Kilclonfert GAA celebrated for survival instinct as 100th anniversary of foundation marked in style

KILCLONFERT GAA Club were held up as a glowing example of how small clubs can survive and prosper in difference eras when they celebrated the 100^th anniversary of their foundation on Saturday night.

Over 200 members and friends gathered to acknowledge the landmark in style at a gala dinner dance in Tullamore's Bridge House.

Fergal, Mary, Syl, Mary Margaret and Cathal Smyth at the Kilclonfert GAA dinner dance

The main guests, Kilkenny hurling folk hero Henry Shefflin, Leinster Council chairman Derek Kent and Offaly GAA chairman Tom Parlon all spoke passionately about the important role small clubs such as Kilclonfert play in the overall well-being of the GAA – as well as the absolutely pivotal part they occupy in their own communities.

A small rural club with no village in Daingean parish, Kilclonfert was formed in 1924. They haven't been in existence for 100 years as they have had spells where they were gone, particularly in the 1950s and '60s, when they formed part of the famous St Coleman's amalgamation with Cappincur]. While that club went by the wayside in the mid 1960s, it was 1977 before Kilclonfert GAA was reformed and they have been there since then.

They are a typical small one team club, spending the majority of their existence in junior ranks and the pride that locals have in them is obvious. Apart from a brief spell in the 1970s when they catered for hurling in the wider Daingean parish, they have been a football only club and their rare successes have been celebrated with much greater enthusiasm than senior championships would be in some big clubs.

They have won just three championships, junior football in 1938 and 2004 and junior “B” in 1990. All three have central places in the Kilclonfert GAA pantheon. The 1938 champions were revered in the club for decades, famously only receiving their medals in the 1980s.

In some ways the 1938 champions deserve to be regarded as Kilclonfert's greatest ever side – junior was the second tier at that time and success earned promotion to senior.

In many other ways, that accolade belongs to the 2004 junior champions. Even though junior was Offaly's third tier at that stage, they went on to reach the Leinster junior football final, losing out to Meath's Ratoath as they began out on the road that led to them becoming Meath senior football champions in 2019, 2020 and 2022.

And in the middle of all that, a special place is reserved in the Kilclonfert GAA story for the 1990 junior B football champions. In most clubs, a junior B success would not register but in Kilclonfert, it unleashed a terrific outpouring of joy, weeks of celebrations in Seery's Pub in Daingean – owned by a famous Kilclonfert family and very much their local, where the banter with Daingean and Croghan (St Brigid's) neighbours is not for the faint-hearted – and other watering holes. It was their first title in just over six decades, a long famine even for a small junior club, and their final win over Tubber in Ballinamere was a truly special special occasion. Hundreds of supporters packed the Ballinamere venue, creating a magical atmosphere and as the 2-2 to 1-4 scoreline suggests, it was junior B football without frills, bells and whistles; it was red raw but a great win by a side full to the brim with characters and cherished people.

With all the 1938 members now deceased, the 1990 and 2004 champions were the recipients of special presentations on Saturday evening and were remembered with great fondness.

With master of ceremonies, Will O'Callaghan steering the formal part of the evening, the speakers were fulsome in their praise of Kilclonfert.

Club chairman Ger Brennan noted that it was the people who made the club “so special”, thanking all involved in their centenary celebrations and paying tribute to their successful teams.

He paid a special tribute to the memories of all deceased members, particularly three great men who died before their time in the modern era:

Lar Donoghue, a tremendous character and driving force behind the club as chairman and secretary for years from the 1980s into the 2000s;

Adam Mangan, a very talented young footballer and rugby player, who was tragically killed in a farm accident some years ago;

Bill Kavanagh, a Kilkenny native who married a member of a renowned local family, Geraldine Mann, served as club secretary and other roles and did trojan work in securing grants as well as being involved in the early stages of the centenary celebrations before getting ill.

Leinster GAA chairman Derek Kent spoke about demographics, noting that there are big urban clubs who get 6 to 7% of their population playing and small rural clubs like Kilclonfert who manage to get 50-70%.

“No doubt we have issues in demographics,” Mr Kent noted, revealing that there is a move towards changing the rule and allowing urban players to play with rural clubs. “That is where we have to go,” he declared. Without going into the specifics in how it would work and the control mechanisms that would have to be put in place, he did smile: “We will have to keep it simple”.

Mr Kent also paid a glowing tribute to Bill Kavanagh, a former Offaly Leinster Council delegate who he sat beside for a few years at meetings. “A great guy, great fun,” he remarked, talking about his work in securing grants for Kilclonfert.

Offaly GAA chairman Tom Parlon talked in a similar vein, revealing that he had drove through Kilclonfert for the first time that day. “It is a typical rural community, a bit like Coolderry, my own, other than we are an entire parish. It is wonderful that ye have stuck together. You are celebrating the good times and that is important but ye have had lean years as well and have great pride in your community.

