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Good bye pitch-Open space
Naomh Barróg GAA Club
1978 was a challenging year for
the new Club. The effort looking
for an alternative pitch was
thwarted from all sides. Every
available green space in the
community was used every Sat-
urday morning where Dick
Fields like the Piped Piper and
his helpers walked around the
parish being followed by hun-
dreds of budding footballers to
be allocated their patch of green
to play their little games. At time
unfortunately we were met by
some neighbours, who were
definitely in the minority, who
objected to some children from
other parts of the parish playing
sport on their patch. In spite of
this opposition and nonsense we
carried on. For an hour every
Saturday morning hundreds of
young boys enjoyed their Mini
Leagues and learning the skills
of Gaelic Games.
The boys on our u15, u16 and
u17 team helped with the Mini
Leagues, managing teams, ref-
ereeing games and all loved
being involved. Their involve-
ment at that time was very im-
portant because they had learnt
the skills of Gaelic football and
were able to pass the skills on to
the younger children who looked
are to be seen. The bulldozers
and J.C.B.’s have arrived. The
children are attracted to these.
Instead of running free and
playing with a ball they now
dodge and climb the J.C.B’s.
The security man is having a
busy time at night chasing the
children from these machines.
This is only the beginning.
Parents keep your children
from this site before one of
them is injured. Can you imag-
ine the scene in a few months
from now when the lorries, cars
and the traffic begins. Anyway
this is called progress, so they
say”.
The following report was writ-
ten in our Club Newsletter in
July 1978. “ Even before we
had finished our Season and
games, the bulldozers, lorries,
J.C.B.’s etc had moved on to
our pitch ploughing it up, drag-
ging the soil this way and that,
spoiling all in front of it. They
are making way for the building
of the Gubay Shopping Centre.
Nobody had the courtesy to let
us know that they were coming
and taking over the pitch and
that the children will now have
to go elsewhere and play...They just
moved in and…..
Naomh Barróg campaigned for the
site to be left as open space. We
were never against shops for the
area. We supported that idea but
not at the expense of losing all the
open space. The children enjoyed
the few years we had to play on this
area-many very enjoyable hours
were spent there. Now that those
days are over, the loss of the pitch is
very disappointing.
Already the hazards for our children
Issue 14 History of the Club (1974-2014)
17th December 2014
was also beginning to develop and grow. In 1978 along with our football
teams we were now fielding teams at u10, u11, u12 and u13. Our Adult
Hurling team which had just been formed played its first match on Sunday
the 6th February. On the 19th February they achieved their first success
when they beat Na Fianna. At that games Gerry “Kamakaze” Bannerman
received six stitches. The Club in 1978 realised that if we were to survive
as a Club we needed to look elsewhere for an alternative pitch. Our back
was to the wall. Up until then the Club thought that the site known as the
Prison Site on the Kilbarrack Road was a ‘fait accompli’ and not a possibil-
ity. On many occasions on their way home from Scoil Lorcáin Dick Fields
and Liam Sansome would pass comments like “that would be an ideal
place for our club” or “if we only had access to that site even as a tempo-
rary measure it would be great”. The Club agreed with the idea and chal-
lenge. On the 9th of February 1978 the Club met Michael Woods TD to set
up a meeting with the Minister for Justice, Gerry Collins to discuss the
Prison Site. The seed had been sown, the challenge & dream had begun.
Snippets from the Past
Minor Panel –1978-1979
David Brady, Conor Mc Cabe, Da-
vid Flynn, David Flood, Jimmy
Keogh, Pat O’Neill, Anthony Stew-
art, John Flynn, Gary O’Connor,
David Ormonde, Derek Long, Paul
Joyce, Larry Mc Carthy, Ronnie
Ryan, Maurice Cassidy, Séamas
Brady, Stephen Wickham, Paul
Brogan, Paul Sambrooks, Philip
Redmond, Mick Lynch, Tony Mc
Donnell, Joey Bannon, Martin
Horan, John Clarke
Junior Hurling Panel -1978-1979
Jimmy Lodge, Fintan Dowling,
Michael Corcoran,Seán Curreen,
Fintan Hayden, Phil Furlong, Christy
O’Brien, Cathal Mc Linn, Gerry Mc
Linn, Morgan Cranley, Timmy Mur-
phy, Davy Murphy, Seán Ó’Cin-
néide, Eddie Walsh, George Tyn-
dall, Tom Glynn, John Shiels, Barry
Nugent, Gerry Bannerman.
