History of Camogie in Kill (Kildare) GAA Club

History of Camogie in Kill (Kildare) GAA Club

By Martina Behan, 3/10/2021

In 1939 Kildare qualified for the Leinster Camogie Final when they were beaten 3-2 to 2-2 by Dublin. A match that was hosted by Kill GAA and took place in a field behind the church where the dual carriageway now runs. We would like to think that this sparked an interest in the girls locally to play Camogie.

Camogie was played in Kill from the 1950’s to the early 1960’s. Kill Camogie team have the club’s sole Senior Championship title, winning the 1957 championship (Picture of this Team above).

Unfortunately, Camogie stopped in the 1960’s and started again in 1998 when a team was entered in the Cumann na Bun Scoil League. The talent grew again, and Camogie was once again being played in Kill GAA Club from the year 2000. There were great celebrations in 2004, when Kill School won Division 1 in the Cumann na Bun Scoil League.

It took another year (2005) for the Senior team to be developed, this was mainly due to Marie Cullen who gathered up all girls that played in secondary school in the 1980/1990, She encouraged women who moved into the village to come and train also. All of this along with the Underage players who were now coming up the ranks resulted in a very strong team in no time. Long standing relationships have blossomed from this and are still strong today. And for this we would like to thank Marie for all her hard work, and she is still currently involved with our underage groups now.

Our Camogie section went from strength to strength. They completed a League & Championship Double in 2018, winning the Division 2 League Final versus Cappagh GAA & Intermediate Championship final versus a Rathcoffey/Straffan amalgamation.

History was made by Kill Camogie Team, when on October 14^th, 2018 our Senior Team qualified to play Kilmessan (Meath) in the AIB Leinster Camogie Junior Club Championship Semi-Final. The result did not go our way, but our girls gained experience and lessons for life. It was an experience we hope to achieve again.

We are proud to say that both Underage and Senior girls have been on the Kildare panel throughout the years.

Camogie is still very strong in our club at present and our numbers are increasing in the underage groups which is making our future look very bright.

At present our age groups are as follows (as of 3rd October 2021):

U8, U10, U11, U12, U13, U14 (Kill/Kilcullen amalgamation), U15 (Kill/Kilcullen amalgamation), U16, U17(Kill/Kilcullen amalgamation), Senior Team.

Camogie in Kill would not exist without the support of the wider Club, the Executive and in particular the LGFA section and this working relationship between our Camogie and LGFA has allowed both codes to grow and succeed here at Kill GAA Club.

ROLL OF HONOUR

Senior