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Club History

Castleknock Hurling and Football Club was formed in 1998. On the 9th of April a group of people interested in forming a new GAA club in the Dublin 15 area, held a meeting in Myo’s Pub in Castleknock village. In this and subsequent meetings it became apparent that there was a need for a new club, and a core group pressed ahead with applying for an affiliation to the Dublin County Board. A proposal document was drafted, other clubs were canvassed for their support, and finally after many tribulations our affiliation was accepted in July.

Training and team formation commenced. Numbers increased rapidly, and teams were prepared for the various leagues which started in September. The number of players and supporters continued to grow, and a period of phenomenal growth commenced. Today the club has thirty two teams ranging from under nine to adult. Hurling, Camogie, Gaelic football and Ladies Football are all catered for.

From the beginning certain sporting and democratic ideals were espoused. Chief among these are the following:
• All club members are to be treated with respect and fairness.
• The club will attempt to cater for all players, regardless of ability.
• Other teams and clubs are to receive the highest level of sportsmanship.

The club members have striven to achieve and maintain high standards. As a result, Castleknock Hurling and Football Club has a welcoming and friendly atmosphere, where the emphasis is on participation rather than competition. A network of friendships has been created, and a new sense of community is developing rapidly.

Spectacular 1st Year for New Club

By John Conway and Micheál Maher

“How a club was born” was the title of our article in DUBLIN 1999. It set out the background to the formation of Castleknock Hurling and Football Club in July 1998. Some perhaps thought it might just be a seven day wonder. One year on and the title of this year’s article speaks for itself because the Club has had a truly spectacular first year.

Before looking at some of the highlights of the year, here are some interesting facts on Castleknock :

• The Club caters for young people and adults living in the communities of Laurel Lodge, Carpenterstown, Porterstown, Luttrellstown and Clonsilla (South area).
• The population in the Club’s general catchment area is 6,000 and rising rapidly.
• Membership is now 350 youth/juvenile and 75 adult - from 50 in July 1998.
• The Club is represented by nine teams today from under 9 to under 16 (boys/girls) and by its Junior Football team.
• The Club has raised and spent £20,000 in its first 15 months through generous sponsorship from local business.

SUCCESS ON THE PITCH
Pride of place must go to the U11 and U10 football teams for bringing home the first silverware for the club in its debut year. The U11 team (managed by John O’Brien) won the North Dublin Juvenile League while the U10 team (under Ken O’Sé) won the Summer League.

MENTORS
There was a tremendous turnout for the Introductory Training Course for mentors in September. Twenty five parents and seven members of the junior football team attended the course - a record number of participants from one club. This high level of participation and commitment from our community augurs well for the future.

SOCIAL
The Club organised two very successful fund raising events in 1999 thanks to great work by Mick Lynch and Ken O’Sé. In March the Club held its first Race Night and the second annual Golf Classic took place in Westmanstown Golf Club in September. Both events were very successful fundraisers thanks to the generosity of the Club’s local sponsors.

CASTLEKNOCK BLITZED
The Club held a very successful football blitz in May 1999 with over 200 children participating. The arrival of Jayo and Mick Galvin to present the prizes created great excitement with the children.

A cracking hurling blitz was held on the morning of the All-Ireland Hurling Final for children aged six to eight (see the smiling faces in the attached photograph). This was followed by the Club hosting another football blitz for 120 children aged 10-12 on behalf of the Laurel Lodge Residents Association in September, which went down a treat. The Blitz was the first event in the Annual Festival Week of the Association and the Club was delighted to be asked to run it.

JUVENILE
In the 1998/99 season the Club entered three teams in the Dublin Juvenile leagues with much success. For the 1999/00 season the Club has entered 8 Juvenile Football teams for the new season. This reflects the phenomenal growth in the number of members and the tremendous work that has been done in the Nursery Section over the last twelve months.

A very special word of thanks is due to Park Developments for allowing the Club to use its grounds for our nursery players.

LADIES FOOTBALL
In recent months there has been a tremendous growth in the number of girls who have joined the Club. One in every five juvenile members are female and this allows us to build a real base in ladies football. The Girls U12 team is going from strength to strength under the watchful eyes of John Hillary, Geraldine Kennedy and Mags O’Brien. The U10 panel is taking shape thanks to great work by Frank Curley, Pat Convery and Geraldine Keogh. Highlight of the year for the female members was the attendance at Croke Park on Sunday 3rd October for the Bank of Ireland Ladies All-Ireland Football Final. Seventy seven of our players and their parents attended and a memorable day was had by all.