In September 1978 the following
informattion was in our Club News-
letter.
DID YOU KNOW– That Naomh
Barróg was founded on the 25th
September 1974. We are now
beginning our 4th year. Our Club
this year has
1. 12 Football Teams
2. 6 Hurling Teams
3. A Camogie Section
4. An Irish Night in Scoil Lorcáin
5. Monthly Sing Along for parents
6. An Annual Dinner Dance
7. A Summer Festival
8. A Weekly Draw
9. A regular Newsletter
10. Involved in Scór
11. Inter Club Games in Cork
12. Sponsored Walk
Two important factors in spite of this
are obvious.
1. We have no pitch in Kilbarrack.
2. Support from parents at times is
very disappointing”. (Club Newslet-
ter September 1978 )
1982-Naomh Barróg Camogie Intermediate League and Championship Winners
This article was written in the Irish Inde-
pendent in January 1978.
“Parents in a Dublin suburb are opposing
plans to build the city’s new £4 million wom-
en’s prison in their area so their children can
have somewhere to play. They have ap-
pealed to the Department of Justice to give
back the six and half acre Kilbarrack site
because they claim there is not enough
open space in the area.
“We are not fighting against the prison, we
are fighting for more open space for our
children to play on”, Mrs Maria Lynch, com-
mittee member of the Kilbarrack Community
Association said yesterday. The area’s 3000
children have only one full size football pitch
to play on because of the chronic lack of
open space”, Mrs Lynch pointed out.
“ In a survey which we conducted in the
area we found that there are 73 youth and 9
adult teams here: most to these have to
travel outside of the area tp play “, she said.
The three schools in the area, two national
schools for boys and girls and the local com-
munity school have less than one acre of
playing area between them.
“ There is not a blade of grass attached to
the Community School despite the Govern-
ment norm that these schools should be
built on a 15 acre site”, said Mrs Lynch.
The Association are at present awaiting a
meeting with Minister for Justice to discuss
the future of the site.
THE PLEA continued
Mr Richard Fields, who is a teacher in
the boys National School, Scoil Lorcáin
and a committed member of the local
Naomh Barróg GAA Club pointed out
some of the problems facing youth
organisations in the area.
“There is great youth involvement in the
area but we have nowhere to play. I
have often walked around the area look-
ing for a space for the children to play
on”, Mr Fields said.
Mr Fields who has organized a number
of Summer Projects for the children in
the area approached the former Minister
for Justice, Mr Cooney to get permission
for
for the local children to play on the prison site.
“ I was told we would have to pay a nominal
fee for the use of the site”. Mr Fields said. “ If
we were able to transport ten acres of grass
from St Anne’s in Raheny so that the children
from Kilbarrack could play on it, I would carry
up the sods myself”, he added.
The local Cumann of Sinn Féin the Workers
Party have also written to the Minister for
Justice opposing the building of the prison…...
Séamas Phelan Cumann PRO pointed out,
that at any one time there are only between
ten and twelve women in Mountjoy Prison. It
proposed that the new prison would be capa-
ble of holding 112 women.
The campaign to acquire the site earmarked for a Women’s Prison begins.
‘Make Prison Site Play Area’-Plea
During the 1970’s Naomg Barróg was very
active in organizing events to fundraise for
our Club. We were motivated during those
early days with the wish to provide the best
facilities and opportunities for our young
people and members. Nothing was to big
for us. A strong parish spirit prevailed and
everyone supported and appreciated the
Club.
Page 2 Naomh Barróg GAA Club
!978 was the year the campaign started to
have the 6.5 acre site to build the Women’s
Prison rezoned for recreational purposes. It
was never an negative or anti prison cam-
paign. Naomh Barróg having met with Mi-
chael Woods TD then met two strong vision-
ary women who were involved with and com-
mittee and Members of Kilbarrack and Dis-
trict Community Association (KADCA), Maria
Lynch was Chairperson of the Environment
Committee and Irene Molloy was Secretary.
