Kildalkey Hurling Club picked up the Club of the Year award at the Meath Chronicle Sports Awards. At the presentation (from left) were Jimmy Geoghegan (Meath Chronicle), Noel Moran (Bective Tea Rooms), Thomas Brady, Seamus Harmon, Sean Kealy and Valerie Moran (Bective Tea Rooms).

Meath Sports Awards: Tremendous treble lands Kildalkey with Club of the Year accolade

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Kildalkey Hurling Club picked up the Club of the Year award at the Meath Chronicle Sports Awards. At the presentation (from left) were Jimmy Geoghegan (Meath Chronicle), Noel Moran (Bective Tea Rooms), Thomas Brady, Seamus Harmon, Sean Kealy and Valerie Moran (Bective Tea Rooms). David Mullen

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Kildalkey's three championship winning captains Aaron Traynor, David Conneely and Shane Reilly with manager Nick Fitzgerald with their silverware. Gerry Shanahan

Fergal Lynch

Published: Tue 13 Feb 2024, 9:26 PM

Last updated: Tue 13 Feb 2024, 9:56 PM

There were so many worthy candidates to be nominated for the Club of the Year award and whittling it down to just three proved very difficult. However when it came to determining the winner the decision was unanimous.

The remarkable achievements of Kildalkey Hurling Club to claim six adult trophies, including the three main championships, in 2023 will go down in history in legend.

A tiny village nestled in the south Meath countryside with a population of 700 or 800 people has always punched above its weight, but in 2023 they surpassed even their own wildest expectations.

The club entered three adult teams into eight competitions and managed to make the finals of each and every one of them, winning six, and to cap off that wonderful year they added the Meath Chronicle Club of the Year accolade to the similar award they were also honoured to receive from Meath GAA.

For the club chairman Tosh Brady winning the Meath Chronicle award is very special, the icing on an already very tasty cake, but he admits that the work that went into achieving all they did in 2023 didn't just happen in the last 12 months.

"This award is different to all the other things we won in 2023, but to be recognised by the Meath Chronicle for our achievements means a lot to the club," admitted Brady who represented his club at the awards along with Sean Kealy and Seamus Harmon.

"What happened in 2023 didn't just happen because of the work that happened last year, it was years in the making.

"Our juvenile chairman Philip Lyons has a wonderful set-up and all the coaches that have put in years of hard work that people don't realise or see what goes on behind the scenes, all that went towards the success of 2023.

"Pat O'Halloran helped win the senior championship in 2009, '10 and '11 and he has helped raise the standard of hurling in Meath. That success led to Kiltale coming along and doing all that they did.

"Everything is down to all the hard work and all the coaching that has gone on for a lot of years."

Throughout 2023 whenever it was mention to Kildalkey folk that the championship treble of senior, intermediate and junior was on they played coy and contained their enthusiasm.

However, Brady admitted at the awards ceremony last Friday that when things started to get serious around the quarter-finals the belief started to grow.

"I started to believe when we were coming near the quarter-finals. We just knew that we were in a good place as a club and everything was going well," he admitted.

"Even though the seniors were not setting the world alight, they were still winning matches and getting across the line and momentum started building. When momentum gets going that can be the big thing.

The Meath Sports Awards are kindly supported by Bective Stud and Tea Rooms, Meath Co Council and Meath Local Sports Partnership

"You could see the confidence growing in each team. Each week no team wanted to be defeated in case the other two teams won, so they hopped off one another all year.

"We were dreaming from a good while out, but never in those wildest dreams did we think we would finish up with six cups in the village, that was phenomenal.

"We knew the senior final against Ratoath was going to be a very tough, physical game, but we saw it with the lads before, they have great faith and confidence in their own ability and they will always fight to the very end.

"Our intermediate team, especially last year, were underdogs in most games. Coming up against the likes of O'Mahonys and other first teams and big clubs, but those boys fought to the last whistle of every game and even when they were comfortably winning they always kept going they wanted to win every ball."

Being involved in so many finals and their year continuing to the very last day can be draining on a club, both physically and financially, but Brady agreed that they'd be happy to shoulder those particular burdens every year.

"We would happily take those stresses every year. When you have the kind of success we have had there is no problem organising that type of stuff," said the chairman who is already turning his attentions to the new campaign.

"Nick (Fitzgerald) and the lads have a great set-up in place. We will sit down again and see what we are looking for again and what is needed to go again.

"It is a pleasure to be doing the likes of that work when you are gaining success," he concluded before returning to the village with yet more accolades.