1984 - The GAA Centenary Year

In 1984 the G.A.A. celebrated its Centenary year and Sunday 29 July was set aside, free from League fixtures, to allow clubs to organize their own programmes of celebration. Kilcoo club committee, along with a working committee, set up to help with the celebrations, had been very active in the preparation of a suitable programme of events to celebrate the day which was known as “La na gClub” which means “The Day of the Clubs”. This day got off to a good start weather wise and events commenced at 11a.m. with Mass for deceased club members, celebrated by Club President, Father Charles Denvir P.P. At 1p.m there was a Tree Planting ceremony at the new field carried out by Father Denvir and Club chairman Danny Murray and a large crowd had gathered there to watch this event.

Following this was a Parade from the new field to the old playing field at the Hall. This was led by St. Malachy’s Band followed by the Club Trustees James McClean, John Devlin and Arthur Morgan, carrying the Club Flag, Centenary Flag and Tricolour. Representatives of the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and all the 1984 sides, including Camogie and Hurling, then took up their places and the parade proceeded to the Meadow, kindly made available for the day by Mr. Seamus McLaughlin, where Danny Murray gave an inspiring address.

Danny thanked all the people of the parish for the interest shown in the ideals of the G.A.A. and urged parents to continue to encourage their children to be involved in Club activities. This was followed by an impressive sports programme which included athletics and novelty events for all age groups, supported by a wide variety of side-shows which attracted a lot of interest from adults and children alike. Also on display was some project work on the G.A.A. compiled by the school children. This included such items as essays on G.A.A. topics and scale models of Croke Park and the Owen Roe’s new pitch.

The day rounded off with Father Denvir presenting medals to the winners of the competitions and, after a few hours break, events were brought to a conclusion with a dance in St Malachy’s Hall.

The programme for the Centenary Day celebrations read as follows:

On the football front, the Centenary Year signalled the beginning of better things to come. Having finished close to the top of Division 3 in the previous three years, Kilcoo were fairly upbeat about the 1984 campaign. The incoming committee put in place a strong back-up team, recruiting Owen McEvoy as manager and Dan Morgan as trainer of the team. The season started off well with good wins over Tullylish and Attical. However, as in previous years, they were beaten by Kilwarlin, but this setback did not seriously affect morale and two weeks later they were back in form with a good win over Ben Dearg. The next game was against a newly promoted Banbridge side and, after some controversial scoring, Kilcoo escaped with a very hard earned victory. Bredagh, who were considered favourites by some for promotion, were the next team to meet Kilcoo on home ground at Stephen’s Green. Kilcoo went into attack straight away and although Bredagh eventually began to make gains Kilcoo were winners with four points to spare.

Although over the next few weeks Kilcoo had a break from the League, it was certainly not the case with competitive action. A panel was formed to represent the Club in the East Down Feis Sevens at Ballykinler. Having beaten Annsborough in the semi-final they went on to beat Downpatrick, in extra time, in the final of their section and qualified to meet Drumaness, the winners of the other section.

This meant that over the next few weeks there would be a continual session of games with Drumaness. First of all the teams clashed in the first round of the Junior Championship, ending up in a draw. Before the replay, they faced each other in the final of the East Down Sevens and on this occasion Kilcoo deservedly qualified for the finals of the Feis Sevens on the first Sunday in June. But before this event there was the Championship replay with Drumaness and after a strongly contested game Kilcoo were again winners at the final whistle.

On Feis Sunday Kilcoo had the opportunity to meet a team other than Drumaness when they played Glasdrumman and, after some competitive football, the scores were level at full time and the game went into extra time.

Although Kilcoo registered some fine scores in extra time Glassdrumman edged ahead to leave them winners at the final whistle.

The following night it was back to League action in Stephen’s Green and, once again, the opposition was Drumaness with Kilcoo gaining the upper hand and winning by four points At this stage in the season Kilcoo had just dropped two League points from their eight games played but, ahead of them, on full points from their eight games were Downpatrick.

Next on the agenda was the second round of the Junior Championship when Kilcoo played Division 4 team Tir Phadraig and this turned out to be a fairly challenging game for the Owen Roes where they just about managed to shake off a very determined side in the last ten minutes to win by 2-11 to 1-9.However, after this very lethargic display, the manager decided to make some major changes to the panel drafting in some of the younger players.