Naomh Barróg met them to convey their
proposition to them. It would have been
impossible for Naomh Barróg to go it alone to
achieve their ambition. This was going to be
a challenging project that needed the support
of the local Community Organisation with
their expertise and with the local politicians.
KADCA was such a group and had been
campaigning for many years to improve the
conditions and to safeguard the environment
for the people of Kilbarrack-Foxfield. It was
also to the benefit of the campaign and Na-
omh Barróg’s vision that Michael Woods be-
came a TD in 1977 and Government Chief
Whip in 1979. It was agreed immediately to
campaign for recreational space involving the
schools and all Sport Clubs in the area.
Those involved in drawing up the plan of cam-
paign were Naomh Barróg, Maria Lynch and
Irene Molloy from the Environment Committee
of KADCA. Michael Woods was our guide
and constant support. We also received great
encouragement and support from Michael Joe
Cosgrave the local Fine Gael TD and Dublin
County Council Councillor.
Antóin Carroll became the first Principal in
Greendale Community School in 1975. He
was married to the then Minister of Justice,
Gerry Collins’s sister who was a teacher in
Pobal Scoil Neasáín, Baldoyle. We met him
to seek his support. He was influential along
with Michael Woods in arranging a meeting
with the Minister for Justice.
ued to encourage more people to help. Soon
she was joined by Clare Prendergast from
Foxfield Grove and Catherine Doyle from
Briarfield Grove.
The Intermediate Camogie Team were-
Photo on page1
Back Row: Deirdre Prendergast, Catherine
Doyle, Claire Long, Deirdre Duggan RIP,
June Knowles, Valerie Shanaghan, Jacquel-
ine Reid
Front Row: Gay Mc Evoy Joanne Keelan,
Terry Townley, Brenda Harrington, Amanda
Dunne, Teresa Clinton.
Missing from Photo: Cathy Gibons, Linda
Martin
From the day the Club was formed its aim
was to involve boys and girls and giving them
the opportunity to play Gaelic Games. Setting
up a new Club is always a challenge. By 1978
the Club was making progress with the boys
being well catered for. The Club felt it was
time to cater now for the girls. It was time to
form a Camogie team. Two women who
played Camogie, knew about the game,
played it and came forward to get involved.
They were Siobhán Aylworth who was a
teacher in the newly opened Community
School. She played for Na Fianna and intro-
duced Camogie into Greendale. Betty Har-
rington who lived on the Kilbarrack Rd was
approached to help form the fledgling Camo-
gie Section. She had played for Naomh Aoife
in Dublin. She jumped at the idea and was
active in promoting the game. In the Girls
Primary School, Scoil Íosagáin John Kelly a
young enthusiastic teacher had arrived on the
staff and showed a keen interest in promoting
Camogie in the school.
With Siobhán Aylworth in Greendale and John
Kelly in Scoil Iosagáin the future for Camogie
was in good hands. Betty Harrington contin-
A Trip Down Memory Lane.
Forming Camogie Section-1978
When Naomh Barróg was founded in 1974 it initially
catered for boys only. Scoil Lorcáin was a boys
school with the girls school, Scoil Íosagáin situated in
another part of the parish. We were both independ-
ent of one another and had no contact. As the Club
grew and developed it realized we were not involving
the girls who had the same needs to be involved in
sport as the boys had. By 1978 we had football
teams from u10 to u17 and four hurling teams from
u10 to u13 also with an Adult Football and Hurling
team. The Club had to do something to rectify this
and get girls involved in the Club
In 1974 Ladies Gaelic Football had not yet been
established in Dublin. Camogie was popular in
Dublin and played mainly in Secondary Schools and
in Universities. The Camogie Association or Cu-
mann Camógaíochta was founded in 8 North Freder-
ick St ,Dublin in February 1905 with the first game
being played in 1926. In 1932 twenty eight years
following the foundatation of the Camogie Associa-
tion the first All Ireland Championship were held in
the Sportsfield in Galway when Dublin’s superior
attack beat Cork by 3 02 to 0 02 to claim the first All
Ireland title. Dublin were to go and win 25 more All
Irelands with the last one in 1986 . A Mayo man
Betty Harrington recalled her memories of
those enjoyable and memorable days. She
wrote, “In the late 1970’s Dick Fields
asked me to start a Camogie Section in
Naomh Barróg. I went around Kilbarrack
and got as many girls as I could and even-
tually we had a team in the u12/u13 age
group.
