BY MICHAEL O’LEARY
It was a busy year for Kilkenny sporting teams and competitors at Local, National and International with a host of Individuals competing for Ireland across a variety of Sports.
The GAA review of the year will get plenty of coverage elsewhere across various platforms, but in summary Kilkenny Teams began the year with All-Ireland wins for Ballyhale Shamrocks, St. Kierans College on St. Patricks Day along with double All-Ireland glory for Loreto Kilkenny who won Senior and Jumior All-Ireland titles.
As we moved from Spring to Summer, attention turned to the Inter-County season where the highlight for new Kilkenny Senior Manager Derek Lyng was Cillian Buckley’s last gasp dramatic injury-time goal against Henry Shefflin’s Galway to win an absorbing Leinster Final.
Kilkenny defeated Clare by 3 points in a closely fought Semi-Final where Eoin Murphy pulled off a most miracoulous save that proved most decisive, but a strong powerful 2nd half performance in The All-Ireland Final saw Limerick retain the All-Ireland to win 4-in-a-row.
Meanwhile, The Kilkenny Footballers suffered heartbreak when a brace of late points saw New York snatch the All-Ireland Junior Final, while Kilkenny Senior Camogie girls under new manager Peter “Chap” Cleere will be looking to bounce back in 2024 from a disappointing 2023 where they failed to reach an All-Ireland for The first time since 2012.
From August onwards attention turned to The Club Championships as O’Loughlin Gaels, Thomastown and Tullogher-Rosbercon won The Senior, Intermediate and Junior Championships respectively,and now all three teams are in pursuit of All-Ireland glory.
Dicksboro have become the first Club in Kilkenny since three-in-a-row winning St. Lachtains Freshford (2004-2006) to have not only reached but have won an All-Ireland Senior Camogie Club Final, having won County and Leinster titles, and also winning their All-Ireland Semi-Final against Loughgiel Shamrocks.
Elsewhere, and across the pond Two Kilkenny Soccer players who had very good years were Gavan Holohan with Grimbsy Town and also Tullogher native Thomas O’Connor with Wrexham.
Gavan scored two penalities as League Two outfit Grimbsy Town shocked Premier League Relegated outfit Southampton 2-1 to qualify for a 1st FA Cup Quarter-Final since 1939, while Thomas O’Connor played a key role in helping Wrexham get promoted from Non-League Football to return to The Football League as they compete in League Two.
He also helped The Welsh Club reach The last 32 of The FA Cup as they lost out to Sheffield United following a replay after having scored in the drawn match.
Thomas and Gavan have clashed against one another in a League Two game in mid-September, with The Tullogher native enjoying bragging rights as Wrexham ran out 3-0 winners against Grimbsy Town.
Closer to home, Kilkenny Rugby Club reached The Provincial Towns Cup Final but lost out to a very strong Tullow outfit.
One of the highlights of the year came on St. Patricks Day when The Willie Mullins trained Galopin Des Champs won The Cheltenham Gold Cup. The Champion Trainer also trained Energumene to win a 2nd consecutive Queen Mother Champion, but unfortunately their will be no three-in-row next March as he has been ruled out for the season.
Meanwhile, Willie’s nephew Danny Mullins celebrated a milestone win in late November in Tramore as he rode the 500th victory of his career on Irish soil in which their was a feature piece in last weeks Kilkenny Observer.
Maebh Richardson and Hannah Kehoe from The Kilkenny City Harriers Club competed for Ireland recently at The European Cross Country Championships in Brussels, Belgium, while The National Championships in Gowran in November was the first time since 1984 that The National Seniors were held in County Kilkenny when Kilmacow hosted the event 39 years ago.
It was a memorable Nationals for Kilkenny City Harriers, as there were historic Gold Medals for both The Junior Ladies and Senior Mens who were both winning The Team events for the very first time in the National Senior Cross Country.
The Junior Ladies led by Maebh and Hannah won Team Gold, while they also have a trip to Portugal to look forward to in February as the Kilkenny City Harriers reward for winning Team Gold is a place in The European Club Cross Country Championships.
The Senior Mens Team were also winning Team Gold in The National Seniors for the very first time, as very strong performances in particular from Peter Lynch, Eoin Everard, Cathal O’Reilly and long serving Brian Maher led The Harriers to The Gold Medal following a countback.
That was the first time since 1999 that a Club outside Dublin won The Senior Mens Team Gold Medal.
Eoin Everard had a year to remember and over the past 12 months he won Gold Medals in both The European and World Masters Championships, and also won The County Senior Cross Championships in Tullogher, while Brian Maher is still going strong to this day judging by his Third place finish in The County Senior Cross Country Championships.
Meanwhile, Kilkenny City Harriers celebrated 70 years in exsistence with a Gala night in Langton.
In Boxing, it was a most successful year for Marble City Head Coach Garry Kehoe who enjoyed European and World Championship glory as Coach with The Ireland Team.
In August, at The European Schoolboy/Schoolgirl Championships in Maribor, Slovenia, he helped deliver Team Ireland’s best ever finish in the overall medals table, finishing as the third best team with; three gold, one silver and seven bronze medals, while most recently he was Coach with The Ireland Team that returned home from the World Junior Championships in Yerevan, Armenia, with two World Champions and a World bronze medalist.
Glenmore native Mia Griffin has been a regular on The World Tour throughout 2023, and in October she booked her place to next years Olympics in Paris by finishing 3rd in a road race in China. Mia is almost certain to concentrate on races in The Velodrome in Paris as it will clash with the road events.
She managed to make it home in September for The Ras Na Mban in Kilkenny, where she secured stage victories in both Callan and Tramore in glorious Summer conditions.
Kilkenny Golfer Mark Power is now concentrating on his professional career following a highly successful amateur career, where his final appearance as an amateur was in The Walker Cup where despite the disappointment of losing to The US, he performed superbly winning three of his four matches.
One of the highlights of the year was the success of The Irish Showjumpers at The European Championships in Gorla Minore in Italy in July, and that was highlighted by the wonderful success at where their was plenty of Gold Medals won by Kilkenny competitors.
Seamus Hughes Kennedy won both Individual nad Team Gold in The Young Riders Competition aboard ESI Rocky, while The Brennans from Gowran, Brothers Eoin and Timmy along with their cousin James were part of The Ireland Team that won Gold in The Junior competition.
Along with the rest of the successful Irish Squad, they were Paraded in front of a packed attendance at the recent Dublin Horse Show in The RDS just before The start of The Puissance.
Maria Godden from Callan is a brilliant young talent who recently competed at The European Shortcourse Swimming Championships in Bucharest, Romania and in February (early 2024) she will be the first from Kilkenny Swimming Club to compete at a World Championships as she will represent Ireland in Doha in Qatar.
Lucy Coogan is another brilliant young talent who is on a Sports Scholarship stateside, and during the summer she was part of The Ireland Team that reached The Quarter-Final of The European Championships where they defeated host nation Romania.
So many of The Sporting competitors from across the county were busy competing around the World throughout the year, and most if not all are taking a well earned break to enjoy The Festive season to recharge the batteries before getting prepared for 2024.
NOLLAIG SHONA AGAIBH GO LEIR!