JUNIOR FOOTBALL
Many an eyebrow was raised when the fledgling club from Castleknock applied for a position in the Junior Football League. Mick Lynch and Fionan McDonagh have great ambitions for this team . When they saw the effort and enthusiam with which their charges tackled each training session they decided to go for broke and apply for Junior Five. Right through the year the Club stayed in contention for Cup and League honours and finished in the top five. This group of players and mentors, with their loyal band of supporters, have set a great standard of loyalty and commitment for future years. A special thanks to the Garda GAA Club for their very generous offer to allow the team the use of their excellent facilities at Westmanstown.

A CLUB WITH A FUTURE … WE NEED A HOME NOW
1999 has been a very successful first year for Castleknock. The Club will continue to build on its success and on its strengths into the new millenium. Clearly this is one of the fastest growing Clubs in the country. We are really thrilled with our progress to date and we have proven that we are here to stay.

We are ready now to take on our biggest challenge. We want a place we can call our own All of our playing and training facilities are loaned, leased or hired and the Club is actively seeking home grounds in the wider Castleknock area. Securing a home will be key to the long term success of the Club … and we have every confidence in that future.

Club Officers

2000 - Sustaining the Vision

The initial driving force for many a new club comes from a small group of committed people with the vision and energy to create something very special in their local community. Like any small organisation, they infuse it with an entrepreneurial spirit that treats obstacles and problems as challenges. Sheer enthusiasm and determination is the lifeblood of the new club.

Getting a solid foundation in place becomes the next real milestone. This is measured through numbers of players and teams and the provision of training facilities and pitches. It is evidenced in the community support for the new club; support from parents, from other local groups and from the business community. It is tangible in the form of jerseys and equipment for players and having mentors and transport for teams.

Keeping the show on the road after the initial burst of enthusiasm becomes the next challenge. “Mirable Dictu” (wonderful to relate - as they used to say in the old Latin texts about Caesar’s campaign in Gaul), we have had great success in sustaining the vision at Castleknock Hurling & Football Club. And keeping that vision in people’s minds means that we can keep ourselves focused on what is really important for the future of the Club.

No doubt there are many reasons why Castleknock has had this seamless transition to its next stage of development. But when you look behind the covers you can see that it comes down to the people in our community and to their real commitment to the Club. They continue to encourage their children to participate in Gaelic games, they are enthusiastic in mentoring our young players and they are generous with their time and financial support. It is really that sense of community that has been the mainstay of the Club and that will continue to be the foundation stone for its future growth and development.

The primary focus for the Club today, second only to its commitment to the games, is finding a permanent home in the form of its own pitches and changing rooms. The Club is very grateful to Garda Football Club, Park Developments and Fingal County Council for their continued support in allowing us to use their grounds. There is a real drive on now for the Club to have its own grounds. Although it is likely to be the biggest challenge for the Club yet, it will be tackled as such … another challenge.

Let’s take a look at some of Castleknock Hurling & Football Club’s achievements during 2000. It is these successes, some great and others less so, that symbolise the many facets of a thriving GAA club and help to make it so worthwhile for everybody involved.

The Club is fielding 19 teams for the 2000/2001 season. These include for the first time teams across all codes and sections - juvenile hurling and football, ladies football, camogie, junior football and junior hurling. And it is worth remembering that the Club started only its third competitive season last September.

At Juvenile level the Club had its first ever inter county representation. Both Lynsey Flood and Lorna Hillery were proud to be members of the Dublin Ladies Football team at under 14 level and were really delighted to make history as the Club’s first representatives in any code for the County.

One of the highlights of the year was the Club’s hosting of Béara Ladies Football under 14 team for the national Féile Peil na nÓg 2000 competition in July. The Béara team went on to win the National Division 2 title and returned to a rousing reception in Castleknock.

But the high point for the Ladies Football was the Under 14’s winning of the County Championship on their first attempt, a tremendous achievement. The Under 10’s had great success in reaching the County Final, in this their first year of competition.

The Under 12 hurlers had a great run in their league, but just could not clear the last hurdle and had to settle for the runner’s up position.

The Juvenile Committee was as active as ever. The annual summer blitz has become a high point in the early summer for the players and the Club’s summer camp activities have proved to be a real winner. This year, the Club catered for 270 youngsters in hurling and football summer camps which was no mean achievement. And the juvenile’s were rewarded for their endeavours with a very enjpyable trip to Killoe, Co Longford for a series of matches against the local opposition.