We trained every Sunday on the Green in
Foxfield Park. Some of the girls couldn’t
even hold the hurl to begin with but after a
couple of years of hard training we started
to play some wonderful Camogie. After a
few years this team reached Adult grade
and played at Intermediate level. In the
beginning we lost our games 8 to nil and 10
to nil etc which must have been very dis-
heartening for the team but they put their
heads down and trained even harder
and then went on to win the ‘Double’-League
and Championship. The highlight of this be-
ing the semi-final of the Championship when
we played and won against the brilliant Porto-
bello team who were unbeaten at that time by
any other team.
When the Intermediate team won the ‘Double’
our local vegetable man John ‘Mousy’ Farrell
cleaned his open van and brought the winning
team around Kilbarrack with their two tro-
phies. What wonderful memories?
Claire Prendergast and Catherine Doyle
joined the Camogie Section to help train the
team too. A minor team was started by a
teacher from Scoil Íosagáin, Mr John Kelly.
So it was fantastic to see so many local girls
playing our game”.
Naomh Barróg was founded to involve boys and girls.
Page 3 17th December 2014
donated a silver cup now known as the O’Duffy
Cup for the Championship. There are 47 Camogie
Clubs in Dublin.
Ladies Gaelic Football took a different root before it
was formally established. The 60’s seem to provide
the first real evidence of the ‘new craze’ as it was
called at that time. During this period Carnivals and
Festivals were at their peak and organisations were
on the look out for novel ideas to raise finances.
Ladies Football fell into this category. It was more
a rural thing than a city thing. For example a game
was arranged between Clonmel Post Office and the
County Council Office in Tipperary to raise funds
with the proceeds going to the Biafra Relief Fund.
After man years a meeting was called with a view
to setting up a National Association and to regular-
ize Ladies Football. The meeting took place in
Hayes Hotel in Thurles ninety years earlier the GAA
was founded in the famous Hotel. In July 1974 four
counties attended the meeting. As 1974 came to
an end Ladies Gaelic Football was firmly estab-
lished in Tipperary, Galway Kerry, Offaly, Laois,
Cork, Roscommon and Waterford. Ladies Gaelic
Football in Dublin was affiliated to the National
Association after a meeting in Park Lodge Hotel,
NCR May 1985
1983– Diggers and JCB’s preparing and lay-
ing down the new pitches.
Teresa Clinton—Captain of Inter Team
accepting the Cup from Mrs Kathleen
Duffy in the Pheonix Park in 1982. The
All Ireland Camogie Cup is called after
Mrs Duffy’s husband.
The Annual General Meeting was held in
Scoil Lorcáin on the 20th September 1978.
This was our most successful AGM to date
and heralded the development and advance-
ment of Naomh Barróg. Over 90 people at-
tended this meeting.
The new Committee elected for the 1978-
1979 Season are:
President-Paddy Rankin, Chairman-Dick
Fields,Vice Chairman-Barry Nugent, Secre-
tary-Denis Dunne, Treasurer-Maurice Cassi-
dy, Registrar-Seán Murphy, PRO– Betty Mur-
phy, Executive-Liam Caroll,Gary O’Connor,
Larry Mc Carthy, Luke Brodigan
Delegates to the Boards:
Junior Football Board: Con Farrelly
Junior Hurling Board: Seán Ó Cinnéide, Gerry
Bannerman
Minor Board: Lar Mc Carthy and David Flynn
North City: Ronnie Ryan
North East: Maurice Cassidy
1977-1978 Season was very successful
U10B North East Final-Runners up to Parnells
U12 North East Semi Final beaten by Kilmore
U13’s North East Semi Final-beaten by Par-
nells
U15’s-North City Final– Beaten by Lusk
U12 hurlers won their League
Adult Div 4 Winners V Churchtown. First time
in League. Great victory.
Scoil Lorcáin won Div 1 Fingal League Final
v Bonnybrook NS in Croke Park. All the
members of the team played for the Club.
