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| Grange, GAA, GFC, Gaelic, Football, Club, Kildare, Athy, Grangenolvin, Ladies |
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| Founded 1955 |
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The local people of the towns lands of Grangenolvin and Kilkea founded
Grangenolvin GAA Club in 1955. The Coogans and theMurphys were to
the forefront getting the club started by organising challenge matches
with some of the established teams of south Kildare. Very soon there
were players coming from Ballyroe, Levitstown, Rosetown, Moone and
Burtown.
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| The 1960's |
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By 1960 the team had established itself as a force to be reckoned with in
Kildare. The arrival of Johnny Morrissey and Johnny Miller in 1963 set
the club on a roller coaster of success to win the Junior 'B' Championship
in 1964, the Junior' A ' Championship and the Jack Higgins Cup in 1965
with other great players like Kevin Wynne and Martin Mannion , all of
whom were wearing the white jersey of Kildare at this stage.
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| The 1970's |
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The early 70's saw the return of the great Mick Carolan, a native of
Levitstown, to play with his home club. In 1971 the Club purchased their
own grounds in Grangemellon under the forward thinking Chairman, the .
late Mick(doc)Kelly . With the retirement of many prominent players the
remainder of the 70's were lean years on the field ofplay. Fran Miller
took over as Club secretary in 1975 and remains so to this day.
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| The 1980's |
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A youth policy spearheaded by Tom Tighe, Johnny Miller and Johnny Dempsey
led to Minor league titles in '81 and '84 producing players like
Tom Deere , Brian McMahon , Tom Cullen , Seamus Tighe and Dermot Lambe.
Other titles in this period were the Junior 'B' Championship in 1985, the
Junior' A ' Championship, Senior League and the Jack Higgins Cup in
1987.
In 1985 Murphy Memorial Park was officially opened in honour of
Mikey Murphy (RIP) from Kilkea and Paddy Joe Murphy (RIP) from
Rosetown. With their new Clubhouse and no outstanding debts, due
mainly to the fund raising activities of the late Jack Deere and PJ Digan,
the Club was awarded the AIB Club of the Year in Kildare for 1985.
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| The 1990's |
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The arrival of Mick O'Dwyer on the Kildare scene saw Niall Connolly
and Paul Doyle come to prominence after Grange were beaten in the 1991
Intermediate Championship final.
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| OUR GROUNDS AND CLUBHOUSE |
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For years Grange had played there games in any field they could, ranging from Coogans field in GrangeNolvin, to Stewards field in Nicholstown, Mike Coogans of Bushfield, Dooley's field of Nicholstown, Millers of GlenBawn before GrangeNolvin football club finally came to rest in Ballyroe, where it resides today.
In early 1971 the grounds in Ballyroe was purchased, approx 5 acres in size. Many an evening had been spent tilling and cultivating the field to get it fit for a football pitch in that summer.y. I would think allot of work went into that field in that year from everyone involved; jim barr of burtown deserves a mention for all the work he did picking stones and raking the soil.Another who deserves a mention from that year is Paddy Joe Murphy who provided his own machinery to get the Field Ready and left a legacy and a high standard for all to follow.
On the 17th of March 1985 the grounds and clubhouse was officially opened, it was called the Murphy Memorial Park , named after two outstanding men of the club, Paddy Joe Murphy and Mikey Murphy . Just recently the club got an extension of another dressing room and showers, changing room and shower for the referee, to help accommodate the ladies who have moved in leaps and bounds in a very short ten years this year to become a very strong force in ladies football in the county. |
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