Kildare GAA
The Kildare County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association, or Kildare GAA, is one of 12 county boards governed by the Leinster provincial council of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for the administration of Gaelic games in County Kildare. The Lillies are one of only 4 counties who will play at the top level of both Hurling and Football for the 2026 campaign.
The County Board is responsible for preparing the Kildare county teams in the various Gaelic sporting codes; football, hurling and camogie.
The county football team won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship on four occasions in less than 25 years at the beginning of the 20th century and had accumulated ten Leinster Senior Football Championships by 1935; however, it then went into decline. It last reached an All-Ireland SFC final in 1998 after a gap of 63 years without an appearance in the decider.
They then went on to win 5 straight senior titles from 2005-2010.
Colours and crest
The Kildare crest had a serpent on it until 1993, reflecting that of Kildare County Council, itself based on the crest for the town of Naas. When Kildare County Council had the Heraldic Office of Ireland create a proper crest in 1991, and with Kildare fans regarding the serpent as a bad omen, the Kildare Supporters' Club requested a new one for their county teams; this featured acorns above a bunch of lilies. Kildare still lost in the first round of the Leinster Senior Football Championship for three years afterwards, from 1994 until 1996.History
Gaelic games predate recorded sporting history in Kildare. Hurling on Lyons Hill was featured in the Book of Leinster. The Curragh of Kildare was the venue for the fairs and festivals of ancient Ireland called the Aonach Colmáin. Local references to football go back to medieval times. An English traveller, John Dundon, described a hurling match in Naas in 1699. A handball alley near Rathangan bears the date 1790, though the oldest known alley is located near Moone. A match at Timolin in February 1792, resulted in a riot that was reported in local newspapers. There is also a reference to an inter-county match between Kildare and Meath GAA in 1797 which was attended by Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Valentine Lawless, Lord of Cloncurry, describes how Wogan Browne, an 18th-century grandee, lost his Justice of the Peace status for kicking off a football match in the Clane area, also in 1797.Summer athletics meetings in Kildare predate the GAA. John Wyse Power, then editor of local newspaper The Leinster Leader, attended the foundation meeting of the Gaelic Athletic Association in Thurles in 1884. In February 1885, Sallins GAA, Straffan GAA, Naas GAA and the Suncroft GAA played in the first four football matches governed under new GAA rules.
A county committee was established in 1887. Kildare entered the second championships in 1888 and was represented by Clane GAA. Tommy Conneff from Clane, who went on to hold the world record for the mile, was among the first GAA athletic champions.
County board structure
The Kildare County Board, which meets once a month in St Conleth's Park, is the highest authority within the county. It is responsible for running all adult football competitions, the Under 21 championships, and minor leagues and championships. Every club sends one delegate. There is a separate board responsible for hurling, which is a subsidiary board to the county board.Juvenile hurling and football is administered by Bord na nÓg which runs Under 14, 15 and 16 competitions. Under 13 and younger grades are separated into a North Board and South Board.
Football
Clubs
Kildare is very much a footballing county, with 105 teams from 45 clubs competing in the Senior, Intermediate and Junior Football Leagues. The highest-achieving club is Sarsfields with 25. Clane won 17 titles. Raheens won 10; Carbury, 11; Round Towers from Kildare Town, 10 ; Naas, 9; Moorefield, 8; Athy, 5; Kilcock, 5; Ellistown, 4 ; Johnstownbridge, 3; Caragh, 3; Monasterevin, 3; Maynooth, 2; and Allenwood, Ardclough, Ballymore, Celbridge, Curragh, Eadestown, Military College, Rathangan, Newbridge CYMS club St Conleth's and St Laurence's won one each. Raheens and Moorefield are the only Kildare sides to win a Leinster club title (in 1981 and 2006 and Moorefield again in 2017| Club | Irish Name |
| Allenwood | Fiodh Aluine |
| Ardclough | Árd Cloch |
| Athgarvan | Áth Garbháin |
| Athy | Athí |
| Ballykelly | Bealach Eile |
| Ballymore Eustace | Baile Mór |
| Ballyteague | Baile Thaidhg |
| Cappagh | Ceapach |
| Carragh | Cearrach |
| Carbury | Cairbre |
| Castledermot | Díseart Diarmada |
| Castlemitchell | Caisleán an Mhistéalaigh |
| Celbridge | Cill Droichid |
| Clane | Claonadh |
| Clogherinkoe | Clocha Rince |
| Confey | Confaí |
| Eadestown | Baile Éide |
| Ellistown | Baile Eilis |
| Grangenolvin | An Gráinseach |
| Johnstownbridge | Droichead Baile Sheain |
| Kilcock | Cill Choca |
| Kilcullen | Cill Chuilinn |
| Kildangan | Cill Daingin |
| Kill | An Chill |
| Leixlip | Léim an Bhradáin |
| Maynooth | Máigh Nuad |
| Milltown | Baile an Mhuillinn |
| Monasterevin | Mainistir Eimhín |
| Moorefield | Achadh Mhordha |
| Naas | Nás na Ríogh |
| Nurney | An Urnaí |
| Raheens | Raithíní |
| Rathangan | Rath Iomgháin |
| Rathcoffey | Rath Cobhthaigh |
| Rheban | Rebán |
| Robertstown | Baile Roibeard |
| Round Towers | Na Cloighithe |
| Sallins | Na Solláin |
| Sarsfields | Na Sáirséalaigh |
| St Kevins | Naomh Caoimhín |
| St Laurences | Naomh Lorcan |
| Straffan | Teach Sratain |
| Suncroft | Crocha na Gréine |
| Two Mile House | Teach an Dá Mhíle |
County team
Kildare first entered the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in 1888, and lost to Dublin by a score of 2–7 to 0–1.Kildare made a major contribution towards the evolution of rules and tactics in Gaelic football. The county was the first to abandon the tradition of playing 21 people on each team, using 16 on each team for a period. Kildare players invented the hand pass: a polished team tactic since 1903; The toe-to-hand was pioneered by the Roseberry club. A team made up of players from the two strongest clubs in the county, Roseberry and Clane, played Kerry three times for the All-Ireland Championship of 1903; the matches drew the first mass interest in a field sport in the country, had an aggregate attendance of 50,000, and were regarded as the games which "made the GAA."
