Athlone GAA

Athlone GAA
Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Baile Atha Luain
Founded: 1885
County: Westmeath
Club colours: Blue and White
Grounds: Pairc Ciaran, Ballymahon Road,Athlone,Westmeath
Coordinates: 53°25′42.10″N 7°55′30.52″W / 53.4283611°N 7.9251444°WCoordinates: 53°25′42.10″N 7°55′30.52″W / 53.4283611°N 7.9251444°W
Playing kits

Standard colours
Senior Club Championships

All Ireland Leinster
champions 		Westmeath
champions
Football : - - 19
Hurling : - - 4

Athlone GAA is the Gaelic football club in the town of Athlone in County Westmeath, Republic of Ireland. The local Hurling club is called Southern Gaels.

Athlone are the most successful club in Gaelic Football in Westmeath.

Club history

The club was founded in 1885 by Irish National League members, bringing GAA to Athlone.[1] Athlone GAA are Westmeath's most successful club with 20 Senior titles, the last of which was 1998. They achieved an unprecedented 6 in a row between 1955 and 1960. 2011 represents their fifth time to qualify for Feile Peil na nOg following on the heels of last year's appearance in Derry. The club is home to Westmeath's first footballing All-Star Rory O'Connell.[2] In 2014, Athlone achieved an unprecedented demotion to intermediate football after a defeat by Castledaly, in the process becoming the first team in the history of the world to be relegated in the same year that their local rivals won the county title. Unprecedentedly. [3]

Club infrastructure

The club caters for both football and hurling with the hurlers playing under the Southern Gaels banner. The club have two full size floodlit pitches with a third pitch currently being developed. The Athlone GAA also has its own bar and ballroom and is used by various local groups (Tae Kwon Do, Irish traditional music, Line Dancing, ...).[2]

Club honours[2]

Senior Championships

1905, 1929 (Army) 1947, 1949, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1965, 1971, 1973, 1977, 1979, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1991, 1998.

Junior Championships

1916, 1921, 1945, 1954, 1969, 1975, 1976, 1977.

Under 21 Championships

1963, 1971, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1996, 2005, 2013

Minor Championships

1949, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1969, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1993

U-17 Championships

1963, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980.

U-16 Championships

1967, 1968, 1970, 1973, 1976, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1991.

U-14 Championships

1946, 1947, 1966, 1969, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1981, 1989, 2011.

U-12 Championships

1980, 1981, 1999, 2000, 2002.

Feis Cup Senior

1956, 1957, 1960, 1967, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1977, 1993.

Senior 'B' Championships

1985

Féile na nÓg

1985 (Cork) 1997, 1998 (Donegal), 2010, 2011.

Ladies U-12

1999

Proposed US tour and legal dispute

Following Athlone GAA's winning of the Westmeath County Championship in 1984, it was decided to send the team to the United States in 1985. More than £11,000 was collected quickly and put on a bank account set up for the occasion. A dispute over control of the trip's finances between executive committee members and the tour committee led to a lengthy legal dispute. In 1994, the case went to the Supreme Court of Ireland and was still ongoing in 2001.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Athlone.ie (Athlone Town Council)".
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Athlone GAA official website".
  3. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IuRzJRrRpQ
  4. ↑ "Still no sign of the GAA US tour, 16 years on". Sunday Tribune. 2001-05-06. Retrieved 2009-06-14.

External links