Celbridge GAA
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| Founded: | 1885 | ||||||||||||||||
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| County: | Kildare | ||||||||||||||||
| Colours: | Blue & White Alternate: Red & Black | ||||||||||||||||
| Grounds: | Hazelhatch Road, Celbridge. | ||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates: | 53°19′39″N 6°31′32″W / 53.327413°N 6.525570°WCoordinates: 53°19′39″N 6°31′32″W / 53.327413°N 6.525570°W | ||||||||||||||||
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Celbridge is a Gaelic Athletic Association club in Celbridge, County Kildare, Republic of Ireland. They were awarded Kildare GAA club of the year in 2008, winners of the Kildare senior football championship of 2008, finalists in the senior football league of 1923, 1988 and 2008 and won the Kildare senior hurling and camogie championships in 2005. The Club have several honours at underage in all three codes, qualifying for national finals in football, hurling and camogie at the 2008 Féile and winning the county under-14 football Féile final for the first time.
Celbridge GAA club was formed in July 1885, less than a year after the G.A.A. was founded in Thurles in November 1884. Initially an athletics club, Celbridge G.A.A., under its first Chairman, William Gogarty, hosted a sports meeting on 15 August 1885. According to The Leinster Leader the event was "a decided success". Celbridge G.A.A. Club was the third G.A.A. club to be founded in Kildare and, by 1890, two clubs from the district were competing in Championship football. These were Hazelhatch Harpers, based in the vicinity of the railway station and Celbridge Shamrocks, based in Ballygoran. Around the turn of the century, Hazelhatch Harpers moved to the Dublin Championship competitions and a team listed simply as Celbridge were affiliated to the Kildare County Board. In the early years of the 20th century Celbridge fielded both hurling and football tearns. The 1906 hurlers, who defeated Clane in the county final, included many surnames still familiar in club circles - E. King, J.McGrath, P. Donovan.Celbridge Senior hurlers won the 1921 Championship in May 1923 - the time lapse being due to the political unrest of the civil war era. The star of the day was the irrepressible Owen "Skipper" Murphy, an outstanding performer throughout his playing career, which stretched to the early fifties, in both football and hurling. The high point of the club's history in the thirties was the victory of Intermediate Football Championship. - again under "Skipper" Murphy.In the mid forties an attempt to purchase a field, rented by the club, close to the site of the Setanta Hotel failed. A change of ownership of the field eventually led to a court order to the club to quit the pitch. Costs were awarded against a number of club members and bailiffs impounded cattle and hay, the property of one club member, until the costs were paid (by the County Board!).The question of a pitch continued to be a vexed one and, over the years, the club moved from rented pitch to rented pitch, until the pre- sent pitch was purchased in the late eighties. Camogie was introduced to the club in 1953 and blossomed in the fifties and early sixties with the club winning a Championship and a number of members playing on the county team. Over the years Celbridge, like all clubs, won and lost finals and the hurling, football and camogie teams provided a valuable focal point for all in the community. By the mid seventies the village of Celbridge began to expand rapidly. This expansion brought newcomers to the village from literally every county in Ireland. By the mid-eighties the newcomers had become involved in club teams and activities and the under-age section began to thrive. At this time also the club won championship titles at both Junior and Intermediate levels. In the early nineties a new executive committee began the mammoth task of raising funds to build the present club house - and by 1995 the dream had become a reality. The clubhouse offers a great focal point for members, young and old, to gather and socialise. As the millennium draws to a close the recent performances of our under-age teams promise a very healthy future for the club in hurling, football and camogie in all grades. [www.celbridgegaa.com]
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