Left to right, Kildalkey junior hurling captain, Aaron Traynor, senior captain, David Conneely, senior and intermediate manager, Nick Fitzgerald, and intermediate captain, Shane Reilly.
By John Harrington
What the Kildalkey hurlers have achieved in Meath this year is nothing short of staggering.
Their three teams – senior, intermediate, and Junior A – entered eight competitions, reached all eight finals, won six of them, and have one more yet to play.
Last weekend their senior team won the Brendan Davis Cup and their Intermediate team won the Billy Byrne Cup to add to the Senior Hurling Championship, Intermediate Hurling Championship, Junior Hurling Championship, and Division 3 League silverware already under lock and key.
For a relatively small rural club, their ability to punch above their weight is truly remarkable and a testament to the pure passion for hurling in Kildalkey.
“It's been an unbelievable year,” says Nick Fitzgerald, who manages the Kildalkey senior and intermediate teams.
“At the start of the year we would have had an ambition to win the senior championship, and the secondary ambition would have been to just keep our second and third teams in the highest grade possible.
“I just couldn't believe the way the year unfolded, but it’s all down to the commitment we’ve gotten from the players.
“I’m from Waterford originally, I’ve been in Kildalkey since 2002, and I can’t get over the want to play hurling in Kildalkey.
“There’s just over 800 people living here and we had around 80 players involved between the three teams. When you break it down we have 10 per cent of the population playing adult hurling which is incredible, and we got a total buy-in from every single player who is available to play for us.
“One of the key things is our older players don't stop until they're very old.
“If I was to go through the intermediate team, the full-back is 44, the centre-back is 43, the centre-forward is 43, the full-forward is 40, and one of the wing-forwards is 39.
“You wrap that up then with 20-year-olds who are full of enthusiasm and full of legs and you've have a good combination. All of those older lads I've mentioned have won five senior championship medals. They have nothing left to prove, but they still want to play.”
Kilkdalkey's hurlers celebrate a historic treble of senior, intermediate, and junior hurling championships in Meath.
The Royal county might be primarily known as a football stronghold, but in Kildalkey hurling is king. The club is hurling and camogie only, so if you fancy a bit of big ball you’ll be pointed in the direction of Ballivor.
“Kildalkey people take a great pride in their hurling and camogie,” says club secretary Seamus Harmon.
“If you're walking around the village during the summer you'll see loads of young boys and girls walking around the street going up to the park with a sliotar in one hand and a hurl in the other.
“And you'll go to games in Navan and young lads are arriving at games there with their hurl in their hand.
“Our own club gates are opened at nine o'clock in the morning and closed at nine o'clock at night. We have a walking path that's lit up at night and the hurling wall is open until nine o'clock and is lit up as well.
“There would be always kids playing hurling down there. The amenities are there and they're being used by the young lads and girls and there's no damage being done because the young lads respect it. They're going there day in, day out, and playing hurling all year.
"Their parents have taught them respect and they respect the club. You really just can't describe what hurling means to us all.
“Last weekend when we won the Intermediate final replay we had a lorry coming down to the hall through the village and the lorry was preceded by 70 or 80 kids roaring and cheering and screaming. The streets were packed with club supporters and it was just fabulous to see.
“We've had huge numbers coming to our matches too, there's just a great buzz in the village at the moment that would bring a smile to your face.”
Kildalkey NS pupils await their all-conquering club hurlers.
There has long been a tradition of hurling in Kildalkey, but its only relatively recently they’ve enjoyed a rich vein of success, winning county titles in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2019, 2021, and now this year.
“There's a cohort of people who have been driving this for years and years and it just didn't happen until the early noughties a team came together that were quite good and we eventually got over the line in 2009 having lost a final in 2005 and another after a replay in 2008,” says Nick Fitzgerald.
“It was after the 2008 final that we began to look after our structures at grassroots. Everyone was doing their bit but everyone was doing it differently so we tried to join up the dots a bit more. Since 2009 there has been a massive emphasis on the underage structures and coaching.
“There's an unbelievable group of people who are doing massive work since then such as the likes of Pat O'Halloran who managed the three-in-a-row team (2009-2011) and then came back in 2019 and he won the championship in 2019 and 2021.”
You ask Seamus Harmon what the secret to their current success is and he also points to the strong emphasis they place on coaching and games development at underage level.
“We have great structures there and they're well-looked after all the way up,” he says. “We have a new hurling wall with an astro that's enclosed and every Wednesday night you’'ll have the U-6s down there.
“We had an U-10 camogie blitz last Saturday and there were 30 girls on that team. Camogie is flying as well. Girls are out on the road playing camogie just like the lads are.
“An awful lot of our former players are now coaching the young lads and the young girls and there’s a huge effort to make sure they’re all well coached and kitted out.”
Camogie is also going from strength to strength in Kildalkey.
Yesterday Nick Fitzgerald took a photo of the six cups Kildalkey have won this year and his plan is to ensure the silverware sextet visits as many households with children as possible in the coming weeks and months for overnight stays to inspire the next generation.
He’s hopeful there might yet be another cup or two to add the collection before the year is finished.
The juniors have yet to contest the Donal O’Loinsigh Cup Final and then there’s the highly anticipated AIB Leinster Intermediate Club Championship quarter-final against Clodiagh Gaels of Offaly on Saturday, November 11.
The two teams also met in the Leinster Intermediate Championship two years ago when Kildalkey lost by a single point having led by eight at half-time, so there’s a score to be settled there.
“We’ll be giving the Leinster championship full tilt because in our five Leinster campaigns to date we’ve never won a single match,” says Fitzgerald.
“I'd like to think that we're probably even more focused again now because the club and the players so much want to win a game in Leinster.”
The six cups that Kildalkey hurlers have won so far in 2023.
That match is up the road in Trim and Seamus Harmon reckons the whole of Kildalkey will empty for it.
They’d love a run through Leinster now to put the tin hat on an incredible year, but regardless of what happens from here on out it’s going to be a very short winter in Kildalkey.
“What we’ve experienced this year would just have you going around with a smile on your face,” says Harmon.
“Hurling is just an extension of the village really because there's not much else around. Bar you're in the scouts or you're playing badminton, Kildalkey is about the hurling and camogie club and that's it. That's what we're known for.
“We've come out this year and done something incredible with six cups won and another final and now a leinster campaign to come.
“When we have a dinner-dance next year we're possibly going to have to hold it over a weekend!"