This revamped side gave a good account of themselves with victories over Annsborough and Tullylish. Going into the holiday break Kilcoo had chalked up nine victories in their ten League outings and had qualified for the quarter finals of the Junior Championship. Unfortunately, on the resumption of the League after the holidays. Kilcoo gave a very poor performance against Attical which ended in defeat.

Following the Centenary celebrations the Senior team travelled to Ben Dearg and despite their disappointing performance against Attical they were very deserving winners by 1-13 to 1-7. Confidence appeared to have been restored in time for the Junior Championship quarter final tie with Downpatrick on Sunday 12 August 1984. Both these teams had League promotion in their sights and so this was expected to be a highly competitive game. Unfortunately, the game did not live up to its pre-match expectations and Downpatrick was in control from the beginning and, indeed, had scored a goal as early as the tenth minute. Kilcoo struggled and Downpatrick proved their superiority, finishing strongly with a 3-4 to a 0-3 scoreline.

It now appeared that Downpatrick, having overcome Kilcoo would capture the League and Championship double but Kilcoo had other ideas about one of these titles. They played Banbridge on Sunday 19 August in Stephen’s Green and after a very challenging grind their superior fitness put them in control in the final minutes of the game to win by 1-11 to 1-7.

Three weeks later the Owen Roes travelled to Bright who, as usual, proved to be tough opposition, but at the end of a very competitive match Kilcoo had gained a further two League points. On 30 September 1984 they played another away fixture, this time travelling to Bredagh, who also had their sights set on promotion. After a strong first half performance the Owen Roes were leading by 1-4 to 0-3 at the break and throughout the second half they continued to keep control of the game eventually winning by 1-8 to 0-7.

The next match against Downpatrick, who had just claimed the Junior Championship crown, was equally important. This match took place in Stephen’s Green on Sunday 7 October and the home side was very well supported. The match was lively with both sides scoring well and at half time Downpatrick led by 0-7 to 0-5. However, after the break, Kilcoo set about rectifying this and, within five minutes, had squeezed ahead. Once again Downpatrick took the lead but Kilcoo fought back and when the final whistle went Kilcoo were worthy winners by just one point, much to the delight of their huge crowd of supporters.

Promotion was very much in sight now but the Kilcoo panel not only wanted promotion but the League title as well. Three successive victories over Drumaness, Annaclone and Annsborough ensured that ‘The Owen Roes’ would be returning to Senior football in 1985 and set them up for what would virtually be the League decider, which was the return fixture against Downpatrick. This took place on Sunday 18 November in Dunleath Park.

Downpatrick started the match keeping Kilcoo well at bay but ‘The Owen Roes’ went on the attack and gained a six point lead after only twenty minutes. Downpatrick managed only one point in the first half but after the break they stormed into action scoring three points in the first eight minutes.

It took a dramatic save by Sean Fitzpatrick to jolt Kilcoo and they eventually won the game by four points with a score of 1-7 to 0-6.

The next game was against Annaclone and took place on Sunday 9 December with Kilcoo storming into an early 0-5 to 0-1 lead. However Annaclone retaliated and after some good scoring by both sides Kilcoo was leading at half time by 1-6 to 1-3. Four minutes into the second half Kilcoo got a lucky break when it was decided that the Annaclone goalie had accidentally pushed the ball over the goal line and ‘The Owen Roes’ continued to build on their advantage. The final result was Kilcoo 2-11 to Annaclone 1-5 and the League Title had now been won.

The final League match against St. Michaels was to take place the following Sunday and so arrangements were made to present the cup before the match.

Charlie Keown, Vice Chairman of the County Board presented the trophy to Kilcoo captain, James Morgan, much to the delight of a large crowd of Kilcoo supporters. The Owen Roes were on a high now and it seemed nothing could go wrong as they played their way to victory winning by 3-13 to 0-7.

Other panel members were: Seamus McClean, Damien Travers, Brendan O’Hare, Emmett Kelly, Terry O’Hanlon, James McEvoy, Mickey O’Hare, Noel Morgan and Declan Mussen

After the game St. Malachy’s Band led the victorious team to the Hall where, after a short reception, the team and Committee members, together with their wives and girlfriends went off to the Donard Hotel in Newcastle for a night of celebration. It seemed appropriate that in the Centenary Year of the G.A.A. Kilcoo, with such a fine sporting tradition, had returned to Senior football, after a season where they had only suffered two defeats in a twenty two game campaign. Hopes were now high for continued success in 1985.

The annual Dinner Dance took place in December in St. Malachy’s Hall, Kilcoo.