In Community Games the Club represented
the Parish of Kilbarrack-Foxfield.
In hurling beaten in final in Croke Park by
Templeogue and in Football beaten in Semi
Final by Ballyfermot.
Adult Div 4 Winning team
John O Connor, Tommy Ivory, Liam Heffer-
nan, Gary O Connor, Ronnie Coughlan, Pat O
Donavan, Brian Russell, Shay Kavanagh,
Raymond Dennis RIP, John Shiels, Eddie
Dunne, John Whelan, George Tyndall RIP,
Seán Murphy, Noel Lonergan RIP, Jim Fitz-
maurice(Capt) RIP, Paraic Heffernan, Peter O
Connor, Eddie Walsh, Barry Nugent.
John Anderson who played for West Bromich
Albion at the time always played for this team
while home on holidays and helped them on
many occasions. He loved to play GAA.
Visitors from Cork: September 23rd, 1978
a group of boys from Bishopstown were enter-
tained by Naomh Barróg u13 team and their
parents. The Cork boys were successful in
beating our u13 team in a friendly match. On
Sunday afternoon they were brought to Croke
Park and witnessed their County winning the
Hurling All Ireland v Kilkenny by 1 15 to 2 08.
Down Memory Lane
Even though Jim has spent most of his life in
Dublin he is still closely associated with his
native Kilkenny where is upbringing, his edu-
cation, his experience of rural life and the
countryside made him the person he is today.
From that background he brought his many
gifts and talents and we in Dublin and in Na-
omh Barróg have been the beneficiaries of all
these.
At the tender age of 18 years he was recruit-
ed by the ESB in 41 Merrion Square and from
that day until he retired he gave loyal and
committed service to a company that re-
sponded to loyalty and hard work and was a
genuine place to work which he enjoyed and
made many new friends. When he arrived in
Dublin in 1953 he lived in digs in Ladd Lane
just off Baggott St and stayed with a lovely
Galway woman, Mrs Kennedy who treated
him like her own son. When you arrived in
Dublin from the Country in those days the
chances of going home at the weekends was
not as easy as it is now. The chances for Jim
to play for his home Club in Kilkenny was not
Possible so for one year he played for Kil-
macud Crokes and got to training and match-
es on his bicycle .Around 1954 a Hurling
Club, called Móín Dearg was founded in Dub-
lin for Kilkenny men. They were a well known
Club that rallied the Kilkenny men around it.
Kilkenny born Gardaí Síochána, Christian
Brothers, Seminarians, Civil Servants anyone
with a drop of Kilkenny blood in them wore the
Móin Dearg jersey. Jim wore it for ten years
and played their games in the Pheonix Park.
Jim socialised especially on Friday nights in
Mooney’s of Baggott St Bridge where he often
came across Brendan Behan and Paddy Ka-
vanagh two of our well known poets and writ-
ers. He admits both despised one another.
When Jim married Ita, a staunch Cavan wom-
en, whom he met at the Metropole in Dublin
they bought a house in Foxfield Park and
moved their in 1964. Ten years later Jim
accepted the invitation to attend the meeting
that formed Naomh Barróg. His GAA experi-
ence and knowledge was to be of great bene-
fit to the Club. He has held many positions in
the Club notably that of Secretary.
Profile: Jim Butler-(Cont)
Evening Herald Wednesday Sept 20,
1978
“Naomh Barróg and Churchtown who met
in Div 4 final in Russell Park,
Blanchardstown finished all square at 0 07
each, a well contested hours play.”
Division 4 Final Replay -27th Sept 1978
“Naomh Barróg crowned a great season
by taking Div 4 League title at O’Toole
Park by defeating a dogged Churchtown
side on the score 4 05 to 0 07. The game
was played at a tremendous pace
throughout despite the score line and the
first half was very evenly contested with
the winners just about worth their 1 02 to 0
01 lead at the break.
Scores NB: P O’Donavan (2-0), E Walsh (1 0),
G O’Connor(1 0), J Whelan (0-2), E Dunne, P
O’Connor, N Coughlan (0-1 each).
Page 4 17th December 2014
Jim Butler former Secretary &
Treasurer of Naomh Barróg
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