![]() A young Colin O’Shea played centre-back that day in 2008, although it was an unhappy occasion with the local side pretty much home and hosed by half time. I had vague memories of being there years ago to see Milltown play the local club and sure enough the record books told me I was right. I ventured to Rochfortbridge on Saturday. Best of luck to Leixlip and Naas in those. That has never happened before and there could be more to come with our two hurling sides in semi-finals next weekend. Perhaps it is simply a quirk of fate, a statistical anomaly, but I saw a tweet at the weekend that confirmed my thinking that this has been a truly extraordinary autumn for Kildare clubs with all three of our football champions reaching the provincial final. Naas hurlers equalled that feat in 2022 with their break-through Intermediate win. The House remain the only team to reach an All Ireland final across the three grades in football, famously winning the Junior crown in a goalfest against Fuerty in 2014. If it wasn’t for the behemoth of Kilmacud Crokes blocking their Leinster path they might already have at least one Leinster to their name.Īt Intermediate level, we have had winners in Confey, Maynooth, Monasterevan and the aforementioned Two Mile House, the latter also joining Sallins as Junior champions. Moorefield were the benchmark and now Naas are raising standards across the entire county as teams strive to reach their level. Slowly but surely, though, and contrary to my own concerns about the quality of Kildare club competitions this year, our teams have been making a mark. ![]() In the first 27 years of the senior grade, only Raheens in 1981, made it “all” the way to a Leinster final while Moorefield (twice) are the only ones to crash through the glass window and win the damn thing. If you are scratching your head to identify the counties of those clubs above we have helpfully added them at the end of this column.Īs is our way, Kildare teams have not exactly pulled up a million trees when it comes to success in these competitions over the years. How many outside of Kildare had heard of Two Mile House before their exploits in 2013? Who would otherwise have heard of the likes of Drumgoon, Duagh, Derrytresk, Canovee or Rathgarogue-Cushinstown, all of whom have contested Junior All Ireland Finals since the turn of the millenium? Few beyond their own counties and perhaps in some cases few from inside their own counties. Why don’t we mirror the tiered competitions at county level and introduce provincial and All Ireland competitions at Intermediate and Junior? Genius. However, for all that, the odd bright idea emerges from the muddied thinking.įor almost thirty years from 1970 onwards, the senior clubs of the country competed for the elite title of All Ireland champions.Įventually, a light bulb moment occurred in Croke Park, or more likely in some small GAA-mad parish in Ireland. ![]() Electing to squeeze your primary annual competitions into the clogged April to July sporting window was another brainwave that might appear eccentrically counter-intuitive. ![]()
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