Cill na Martra v Kiskeam: Cork GAA Jersey Wars semi-final
Cork GAA Jersey Wars: Cill na Martra v Kiskeam.
WE want to know what your favourite GAA geansaí is.
From here until Saturday, your votes will decide the best design in our Cork GAA Jersey Wars competition.
Our resident jersey expert Denis Hurley compiled a list of 32 clubs, based on those involved in the senior tiers and a selection of wild cards. We put them in alphabetical order and paired them up and we're now down to the last four stage.
Full details of the competition are here.
Voting will run from 8am each day for 24 hours on the link below:
ACCORDING to Cill na Martra’s own history, the recorded victory of the club occurred in 1887, back when football was a 21-a-side game, as Ballinagree were beaten.
Initially, the jerseys worn were similar to Sarsfields, blue with a white hoop, and this was the kit used in Mid-Cork junior football final defeats in 1938, 1958 and 1964. However, with fellow Muskerry clubs Naomh Abán, Aghinagh, Clondrohid and Gleann na Laoi all having predominantly blue jerseys, it was decided in the late 1960s that Cill na Martra – generally styled as the anglicised ‘Kilnamartyra’ in newspaper reports at the time – would wear white jerseys with blue trim instead.
While the club did well in the GAA’s cultural competition Scór, on the field they were in the lower reaches in Muskerry but the late 1970s brought a resurgence with more success at underage levels feeding into a stronger junior team.
They reached the county on the latter occasion and, while they lost out to Carbery Rangers, restructuring of the intermediate grades meant that they were promoted, too.
With county minor C title wins in 1999 and 2004 providing strong players for adult level, Cill na Martra reached the IFC final in 2009 but were unlucky to lose out to Carbery. However, another minor win came in 2013 while there was a county U21B win in 2015, four years after defeat in the final.
The manager of that team, Caoimhín Ó Súilleabháin, had taken over the intermediate side and, at the outset of 2018, their record for the previous four years read semi-final, quarter-final replay, semi-final, semi-final. The pedigree was there, it was just a matter of taking the extra few steps to glory. Aiding them in terms of preparation was the fact victory in Division 2 of the county football league in 2017 had earned them a place in the top flight, with regular clashes against the top sides.
Ballinora, Glanworth (after a replay), Millstreet and Mitchelstown were all seen off as they reached the final, with Muskerry rivals Aghabullogue opposing them. While a bright Cill na Martra start was wiped out as they conceded a goal to fall 1-3 to 0-5 behind after 20 minutes, the response was strong as they reeled off 1-11 without reply, going on to triumph by 2-17 to 1-10.
Captain Graham Ó Mocháin delivered his entire speech as Gaeilge, while sponsors Cygnum were no doubt delighted with the exposure they received. The timber-frame construction firm still have their name emblazoned on the club’s jerseys.
While colour-clashes are rarer than when the shirt was mainly blue, they do occur, as against Bandon and Knocknagree in recent times. For such eventualities, there is a grey alternative jersey.
IT'S perhaps unsurprising that the New Zealand rugby team should provide the inspiration for Kiskeam’s colours, though for the first 20 years of the club’s existence, they lined out in a blue jersey with yellow sash.
Founded in the mid-1940s, Kiskeam did win the Duhallow novice title in 1947 but otherwise success was hard to come by for the club situated close to the Cork/Kerry border.
Having reached the 1960 Duhallow junior final, Kiskeam enjoyed an eight-point lead over Castlemagner at one stage but lost out and then, following a heavy defeat to the same opposition in 1963, one Kiskeam player walking off the field suggested that the blue and yellow jerseys should be burned.
Whether or not the garments met such a fiery fate is unknown, but what is certain is they were not seen again as the colours were replaced. Prior to the start of the 1964 season, a change was afoot, as then-club treasurer and current president John P Murphy told John Tarrant in 2020.
“It came up at a club meeting,” he said.
The transformation in fortunes was immediate as the club won the Duhallow title for the first time in 1964 and went all the way to county glory. A period competing at intermediate level followed and, while they did drop back to junior, the 1990s saw them regularly challenging for divisional honours.
In 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2000, they won the Duhallow junior football title, reaching the county final in 1994, 1997 and 2000, while there were divisional final losses in 1991 and 1995. Eventually, they went all the way in the county in 2002 – reaching the Munster club final – and when the intermediate grade was split in two for 2006, Kiskeam were placed in the new premier intermediate championship.
Ten years later was to prove to be a memorable one, as the club achieved a place in the senior championship with victory in the PIFC. After a first-round defeat to Na Piarsaigh, Kiskeam regrouped with wins over Castletownbere and Mallow before turning the tables on Piarsaigh at the quarter-final stage.
Another win, against Béal Átha’n Ghaorthaidh, set up a final clash with Fermoy, who also wear an all-black kit, trimmed in amber. The North Cork side wore red and white for the final while Kiskeam donned a reversal of their usual jerseys, white with black accents, but it didn’t affect them unduly as they triumphed by 2-12 to 0-14 in Páirc Uí Rinn.
Wins over Aghada and Carbery were highlights of the first year up while there was a memorable victory over Mallow in 2019, but the end of that year saw a restructuring with Kiskeam placed in the new Senior A grade, from where they will look to progress in 2021. Public house The Harp & Shamrock provide shirt sponsorship.
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