it has a Church and community centre. It doesn't have its own school but children from the area go to Cappagh, which is between them and Ballycommon.

It is one of the few clubs in Offaly with borders. The parish and county boundaries provide an automatic dividing line between them and St Brigid's and Tyrrellspass while officially sanctioned County Board borders separate them and Daingean and Ballycommon. These borders were wanted by both – for example Kilclonfert would not have survived if their best players could be cherry picked by a neighbour but equally, their neighbours did not want them dipping into their area.

Pictured above: Surviving members of the Kilclonfert 1938 Junior Football Championship winning team or their representatives after being presented with their medals in 1985. Front, left to right, Ted Brennan, Joe Boland, Joe Mangan, Michael Malone, Joe Mooney, John Smith, Peter Carey. Back, Noel Lenehan, John Dowling (Offaly GAA secretary), John Hanlon, Noel Galvin, Tom Reddy, Mrs Dan Scally, Paddy Brennan, Gerry Brennan, Frank Brennan, William Kirwan, Michael Smith, Michael McDonald.

For a brief time in the 1940s, there was a club in existence in the Kilclonfert catchment area called Ballylennon. The GAA was obviously very fragmented in the parish at that time. In 1943, Ballylennon were drawn in a junior football group alongside three other sides from the parish, Daingean and the long defunct Ballyglass and Mountlucas – Mountlucas did attempt to reform in 1978 but their application was rejected by the County Board in line with a long standing policy of not allowing new clubs to be formed in an area where the needs of players were catered for by an existing club.

Kilclonfert also played a pivotal part in one of Daingean parish's most celebrated clubs, St Coleman's. Formed in 1949, they were an amalgamation of Cappincur and Kilclonfert while they also included some players from the Kilmurray end of Ballycommon and they had great success for a brief few years. They won the Junior and Intermediate Football Championship in 1957 and 1958, going senior where they survived until 1964. Football was very strong in Daingean parish at the time. Players from Daingean featured on the first great Offaly football side, the 1960/1961 Leinster senior champions and Daingean won a famous Senior Football Championship in 1962, adding a second title in 1965.

Fr Denis Doran, a curate in Daingean parish, was the instigator of St Coleman's in 1949 – Fr Doran was actually the Offaly senior football manager in 1960/1961, though a lot of the credit was given to the Dublin trainer, Peter O'Reilly and the name of Fr Doran has been lost in the mists of time.

Pictured above: A great picture of a Kilclonfert minor football team from 1949. Front, left to right, Christy Owens, Larry Bolger, Tom Coffey, Pachal Connor, Mick Bolger, Billy Owens, Mick Kilroe, Greg Sullivan. Back, Matt Flynn, Tom Bermingham, Tim Mann, Paddy Campbell, Nicholas Sullivan, Mattie Smyth, Joe Daly, and standing to the right, Noel Lenehan.

Peter Carey, an Offaly footballer in 1960/1961 won junior and intermediate football medals with St Coleman's in 1957 and 1958, though he then switched to Daingean and was on their 1962/1965 title winning sides. Christy Owens, a Kilmurray man, also won medals in 1957 and 1958 and he was on the Offaly squad that won their first senior football title, the 1954 O'Byrne Cup.

St Coleman's went out of existence around the mid 1960s, with Cappincur reformed in 1971. The St Coleman's name, however, remained entrenched in parish folklore and was used for parish underage sides – they won U-21 football titles under the Coleman's banner in the 1981, 1984 and 1985, though the four clubs (Ballycommon, Cappincur, Daingean and Kilclonfert) opted for an entirely new name, St Vincent's when a united underage parish amalgamation was affiliated in 2001, winning three U-21 football titles in a row from 2014 to 2016.

Kilclonfert was not reformed until 1977 and after St Coleman's went, players from the area generally played with either Ballycommon or Daingean, and sometimes both in that era when players from a junior club could line out with the senior team in the parish.

When Kilclonfert re-affiliated in March 1977, they did so with a very specific border - Barnan Cross to Ballyowen Cross to the Westmeath border, including Ballylennon to the new school in Cappagh.

Their championship successes have been very rare. They won their first Junior Football Championship in 1938 and that win remained embedded on the psyche in the area for several decades. Incidentally, the medals for that win were not presented at the time and the surviving members or their representatives only got them in the 1980s – secretary John Dowling told a 1984 County Board meeting that their accounts only went back to 1948 and he couldn't solve the “crux” of whether they had been awarded medals or not in 1938. Delegates agreed to award medals then.

Those medals were presented at a memorable function in Daingean Town Hall in 1985

Kilclonfert won a second Junior Football Championship in 2004 and that was their best ever side. Managed by Laz Molloy of St Brigid's, that team went on to reach the Leinster club junior football final, creating a welter of excitement in the area, before losing to Ratoath of Meath.

Pictured above: The Kilclonfert squad that won the Junior Football Championship in 2004. Back L/R
Declan Kelly, Tom Kelly, James Sheeran, James Brennan, Fergal Becon, Shane Dunne, Jeff Scally, Alan Daly, Terry Brennan, Aidan Smith, Mark Weir, Neil Loughrey, Joe Moore.
Front L/R, Cathal Smith, Patrick Smith, Vinny Ryan, Dermott Becon, Ger Brennan-Capt, Enda Smith, Fergal Smith, Dan Daly, John Moore, James Clarke, Gary Smith, Gerry Donohue, Paul Lambe. Missing from photo is the injured David Kelly.