“Every young fellow in Kilclonfert wants to play football. You mentioned the demographics. Tullamore has 15,500 people and are after having a good year but went 23 years without winning a senior championship (1977-2000), Edenderry have 9,500 people, Coolderry, my parish, has 1,600. Ye have 488 according to the census. Ye are the core of the GAA. I know ye got to a Leinster final and it is a bit of a quirk when you look at the population of any country. It is 50% male and 50% female but there are years when three quarters of the kids in a school in a parish can be girls and they have their own games. That can turn around again.”

The 2004 junior football manager, Laz Molloy gave a typically humorous outline of their year – from the neighbouring St Brigid's club in Croghan, he has strong family ties in Kilclonfert through his sister Mary Margaret Smyth and the children of her and Syl Smyth.

He recalled being approached by Lar Donoghue to manage them and having an aborted first training session when only eleven turned up before things took off. “They never looked back after that,” he reflected.

He recalled training sessions on Croghan Hill, their emphasis on hard work and fitness. “The lads never questioned why we were doing it and they performed brilliantly,” he said, speaking about their final win over Edenderry and the special celebrations before they embarked on their Leinster club run.

He recalled the performances of captain and current club chairman Ger Brennan in the final against Edenderry and midfielder, Tommy Kelly after being moved into full forward against the Dublin champions in Leinster.

Molloy was proud of the way they played against an emerging Ratoath in the Leinster final. “They gave a great account of themselves and they are a great bunch of lads,” he noted, joking about some of the rows the players had on the field at training.

He stated that Kilclonfert were no “flash in the pan”, staying at intermediate for ten years and going close to winning it on one occasion. He also spoke about the contribution Kilclonfert made to Offaly underage and senior sides over the years.

Henry Shefflin noted that Kilclonfert was one of four clubs in Daingean parish and how his own legendary club, Ballyhale Shamrocks took off after being founded just over fifty years ago (in 1972) as an amalgamation of three clubs, Ballyhale, Knocktopher and Knockmoylan.

He talked with passion about the unique place that a club like Kilclonfert plays in their area. “I know there are four clubs in the one parish here. We (Ballyhale Shamrocks) were a little bit different. We had that and we pulled three teams together to create Ballyhale Shamrocks. We were very fortunate but no different to yourselves, we had great families who backboned that tradition.

“We don't have anything now. We had loads of pubs, a post office, shops. Now we have one shop in the parish, one Church but the field is our goal. I am sure Tom and Derek would outline the whole social benefit of the GAA club and that is why we are celebrating here tonight. I know my default has always been back down to my club, down to the field, drive in there. I was Galway manager for the last few years and it was obviously very difficult because I was going all around Kilkenny, I was living there and my wife and my children are very much core Kilkenny people but any time I drove in the gates of Ballyhale, I felt like I was at home.”

Shefflin stated that he hasn't being doing dinner dances or club functions in a number of years but was instantly attracted when asked by Kilclonfert. “Clubs like this is what the GAA is all about,” he said, mentioning the support the GAA gives to families when tragedies do hit as has happened in Kilclonfert and him personally with the death of a brother – his brother Paul died suddenly while out running in 2022. “It is a wonderful occasion to be here and celebrating this night,” he said.

One of the greatest hurlers of all time, Shefflin was asked about his own very brief football career, recalling how he came on as a sub for Kilkenny in the Leinster Minor Football Championship, scoring 1-1, in a narrow defeat to Laois in the 1990s.

One of Kilclonfert's big claims to fame is that it is the home club of Offaly senior football joint manager, Declan Kelly, who managed Offaly to the 2021 All-Ireland U20 football title. A long serving Kilclonfert footballer in the 1990s and 2000s-2010s, Kelly usually played outfield for them, even though he played in goals for Offaly at minor, U21 and senior level.

A key player on the Kilclonfert 2004 team, Kelly recalled that they hadn't been training well for a few years before that but a lot of work took place under Laz Molloy on Croghan Hill in 2003. “We won the league at the end of that year and it probably gave a lot of lads a bit of belief. That was the start of it, when you win something it gives a bit of belief and the following year, we won in Offaly and got to the Leinster final. It was a great couple of years. They were great times.”

Kelly also spoke passionately about what Kilclonfert means to him. “It is what we grew up with, it is all we ever knew,” he said, recalling that him and Fergal Smyth were ball boys and helping out as young teens in 1990.

“That is where you start out and where you want to play football, it means a lot to the whole area,” he added. Noting that he isn't into a big media profile, he recalled that when asked to do a gathering for reporters before the 2021 All-Ireland U20 football final, he choose Kilclonfert as the location. “It was grand to come up that morning and have supporters and bits and pieces here. As they do in Kilclonfert, Josie (Beacon) and a few others were here and they put on a fierce spread for the reporters who came out. That is what it is all about at the end of the day,” he smiled.