By Vincent Sutton (page 15, Liffey Champion)

The death took place of the old footballer Davy Dalton at this home on Courtown Road, Kilcock on Sunday (7^th March). He is best known as the man who captained Kildare to Leinster Senior Championship success in 1956, an achievement the county was not to repeat for another 42 years.

Born in 1927, he came to Kilcock from Sallins to work in Kelly’s Bakery, then one of the biggest employers in north Kildare. He became a central figure in the towns golden era of Gaelic football, a period that saw it win three Senior Championships, two league crowns and send several talented footballers on to the county team.

The player, who at 5’5” was once described as the ‘diminutive Dalton’, was one of these and he was to be one of their best. He made his debut as a substitute, coming in at corner back against Dublin in a National Football League game on 5^th March 60 years ago.

Dalton was in time to become the Lilywhites’ tried and trusted left corner-forward and it was in that position that he led them to the Leinster crown, beating Wexford in the final in 1956. Micheál Ó Muineog, in his excellent ‘Kilcock GAA – A History’, notes that Davy forgot to collect the cup and had to be reminded of it by another Kilcock Legend, Tommy Kelly.

Aged 83, Davy died peacefully at his home on Sunday at about 1pm, while looking forward to listening to radio commentary of the Kildare v Donegal game in the National Football League that afternoon. And while he had not been at the best of health in recent months, his passing was somewhat unexpected and deeply regretted.

On Tuesday, footballers old and young, team mates and fellow club members came to form guards of honour as he was taken down Courtown Road to the church in the heart of Kilcock. Juvenile members formed a guard of honour along the road, while club members walked alongside the hearse.

Davy’s death is deeply regretted by his loving wife Annie, daughters Theresa, Eileen, Ann, Jane, Stephanie, Gemma, Fiona and sons Davy, Colm and Paul. He is survived also by 29 grandchildren, his sister Breda, brothers-in-law, nephews, nieces, relatives, neighbours and his many friends and even fans who saw him play and cheered him on all those years ago.

May he rest in peace.

County ready to drown the shamrock – Organisers announce details of parade events around the county

10 March 2010 (Leinster Leader – Online)

Kildare is gearing up to celebrate St Patrick’s Day next Wednesday, March 17, and parades will take place right across the county. The circus is coming to town as part of the Newbridge parade. Fossetts Circus have confirmed that they will join the parade which will start from Tesco’s car park at 12 noon. Cllr. Paddy Kavanagh who is on the festival committee said that there has been great interest in this year’s parade.

“The viewing stand will be at the Town Hall and this year there will be barriers the whole length of the town for safety reasons. There will also be great street entertainment on the day,” he said.

If you would still like to partake in this year’s festival please contact Cllr Kavanagh on 086 1705199.

This year’s St Patrick’s Day parade in Clane which will begin at 3pm and will have ‘The Sound of Music’ as its theme. The leaders of the local scout troop will provide the grand marshall. The parade terminates at the Clane GAA Club and the organisers provide food and entertainment free of charge for all participants and spectators. The event also features a St. Patrick’s Day Window Display Competition, St. Patrick’s Day Music Quiz and free on-street entertainment. Down south, preparations for this year’s Athy parade are being finalised by the Athy Town Promoters group.

The organisers have been working closely with the Cromaboo Vintage Club. The parade will commence at 2.30pm from Kilkenny Road and proceed along William Street, Duke Street and Leinster Street. The assembly point for floats and participants is 1.30pm at Athy Business Park. Enquiries should be directed to: Athy Heritage Centre-Museum at 059 8633075.

The Monasterevin parade will be held at 2pm instead of after 12 o’clock mass which had been the practice in previous years. The Grand Marshal of the parade is the Monasterevin Person of the Year, Christy McEvoy, leader of the Monasterevin Scout Troop.

The assembly point for the various clubs and organisations will be at St. Peter and Paul’s Church from 1.15 pm on. Floats will assemble from the corner back in the direction of the High Bridge and the positions in the parade will be on a “first come, first served” basis.

The parade will proceed up by the Harbour and then down the Main Street which will be closed to all traffic for the afternoon. The reviewing stand will be situated at the Fire Station.