They competed well at intermediate level for a few years and after going back to junior, they were very competitive for a few years, reaching semi-finals or finals and were very close to going up again.

Then, they went into survival mode as the 2020s approached with emigration taking some of their best players away. The tragic death of one of their outstanding young talents, Adam Mangan in a farm accident in 2015 devastated the whole area while his brother Cathal went to Australia after featuring on the Offaly senior football panel – he has returned home and the club is hoping he will line out in this year's championship. Adam's memory is celebrated in a very popular U-15 intercounty football tournament each year, with the finals held in Kilclonfert.

One of their most iconic successes was a win in the Junior “B” Football Championship in 1990. For most clubs, a junior B win would not register on the radar and would be scarcely celebrated, outside of the group of players and their families.

That 1990 final, however, was a truly special occasion and showcased the GAA in all its glory. Kilclonfert defeated Tubber by 2-2 to 1-4 in the final and as the scoreline suggests, it was far from classic stuff. It was teak tough, no holds barred, red raw football and Kilclonfert's win was the signal for epic celebrations, lasting for weeks. The crowd at that final in Ballinamere was remarkable with the venue packed, the excitement palpable. It led to a row at a County Board meeting over a suggestion that the gate returns did not reflect the multitudes who attended but it was not a case of anything untoward happening – with cars being abandoned well away from the field and queues at gates with throw in time approaching, many supporters took short cuts across fields and in over fences.

Kilclonfert GAA Club have also developed terrific facilities with an impressive and very attractive playing field and dressing rooms while a community gym was provided in 2019. The pitch was obtained from the Irish Land Commission in the late 1950s and a lot of development has taken place in the past couple of decades.

While very much football territory, Kilclonfert also fielded a hurling team for some years. This was fielded in some of the years in the 1960s and 1970s when they did not have the numbers for their own football team. They were the only hurling team in Daingean parish at the time and thus could field players from all the clubs, with the result there there were only a small number of Kilclonfert players featuring.

This hurling connection resulted in the decision to invite Kilkenny hurling hero Henry Shefflin to Friday's dinner dance and it is hoped to finalise footballing guests this week.

Like most small clubs, families have played a central role in Kilclonfert over the years with third or fourth generations of some now emerging onto the scene. Names such as Kelly's, Roe's Mangan's, Brennan's, Harte's, Donoghue's, Seery's, Lenihan's, Hanlon's, Mann's, Smyth's, Beacon's and many more are synonymous with the area and these and many more are the reason Kilclonfert are still flying the flag.

The memories of the many deceased people who kept their shoulder to the wheel in every era will be celebrated at the dinner dance. It is always questionable territory to single out individuals when so many contributed but some come to mind instantly. The loss of Adam Mangan, not even in his prime when he died, still brings a tear to people in the area. At the other end of that spectrum, just a few months ago, a proud son of Kilcllonfert, Joe Kelly was buried after going the full distance – an uncle of Declan Kelly, Joe and his brothers Matt, Andy, Paddy and Camillus have contributed so much. Some of these moved out of the area and their children played with other clubs but Matt and Andy are still living there and some of their grandchildren are now emerging up through underage ranks in the Kilclonfert catchment area. A great character, Joe spent most of his life living in Ballycollin, between Killeigh, Geashill and Ballinagar and his son John played with Killeigh or Killeigh-Raheen but Kilclonfert remained close to his heart.

And in the middle of that spectrum of departed great gaels is another man who great memories are retained of, Michael Donoghue. Known fondly as Lar, he was a long time club secretary or chairman from the 1980s into the 2000s and his passion for his home club and county was infectious. In his early 60s and one of life's great characters, terrific company, Lar sadly died suddenly a few years ago and there are many more like him who will be mentioned on February 14 – Har Beacon, a real gentleman, is another of the many remembered with great fondness by those who had the pleasure of meeting him.

Pride of place goes to the championship winning teams of 1938, 1990 and 2004 and these are:

1938: Jack Flynn, William Kirwan, John Smyth, Mick McDonald, John Hanlon, Mick Fox, Peter Carey, Joe Mangan, Mick Smyth, Joe Boland, Dan Scally, Paddy Brennan, Frank Brennan, Ted Brennan, Matt Scully, Joe Mooney, John Brennan, Alo Malone, Tom Slevin.

1990 (team v Tubber in final): John Ford; Mossie Roe, Liam Kirwan, Tom Moore; Ger Brennan, Ignatius Harte, Sean Campbell; Kevin Quinn, Mick Seery; Michael Lenihan, Ray Brennan, Edmund Scully; Martin McCreanor, Ray Mangan, Gerry Donghue. Subs – Matt Kelly, Richard Mangan, Camillus Kelly, Martin Brickland, Vincent Donoghue, Arthur Hanlon, Christy Donoghue, Brendan Spillane, Mick Donoghue, Alo Seery.

2004: Declan Kelly, Tom Kelly, James Sheeran, James Brennan, Fergal Becon, Shane Dunne, Jeff Scally, Alan Daly, Terry Brennan, Aidan Smith, Mark Weir, Neil Loughrey, Joe Moore, Cathal Smith, Patrick Smith, Vinny Ryan, Dermott Becon, Ger Brennan-Capt, Enda Smith, Fergal Smith, Dan Daly, John Moore, James Clarke, Gary Smith, Gerry Donohue, Paul Lambe, David Kelly.

Tickets for the dinner dance have been selling very well and some are still available from club members or via their social media accounts.