At adult level the Junior Football team really consolidated its place as one of the top teams in Division 5 and confirmed that it has the talent and potential to advance to higher levels. And for the first time, this year an adult hurling team has taken to the playing field in the Castleknock colours. Both teams have very committed players and mentors and with their terrific supporters they continue to set a great standard of loyalty and commitment that no doubt will lead to success in future years. Once again, a special thanks to the Garda GAA Club for their generosity in allowing both teams to use their excellent facilities at Westmanstown.

Fundraising and sponsorship are always important for the smooth running of any organisation. The Club is very grateful to have so many local benefactors that day-to-day finance has never been a real issue. But special mention must be made of the great efforts of Mick Lynch in organising the annual Golf Classic at Westmanstown in July. The Lotto team worked tirelessly to get the Club’s Lotto up and running. As with so many of the Club’s other initiatives, local support has been tremendous and has been key to making the Lotto a real success.

The new millennium was not all good news for Castleknock. Sadly, Father Cogan, Parish Priest at Porterstown and Club Patron passed away after a brave fight against illness. His leadership, enthusiasm and belief in the young people of the area will be missed by us all. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a ainm.

John Conway, Secretary

2001 - Growing up Fast

Three years old! For many people in the community, it feels like Castleknock Hurling & Football Club has been around for an awful lot longer. Twenty seven teams, 550 juvenile players and 130 adult members … the Club has grown up very fast since it was founded a short three years ago. It is now firmly established and very much at the heart of a vibrant and enthusiastic GAA community in West Dublin.

The Juvenile Section is really the engine room of the Club. We have made great strides in our games over the last year with a staggering twenty six teams up and running. It might not sound so wonderful if you compare statistics with the larger clubs. But to put it in perspective, our oldest teams are at Under 16 in girls and Under 14 in boys so there is lots of room to grow even more. This year saw a dramatic improvement in our performances with the boys 10, 11 and 12 competing in the “A” division and the 12s and 14s moving up a division.

Because of the absence of hurling leagues for 13s and younger last season, it is difficult to gauge our progress here. We managed to sustain their interest in the game through our contacts with other clubs, both inside and outside the county. However, we are proud of the fact that most of our juveniles are dual players and we give every encouragement to them to improve at the hurling. We are looking forward to competing again competitively this Spring. The DCU indoor hurling leagues have been a great foundation for sustaining interest in the game this year.

The commitment of our mentors and parents is second to none. Not only do we have tremendous support for running teams, it is also there in abundance from the sideline. Mentor’s commitment is further underlined by the fact that our youngsters are brought to five different indoor training facilities around Castleknock during the winter months and we play “home” matches as far afield as Island Bridge (our thanks to Civil Service for allowing us the use of their grounds).

Other notable achievements in 2001 were the summer camps with 120 participating in hurling and 170 in football. They don’t come much bigger. Lynsey Flood and Rory Corcoran represented the Club at the Dublin Super Camp. Working with our friends from Birr GAA Club, we created the Castleknock Birr Perpetual Trophy (the Kevin Hogan Trophy was just pipped in the competition for the name). Six hurling and football teams competed on the day and the cup travelled back to Dublin to its rightful home and its first (cola) christening.

The ladies section continued to flourish during the year both in camogie and football. We registered 120 girls and fielded 8 teams, including a second camogie team, in the Dublin leagues and championships. The U11 team is poised to be runners-up in the league - a great achievement in their very first year.

In football, the Under 10A team won the shield competition. The Under 14 team won their division of the league and the Under 16 team were runners up in their league.

We had a number of representatives at intercounty level. Lynsey Flood and Lorna Hillery were members of the Dublin Under 14 team that won both the Leinster championship and Leinster Blitz. Emma Bates, Laura Prunty, Rachael Flemming Louise Mahony & Aisling O’Brien made it to Dublin representative panels. John Kilkenny and John Hillery were part of the management team for the Dublin Under 14 camogie and football panels respectively.

The Junior Football Team did us proud in Division four this year. Unfortunately, an early exit from the Championship and a dearth of league games during the summer months led to a loss of form in the latter half of the year. Promotion to a higher division is still on the cards.

The Club held its first formal dinner for members and friends in November. It was a sell out event (all 300 tickets were snapped up). We were all looking forward to Mick Lynch and Charlie Spillane doing a duet on stage for the night when Diarmuid O’Leary (of the Bards) was stricken by a nasty bug. However, that other ageless man, Dickie Rock, stepped in at a moment’s notice (and spared some blushes) and a tremendous night was had by all.

And finally, our aim for 2002 … a pitch of our own. The dream lives on!