The Kilcock parade will start at 1.30pm from Spin Bridge just down from Musgrave’s and travel down through the

Don't forget the Duck Race post-Parade!

village and into the Square. Entry fees are the same as last year – for businesses the fee is €80 and for clubs, schools and voluntary groups it is €40. The theme this year is ‘Our Kilcock’. Organisers are still accepting entries from local business, schools and clubs are expected to take part, as well as three bands – the Blanchardstown Band who will be playing on the stage in the square, St. Mary’s Maynooth Brass and Reed Band and the Vincent Lalor Pipe Band.

The annual Maynooth parade will start from the Greenfield Shopping Centre at 11am and is expected to be in the town centre around midday. Maynooth parade organiser, Cllr. John McGinley, said they had the highest number of floats since the year of the foot and mouth disease.

Meanwhile, the St. Patrick Foundation, a group set up up to promote a humanitarian non-denominational vision of St. Patrick, is running a Prayer Breakfast in the Glenroyal Hotel (8.30-9.30am). The cost is n10.

There will be no parade in Celbridge, which has been traditionally organised by a separate committee to Celbridge Community Council. Insufficient funds to pay for public liability insurance has been cited as a reason but the committee plan to meet earlier next year.

Nude life drawing workshops at Kilcock Art Gallery

By Sarah Egan (Liffey Champion, page 18)

Learn the Art of life drawing at Kilcock Art Gallery

Life drawing workshops, the only one of their kind in Co. Kildare, are going to take place in Kilcock Art Gallery on Sunday, 11^th April. Artist Michael Rowley is going to facilitate the workshops, which are the first such artist/gallery initiatives outside Dublin and the only such venue in the County of Kildare where students can be taught the traditional artist’s skill of drawing and painting the nude model from life.

All of the specialised equipment is available to the participants on the day and the models will be professional artists’ nude models. Michael Crowley initiated the Life Drawing Course at UCD in 2004 and his dynamic style has been highly regarded there so he is a much sought after life drawing teacher. The first workshop at Kilcock Art Gallery will focus on exploring the possibilities of the line in drawing the human figure using pencil and fine line pens.

Participants need to bring their own materials. The five hour workshop costs €60 and a non-refundable deposit of €30 is required to book a place.

There are four more workshops following this, on Sunday, 16^th May, Sunday, 13^th June, Sunday, 18^th July and Sunday, 15^th August. To book a place contact Michael on 087-7534986 or email rowleymj@tcd.ie or Breda Smith at Kilcock Art Gallery on 01-6287619 or email info@kilcockartgallery.ie.

A great day at the Indoor Hurling Blitz in the Kilcock GAA

This was a complete success as was the whole Spring Blitz. The levels of skill on display greatly improved over the course of the blitz’s and all participating children can look forward to moving to playing outdoors on grass in the coming weeks.

Kilcock Indoor Hurling Under 8s Team

Indoor Hurling at the Kilcock GAA

Kilcock team consisted of Stephen Cussen, Dylan Morrow, Tomas Gabett, Brendan Mahon, Brendan Gibbons, Jamie Brett, Sean Hogins, Vincent Ellison, Aaron Curtain, Evan O’Brien, Rossa O’Brien

Result: Carbury 2-9, Kilcock 2-5

Anticipation was high for this first match of the 2010 league with Kilcock drawn away to Carbury the only team they lost to last season. This was always going to be a tough encounter with both team eager to get off to a winning start. Conditions were excellent for the match and a great game of football promised. Carbury got off to a great start with a goal in the first few minutes. The Kilcock lads took longer to settle and missed a couple of point scoring chances. Carbury on the other hand made the most of opportunities and were 2 – 3 to 2pts up at half time.

The second half saw Kilcock come more into the game and Killian Browne just on since half time pulled a goal back for Kilcock. Despite the controversial decisions by match referee Kilcock continued to put pressure on Carbury and picked off some nice points.A goal from Eoin Mulhall brought the scores closer and Kilcock’s momentum continued to rise. A fine save from the Carbury goalie kept Eoin Mulhall from getting a certain 2nd goal. Despite on going pressure from the Kilcock lads Carbury held out at the end with a four point winning margin.
This was a great second half display from Kilcock with huge team effort by each and every player, and a good indication of the season to come.

