Maynooth GAA
Máigh Núad | |||||||||||||
Founded: | 1887 | ||||||||||||
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County: | Kildare | ||||||||||||
Colours: | Black and White | ||||||||||||
Grounds: | Moyglare Road, Maynooth | ||||||||||||
Coordinates: | 53°23′17″N 6°35′56″W / 53.387987°N 6.598878°WCoordinates: 53°23′17″N 6°35′56″W / 53.387987°N 6.598878°W | ||||||||||||
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Senior Club Championships | |||||||||||||
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Maynooth GAA (Irish: Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Máigh Núad) is a Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. It caters for the sporting and social needs of the residential areas adjacent to its location for all ages through the promotion of Gaelic games — Gaelic football, hurling, camogie and handball.
Maynooth are the winners of two county senior football championships in 1896 and 1913 and two senior hurling championships in 1937 and 1939. Sarah Skelton was regarded as one of the best players in the game in the 2000s and played on the international team that played England at Stamford Bridge in 2006.
History
Maynooth is one of the oldest clubs in the country and hurling was first played as far back as 1875, nine years before the founding of the GAA in 1884.[1] Maynooth traditionally wearing green, orange and black, were recorded as playing Straffan on 13 March 1887, a game that may not have been the first between the teams. Maynooth were semi-finalists in the very first championship, and won their first Kildare Championship in 1896. The team captain that year was Domhnall ua Buachalla, who subsequently took part in the 1916 rising and afterwards was sent to Knitsford Jail and Frangoch Camp. He was elected to the first Dail in 1918 and he was the last Governor-General of Ireland.
The Maynooth club jersey (black and a white sash) originated from a tragic accident in 1889. A young Maynooth player, Thomas Cullen died after an accidental blow to the head playing against Monastrevin. At the time Maynooth had played 70 matches against teams from Dublin, Louth, Meath, and Kildare, and lost only ten of them. RIC records from 1890 show that Maynooth had 83 members, with officers listed as Con Buckley, James Gill, William Flood and Pat Gorman. Maynooth opened their grounds on the Moyglare Road in 1966.
The motto Crom Abu originated from the war cry of the Fitzgerald family. Croom is a castle in Co. Limerick which formerly belonged to the FitzGeralds. "Abfi" means 'to victory', 'for ever' or literally 'defying' . This is one of the many Irish gathering cries, the use of which was forbidden by reperated Acts of Parliament. The Geraldines of Maynooth retained the motto but were forced by an Act of Parliament to change the motto to "Si Dieu plet Crom Abu". Maynooth GAA have retained the original version which means:- Maynooth to Victory.
Gaelic Football
The Men's Football Team currently compete in the Kildare Senior Championship and in Division Two of the Senior League.
Maynooth lost a replayed final against Clane in 1895 and won their first championship under captain William Reilly in a one-sided final against Sallins in 1896. On 30 May 1897, Crom-Abu footballers represented Kildare against Dublin's Young Irelands in the Leinster final and put up one of the finest Kildare performances of the pre-1903 period before losing by four points, 1–12 to 2–13. They lost the 1897 county final on objection to Clane. Maynooth became the first team to win Junior and Senior honours in successive years, in 1912 and 1913. Maynooth beat Kilcock 0–3 to 0–2 on the field of play and by one vote in the council chamber when an objection and counter objection were heard. They won the junior championship with a replay win over Castledermot. Dan Buckley's Maynooth side won 1947 Junior and 1948 Intermediate titles to compete at senior again. Maynooth won the Intermediate Championship in 1999 with a replayed victory over St Kevins. Following one season in Senior Football Maynooth defeated St Kevins again in 2005 (1–11 to 0–04) to win the Intermediate Championship in Newbridge.
The Club's Senior 'B' Team won the Division 4 League Title in 2008, adding to the Senior 'B' Championship win in 2007. 2009 was a successful year as Maynooth reclaimed their Senior status with victory in the Intermediate championship final over Kilcullen. The team continued their winning ways and claimed a first ever provincial title by defeating Tubberclair (Westmeath) in the same year.
Hurling
Maynooth withdrew from the 1888 county final because they were too tired from playing a semi-final the same afternoon. They were county finalists again in 1903. Jack Maguire and Lar Keely won Leinster junior medals with Kildare in 1905. They beat Clane on objection to win the county championship of 1913. Seamus Bourke won a Leinster junior medal with Kildare in 1935. Bourke, Peter Delaney, Joe Murphy, and Mick Sullivan starred in the Maynooth team that won the Kildare SH championship of 1937. Maynooth won back the championship in 1939 after beating Curragh in a semi-final that had to be postponed twice and Broadford in a final that pitted members of the Bourke family against each other. Peter Delaney and Donal Buckley featured on Kildare's championship winning teams of the 1950s. Maynooth won the Intermediate Hurling Championship in 1999, a double championship winning year, as the club's footballer's also won the Intermediate Championship. 2009 was another successful year for the club's hurlers as they regained senior status by winning the Intermediate Championship in October, setting up the chance of a double championship year for the club.
Honours
- Kildare Senior Football Championship winners 1896, 1913.
- Kildare Senior Hurling Championship winners 1937, 1939.
- Senior Football league 1934.
- Leinster Senior Football finalists 1896.
- Leinster Intermediate Football winners 2009
- Kildare Intermediate Football Championship 1948, 1999, 2005, 2009.
- Kildare Intermediate B Football Champions 1999
- Intermediate Hurling Champions 1999, 2009, 2011, 2012.
- Intermediate Football League 1954, 1955.
- Senior B Football Champions 2007.
- Junior Football Champions 1912, 1947, 1995.
- Leinster Senior Hurling League Division 3 2015
- Leinster Senior Hurling League Division 4 2016
- All Ireland finalists Scor na nÓg 2006 (Rince Foirne)
- Leinster Champions Scor na nÓg 2006 (Rince Foirne)
- All Ireland finalists Scor na nÓg 2009 (Rince Foirne)
- Leinster Champions Scor na nÓg 2009 (Rince Foirne)
- All Ireland winners Scor Sinsear 2009 (Rince Foirne)
- Leinster Champions Scor Sinsear 2009 (Rince Foirne)
- Leinster Champions Scor na nÓg 2013 (Tráth na gceist)
- Leinster Champions Scor na nÓg 2013 (Rince Foirne)
Bibliography
- Maynooth GAA Club History, 1966.
- 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.