Kilbrin eyeing Croke Park visit later in year
THE escalating coronavirus outbreak has impacted Kilbrin GAA hopes of a planned game in Croke Park during April that’s sure to be rescheduled at a future date. That opportunity came about after the GAA significantly enhanced the prize pool to its National Club Draw with the added incentive of winning the chance for a club to play on the hallowed turf of Croke Park.
A Duhallow club came good, Kilbrin first out and afforded the opportunity to play in Croker against a team of their choice. Many months of preparation were undertaken by Kilbrin GAA, looking forward to Sunday, April 21 and a meeting against Cú Chulainns of London.
However the unfortunate turn of events in the Corona virus epidemic suspended all matches and group training that nobody could realistically had legislated for.
Kilbrin GAA Chairperson Margaret O’Callaghan is disappointed at the turn of events yet commended the GAA for its handling of the virus at national and local level.
“The initial call to suspend all GAA activity was the correct one, the wider community is the most important aspect in the current situation, football and hurling has to play second fiddle at the current time,” she said.
“In the circumstances, we wrote to Croke Park and Cú Chulainns to cancel the intended fixture. That has proved a wise move but fingers are crossed that the visit to Croke Park will be re-scheduled for later in the year,” she said.
The purpose of the GAA National Club Draw is to assist clubs in their drive to raise much needed funds allowing clubs such as Kilbrin an opportunity to raise funds to develop and promote Gaelic games.
“We ‘re indebted to the support of the community that have continuously supported the club and that’s reflected on our ongoing development of facilities,” said the Chairperson.
Kilbrin had the honour of naming their opponents for the attractive staging, no surprise that Cú Chulainns of London were selected. There is close family ties between the two clubs, Margaret’s
brother, Michael Biggane from Tullylease is Cú Chulainns Club President and former Kilbrin player Joe Cashman currently occupies the position of club Chairman.
“Another Kilbrin native Ted O’Mahony moved to London, got into the pub trade and his premises became a meeting place for Duhallow natives with players joining Cuchulainns from Kilbrin, Castlemagner, Freemount, Kanturk, Lismire and Tullylease,” said Margaret.
Over the years, familiar faces from Kilbrin such as Cashman, Tom Brennan, Michael Dennehy, Noel O’Callaghan, David O’Sullivan, Johnny Sheahan, Seán Field, Tadgh McMahon and others have lined out with Cú Chulainns.
And when the opportunity arose, Cú Chulainns were quick to volunteer their services to provide opposition to Kilbrin for the Croke Park staging.
Club Chairman Joe Cashman got down to business, penning a letter to his native club, highlighting Cú Chulainns’s strong and numerous links to Cork, Kilbrin and the Duhallow region that go back to the East London club’s formation and it remains to the current day.
Cú Chulainns is one of the oldest GAA clubs in London with a proud and competitive history, the club was originally founded in 1932 as a hurling base by Cork men who had emigrated to London. They were joined during 1934 by new arrivals mainly from Beara who helped found a football team in the club.
“We have proudly remained one of only a handful of dual clubs in London and over the years, many men and women from Cork have been key to the club going with their efforts. People who arrived in London, their first point of call on arrival was to seek out compatriots from their local area and soon they were wearing the red and white of Cú Chulainns,” said Joe.
Cashman is delighted to see Cú Chulainns retain close connections to Cork, players in their ranks from across Duhallow, Kinsale, Ballymartle, Courcey Rovers, Clonakilty, St. Marys, Glen Rovers, Ballyhea and Mallow.
“Not a lot of players get to play at Croke Park, there’s people who
played GAA their entire lives who didn’t get the opportunity to play at the venue. It’s not going to be like an All Ireland final day, but it’s a great opportunity for players to experience it and something to say that we did,” said a thrilled Joe.
Kilbrin Chairperson Margaret O’Callaghan outlined many months of hard work had gone into the staging to a fixture that had prominent Clare referee and former Kilbrin player Wayne King confirmed as big match referee.
“Cú Chulainns GAA had flights and hotels booked for its party of players and officials, we were ensuring everybody from U6 to over 80 from Kilbrin would sample Croke Park. Outside of the game, it was going to be a Kilbrin club occasion with a number of events planned in conjunction with the Croke Park visit”.
“For now, that’s deferred as the current focus is no longer on the action on the field but fighting off the virus. The hope is normality will return, gaelic games and events in our communities will once again consume our lives in the near future,” said Margaret.