Scorers: Kilcock:Killian Browne 1goal, Eoin Mulhall 1 goal, Patrick, O’Sullivan 2pts, Jamie Percival 1pt, Callum Warfield 2pts.
Kilcock team: Jamie Percival, Cillian Fitzgerald, Padraig Norris, Andrew Maguire, James Kenehan, Findlay Nairn, Conor Lawless, Colm Close, Eoin Mulhall, Patrick O’Sullivan, Eoghan Laheen, Matthew Murrow, Killian Browne, and Callum Warfield.
Paul Norris, Kilcock.

Celbridge v Kilcock U12′s

A wonderful exhibition of football from two well matched sides. The final result was in doubt up to the last five minutes of the game. Kilcock emerged victorious on a score line of 3 – 6 to 1 – 7.  In many respects it was a game of two halves with Kilcock dominant in the first and Celbridge dominant for much of the second. The game started at great pace with both sides missing scorable chances. Rory Nairn opened the scoring for Kilcock with a beautifully taken point. Celbridge replied quickly with a well taken point. Two points for Kilcock by Jason Gibbons and Cian Duke edged Kilcock into a lead they held until midway into the second half. Points were shared and then a great move by Eoin Reidy lead to a Rory O’Brien goal. At half time the scores were 1 – 5, 0 – 3.

Best for Kilcock in that first half were those previously mentioned and Conor Bright, Daniel Deane, Luke Sheridan and Cormac Divilly. Celbridge started the second half in a very determined fashion. Three well taken points brought the scoreline to 1 – 5 and 0 – 6.

Kilcock made a few attacks but like Celbridge in the first half kicked poor wides. A great move lead to a Celbridge goal and the lead for the first time 1 – 5 to 1 – 6. Kilcock slowly started to come to life with Jason Gibbons and Danny Coss-Heneghan getting control in mid field. A quick move up field lead to a well taken goal by Daniel Deane. Kilcock were now two points ahead. Celbridge hit back with a point of their own to leave the game on a knife edge. Kilcock’s defence of Sean Eves, Patrick Kelly, Conor Bright, Kealan Scanlon and Gavin Judge worked very hard to keep Celbridge at bay. Two great saves by Cormac Daly denied Celbridge from taking back the lead. Kilcock got the upper hand ten minutes from the end with a goal from Rory Nairn and a point from Sean Berns.

Well done to both teams on a great exhibition of football. We saw two very strong teams who will surely be in the shake-up at the end of the league.

Feile Football Division E – March 7th 2010

Result: Kilcock 4-4 | Raheens 3-7

Kilcock hosted Raheens for round 2 of the Feile div E on Sunday last, both teams looking for their first win in the competition. Kilcock established an early lead of 2-1 to 0-1 with goals from Patrick Baker and Ronan Dunne. A nice sunny morning and a large pitch lend itself to an open game of football as both teams had periods of dominance during the open half which ended with Kilcock leading by 2-2 to 0-5.

The second half followed with end to end football and Kilcock established a six point lead heading into the final quarter of the game with victory insight following a well worked goal from Danny Coss Heneghan and points from Cian Duke and Nathan Murphy. However Kilcock lost the influential Ronan Dunne to injury and gaps began to appear in the Kilcock defence which until the closing minutes had played well as a unit. In the final quarter Raheens took over in the middle of the field where William McDonald and Patrick Morrin began to win a lot of ball and they finished with two late goals to draw the game.

The Kilcock goalkeeper Cormac Daly brought off some fine saves throughout the game while in defence James Murphy, Conor Byrne and Michael Malone played some fine football.

Kilcock team: Cormac Daly, Aaron McHale, James Murphy, Michael Malone, Conor Byrne, Eugene O Sullivan, Con McDunphy, Ronan Dunne, Mathew Tapley, Danny Coss Heneghan, Patrick Baker, Nathan Murphy, Ben Kelly. Subs used Cillian Thornton, Cian Duke, and Rory O Brien.