John Arnold: A new era for Kilworth GAA... a club that’s close to my heart

My connections with Kilworth go back a long way.

Two decades after the Famine, my grandmother’s sister Margaret Barry was born - in 1868. She was 32 in November, 1900, when she married William Linehan, of Ballymacphilip, Ballyhooley.

My grandmother Nora was the female ‘witness’ at the ceremony in St Nicholas’s Church in Castlelyons.

Thirty-three years later, Hannah Maria Linehan, a daughter of William and Margaret, was married in Ballyhooley Church. Her husband was Arthur ‘Atty’ Coughlan, of Kilworth.

The traditional home-place of the Coughlan clan was and is Broomhill, Mitchelstown. Atty Coughlan’s mother purchased a farm at Knocknohill, just outside Kilworth village for her son.

By all accounts, Mrs Coughlan Snr was a formidable woman. At the auction of this farm, the auctioneer insisted that any would-be purchasers would have to produce half of the sale price in ‘hard cash’ there and then! It was no bother to Mrs Coughlan – she produced the wads of notes from inside her coat. Her bid was accepted, the hammer fell, ‘Sold’!

Just before Christmas of 1933, Hannah Maria Coughlan and her husband Atty set up home in Knocknohill, Kilworth, and here their four children were reared.

We never knew her by any name other than Josie Coughlan. Josie was my father’s first cousin and my auntie Jo had been her bridesmaid in 1933.

As children, we loved visiting Coughlans - Mam was a widow rearing five children so ‘outings’ like visiting our cousins in Kilworth were a great treat for us.

One particular visit when I was six, well, I’ll never forget it as long as I live. It was November, 1963, and I’m not absolutely sure if we had got a television at home or not.

Coughlan’s had a set - black and white of course

I think it was a Friday or a Saturday night. Someone said ’Ssh’ and silence descended on the kitchen as around seven or eight pairs of eyes stared in disbelief at the screen. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, President of the United States of America, had been shot and died.

On the way from Kilworth to Bartlemy that night, Mam said the Rosary, nothing strange about that, but we knew from the sadness in her voice that something awful had happened.

Down the years, there was a strong link between Bartlemy and Kilworth. In 1907, Kate Woods, from Bartlemy, married Patrick O’Connor, from Kilworth, and years later her niece Peggy Woods married Kilworth publican Tom Cotter.

Between visiting Coughlans and attending funerals, matches, weddings, plays and concerts, I’ve been in Kilworth literally hundreds of times. I felt very much at home there last Saturday afternoon when the local GAA club officially opened their new complex.

To be honest, the word ‘complex’ hardly does justice to a project which has cost over €1,000,000 - yes over a million euro!

I’m a GAA member for about 55 years and the changes I have seen in clubs in every corner of the country has just been phenomenal. From disused CIE buses, timber railway wagons, pre-fabricated shacks, and discarded shipping containers which were the ‘dressing-rooms’ of their time, to the fabulous centres we see today.

A club named the ‘Green Cockades’ were affiliated in Kilworth in the 1880s when Gaelic Football was the preferred code. Tournaments were huge then, none bigger than that promoted by the Rathcormac Club in the summer of 1889.

Fourteen clubs entered - some in both hurling and football - and several had two and three teams entered. Bartlemy Hurling Club had 1sts, 2nds and a third XV - generally known as the Holy Terrors!

The tournament continued all summer long with three separate pitches laid out on the lawn of Kilshannig House. In football, the final came down to Kilworth and Rathcormac. Before a huge crowd, the 21-a-side contest was played out.

Kilworth were captained by Jack Daly - later a TD - and their mighty player was Jack Stritch who stood at 6 feet 7 inches - without his stockings and boots. Marking him was the smallest Rathcormac player, Tom Gallig, just over 5 feet in stature.

Unable to ‘shoulder’ Stritch, Gallig resorted to what was later called ’The Irish Whip’ by wrestler Danno Mahony!

A disputed goal -was it over the line or not? - was the decisive score, leaving Kilworth winners by 1-2 to 4 points - remember, back then one goal outweighed any number of points! Kilworth received a set of beautiful medals. On that team were two Fenton brothers, Geary, Heffernan, O’Connor, Hogan and O’Neill.

Last Saturday, memories of that game 137 years ago were recalled. One of the Fenton brothers of 1889 was Daniel, and a son of his was Ignatius. That Ignatius Fenton was father of Danny whom I met in Kilworth last Saturday.

Domiciled in Dublin with many years, Danny Fenton has been a pitch steward in Croke Park for decades. He was a colossus of a man in his youth – not much smaller than Jack Stritch! An outstanding hurler with his club Kilworth and winner of a County Senior Medal with Avondhu in 1966, Danny is the proud possessor of an 1889 Tournament medal.

Along with many other Kilworth stalwarts, true men of the old brigade, Danny recalled when club players in the 1950s and ’60s ‘togged out’ under the spreading branches of an ancient tree. There might well have been sheep droppings on the ground too, but that didn’t bother them at all!

President of the GAA Jarlath Burns was in Kilworth to officially declare ‘open’ the new centre. With multiple dressing-rooms, a gym, kitchen, lift, meeting rooms, and general purpose areas, the Kilworth centre will be a hub not just for the Gaels of the parish but the entire community.

For club chairman Tony Sheehan and for every member, this was a day they planned and worked towards for years. Yes, they got Sports Capital and GAA Grants but the project is finished because of the vision of so many great Kilworth people.

The President has visited literally hundreds of clubs in the four provinces over the last two years, but he never ceases to be amazed by the sheer volume of work being done in each one. Jarlath was gushing in his praise for Kilworth, and rightly so.

As I left, I thought of that 1889 tournament and a far more recent one too. My Club Bride Rovers has had stunning successes in the last 30 years but we had barren spells too.

Before back-doors and round-robins came in, a club might be out of serious competition in June or July with little more games to play. 1983 was such a year for us – gone by July 16.

That August - and for several years after also - we were invited to the Kilworth Festival Hurling Tournament. We defeated Glenroe from Limerick, Ballyhooley and Shanballymore in the final, to win a cup and trophies and were delighted with ourselves.

Yes, there is huge rivalry between GAA clubs but a mighty respect and sense of friendship too. As we head to the 150th anniversary of the GAA in just eight years time, we can truthfully say- yes, we have come a long way.

Well done, Kilworth, and every single club, urban and rural in this great country of ours.