Kildare's four All-Ireland titles were won between 1905 and 1928: over Kerry in 1905, Galway in 1919, and Kerry again in the 1927 final and Cavan in the 1928 final. Kildare became the first team to win the Sam Maguire Cup in 1928. They haven't won it since.
Tactics such as the hand pass were perfected by those early Kildare teams, but they also developed what became traditional catch-and-kick football. Olympic high jumper Larry Stanley was regarded as one of the greatest fielders in the history of the game, and first winner of the all-time All Star award.
Despite winning a Leinster Senior Football Championship in 1956, reaching the National League final in 1958 and 1968, and winning the All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship in 1965, Kildare footballers seemed to have difficulty maintaining their proud tradition. The county lost six Leinster finals in the twelve years between 1966 and 1978. Although the Raheens club won a Leinster Senior Club Football Championship title in 1983.
In 1991, former Kerry manager Mick O'Dwyer took charge of the county football team. Kildare lost two more Leinster finals to Dublin in 1992 and 1993, as well as the National League final of 1991. When Dublin came back for a draw in 1994 and won the replay, O'Dwyer was succeeded by Dermot Earley Snr for two years. He returned in 1997, and guided the county to victory over Laois with 13 players and a dramatic, twice replayed series of matches with Meath that captured the imagination of the public and steeled the side for further honors.
In 1998, the Kildare team became the only team in 110 years of championship football to beat the previous three champions, Dublin, Meath and Kerry in turn only to lose to Galway in the All-Ireland final; despite leading by three points at half time. Another Leinster followed in 2000, but Galway defeated them in the semi-final. Leinster Final defeats followed in 2002 and 2003, against Dublin and a Laois side back-boned by their All-Ireland MFC winning sides of the late 1990s. In, Kildare enjoyed mixed success and finished in the top six in the National Football League, but was knocked out of the championship by Sligo.
In 2008 under the new management of Kieran McGeeney Kildare made a bit of unfortunate history by becoming the first team ever to lose a championship game to Wicklow in Croke Park, losing in the first round by 0–13 to 0–9. However Kildares season took a turn for the better after that by beating Cavan, Limerick and Fermanagh in the all- Ireland qualifiers to reach their first ever all-Ireland quarter-final. To date in 2009, an improved Kildare side reached the Leinster Final only to suffer a defeat to Dublin. Kildare advanced to the All-Ireland quarter-final to play then All-Ireland champions Tyrone after beating Wicklow only to be knocked out by Tyrone. 2010 saw Kildare lose to Louth in the 2nd round. However Kildare had a great run through the qualifiers beating teams like Antrim, Leitrim, Derry and Monaghan to once again reach the All-Ireland Quarter-final to face Leinster champions Meath which they got a slow start but enjoyed the 2nd half as they ran out winning 2–17 to 1–12. to reach the All-Semi-final for the first time since 2000. On 29 August 2010 Kildare faced Down for the first time ever in the championship which turned out to be a very tense game but Down ran out winners 1–16 to 1–14 after a very frantic finish. 2011 saw Kildare advance to the Leinster semi-final after defeating Meath in the Leinster quarter-final only to be defeated by Dublin. Kildare had a good run in the qualifiers beating teams like Laois, Meath & Derry to advance to the All-Ireland quarter-final to face Ulster champions Donegal which turned to be a very poor performance but the 2nd half was a real contest from both sides with the sides finishing level to drag the game into extra-time only to be defeated by a single point by Donegal. Then in 2015 Cian O'Neill became manager after being with kerry gaa backroom. In 2017 kildare reached their first leinster final in 10 years. Only losing to dublin gaa by 9 points .