Tipperary Club Focus - Golden Kilfeacle GAA Club

In the next of our monthly club focus articles, we are in West Tipperary as we take a visit to Golden Kilfeacle GAA Club:

Club Name: Golden Kilfeacle GAA Club
Address: Mantlehill Great, Golden, Co. Tipperary
Eircode: E25 A337
Hurling: Intermediate
Football: Intermediate
Club colours: Green and White
Club Referees: Mark Jordan, Sean O’Halloran

Senior Club officers:

Chairman: Brian Leamy 087-7975044
Secretary: John Currivan 086-1579918 email: secretary.goldenkilfeacle.tipperary@gaa.ie
Treasurer: Michael Stapleton 085-7117339
P.R.O: PJ Collins 087-3144005 email: pro.goldenkilfeacle.tipperary@gaa.ie

Juvenile Club Officers:

Chairman: Jamie Currivan 086-8468724
Vice Chairman: John Landers 087-2233481
Secretary: Jack Currivan 083-8219382 email: secretarybng.goldenkilfeacle.tipperary@gaa.ie
Secretary: Trish Fogarty 087-9524283

Ladies Football Club Officers:

Chairperson: Stuart Agar 083-4397015
Secretary: Breda O’Toole 086-8200181
Treasurer: Declan Donnelly 087-6227225
PRO: Niall White 087-8517820

Club Social Media details:

Twitter: @GoldenKilfeacle
Facebook: Golden Kilfeacle GAA
Instagram: Golden Kilfeacle GAA Club
Website: www.goldenkilfeaclegaa.com
Lotto: CLICK HERE
Onlins Shop: CLICK HERE

Brief History of Club

Golden Kilfeacle GAA Club is located in the heart of the Golden Vale, situated between the towns of Cashel and Tipperary in the West Division. Official records say that the Golden side of the club was formed in 1885 and played under the name of the “Golden Fontenoys”. However, the Cashel Senitel of 29 June 1880 reported that the Golden Fontenoys had played Two Mile Borris in a football match in Moycarkey, which seems to indicate an earlier date. The Kilfeacle part of the club was founded in 1887 and played as Kilfeacle. Both played as separate clubs until 1946, when an appeal was made by Reverend Father Lynch to unite as one club for the parish, under the name Golden Kilfeacle. In the early years, the club had no field and depended on the generosity of local landowners.

In 1935, it came as a great relief when the land commission allocated five acres of land in Golden Village to the GAA so that they could develop their own field. Because this was ordinary grazing land, it required a huge effort and a lot of ploughing, levelling, tilling, shovel and spade work by a large number of volunteers, to arrive at a surface that games could be played on.

In 1957, the club decided that the field required major improvement, so a small committee was set up to carry out fundraising and it was decided to plough the field and sow a crop of wheat to raise vital development funds. The harvest turned out to be very profitable and in 1958 some heavy machinery was bought in, the field was levelled, and any surplus clay was used to make banks for standing accommodation.

In 1959, Morty O’Connell, helped by his big grey horse Billy, re-seeded the fieldwith a special grass seed. An L shaped wall was built around the field by Con Ryan and railway sleepers were purchased and used as side line seating. In 1960, the field was blessed and re-opened with the playing of the West Senior Hurling Final.

Club Success – Senior

On the playing field the club has had much success down through the years. The highlight was winning West Senior Hurling titles in 1969 and 1972. In 1995, the club won its first County Hurling title at adult level, with the Intermediate team beating Cahir in the County Final. This was followed in 1998 by the Under 21 hurlers beating Toomevara in the County Under 21A Final. The club also had success at football, when a County Junior A football title was won in 1979, Intermediate football in 1982 and County Under 21B football titles in 1995 and 2007.

Club Success – Juvenile

The Juvenile club was administrated by the Senior club in the early years and had much success, the highlight being the winning of County U15 hurling titles in 1952, 1953 and 1954. In the early eighties, it was decided to set up a separate juvenile club, who would run all juvenile affairs. Many trophies have been won over the years, with West titles at all age groups.

More recently, achievements include a County Under 12 hurling title in 2015, a County Under 16 hurling title in 2018 (combination with Galtee Rovers), the 2021 Under 17 County League Football title and the 2021 County Under 17B football title, which was the first time it had been won in the club’s history. The club hosted Camross, Co. Laois in the 2016 hurling Feile and were participants in the Mullinahone Ground hurling festival for many years, reaching the final on several occasions.

Club Success – Ladies Football

Since its formation in 2018, the Golden Kilfeacle Ladies Football club has gone from strength to strength, now fielding teams in every age group from Under 6 up to and including a junior team at adult level. There was great joy in 2020, when the Under 12 team won the club’s first County title, beating Ballina in the final.

Club Development

In 1982 the club decided to erect dressing rooms, a tennis court, and a handball /racquetball alley. A small committee was set up under the chairmanship of Con Cash and they decided to raffle a Toyota Starlet to help raise funds for same. They travelled the length and breadth of the country selling tickets for £1 and when all expenses were paid, they had a very healthy profit of £25,000.

In the early nineties, in conjunction with the Tipperary football board, lights were erected in the field, and a spectator stand put in place in 2001. In 2005, a decision was made to upgrade the dressing room, to build public toilets and a referee’s room. As it happened, this coincided with the parish deciding to build a new hall in Golden.

Both parties came together, and the parish agreed to back the GAA development, provided a new hall was included in the GAA Club’s plans. This led to the excellent facilities we have today, which includes Rejuvenate gym. The next plan for the club in the coming years is to develop a full size, fully lit second playing field. Fundraising will be needed for same, and we are open to any new suggestions!

Club Fundraising

The club has three main fundraisers, namely the weekly local lotto, the County Board Draw and Bingo, which takes place every Thursday night in the GAA Hall, and has a total prize fund of over €2,000. Our local lotto tickets can be purchased online, in the local shops, public houses and Post Office or from our many sellers. During the pandemic, the club held Drive-In Bingos, which proved to be a hugely popular at a time when it was very difficult to fundraise. The Club hope to hold run further Drive-In Bingos throughout the summer months of 2022.

The club has held many fundraising events throughout the years including an annual festival, tea-parties, fashion shows, Strictly Come Dancing, Lip-Synch, concerts by bands/artists such as Aslan, The High Kings and country music stars such as Johnny Brady, Jimmy Buckley, and Cliona Hagan. During the pandemic the “Keep it Moving” challenge raised much needed funds for many local charity organisations.