*Killian Nugent, Pat O’Brien, Joe Cooney, Robert Frost, Neil O’Brien, Patrick Hogan and Matt Donovan.
HAMILTON PARK in Kilkishen marks its centenary this weekend, noted as a beating heart in the East Clare village it will come to life with a number of events taking place, the highpoint being the FutureTicketing Clare Cup final between O’Callaghans Mills and Clooney/Quin on Sunday evening.
Kilkishen House had long been the home of the Studdert family, they came to Ireland from Holland with the Army of William of Orange in 1620 serving as Army chaplain. They were granted a ministry near Cappamore in Co Limerick, the title of the McNamaras of Kilkishen had been used by John Cusack after the Treaty of Limerick and had taken possession. Cusack’s daughter married one of the Studderts then based in Bunratty, thus leading to their arrival in Kilkishen.
By the time of World War 1, the Studderts no longer lived in Kilkishen House, instead the house was used as a barrack where young recruits for the war were billeted and trained for duty. When the war ended in 1918 the army left and word circulated that the Studderts intended to sell the house and the estate as a hospice for war veterans.
Upon hearing this, Kilkishen residents formed a committee to purchase the estate, they had made money during the war and were keen to invest it within the locality. Studdert now living in Ballyhannon House outside Quin agreed to sell the domain but not the house, lawn and castle to 25 purchasers on agreement to its use as a sports field. That was in 1919 and the field became Hamilton Park.
Pat O’Brien, a familiar voice on Scariff Bay Community Radio is the public relations officer for O’Callaghans Mills, he said, “The pitch is a central area for hurling in East Clare, it is probably one of the oldest hurling pitches, Newmarket was after it and Tulla”.
This view was echoed by former Munster Council Chairman, Robert Frost, the club’s current County Board delegate. “Newmarket and Tulla was after it. Outside of Ennis, Kilkishen was the only pitch that was there in the 1930s and 1940s. Most of the big matches were played in Kilkishen, the county finals would have been in Ennis, Tulla came in 1943 and Newmarket-on-Fergus in the 1950s as far as I know, after that it all moved on”.
An official opening was held on June 28th 1923 with a big tournament played that had teams from O’Callaghans Mills, Tulla, Kilkishen, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Meelick, Parteen, Kilbane, Clonlara, Ruan, Ogonnelloe, Quin and Clarecastle. Munster Council Chairman, Ger Ryan will be on hand this Saturday to unveil a new plaque at the facility.
As the decades have passed, development has remained a focus. An active field committee took charge in the 1960s, they began a project of reclamation and levelling out the playing pitch in 1970. Plans were drawn up in 1974 to advance the facilities with a handball alley and meeting hall part of the proposals, the first club meeting was held in the new premises in 1976 when the late JP Guinane was Chairman. After this facelift, the club decided to name the grounds after Msgr Michael Hamilton who died during the Clare SHC final of 1969, having been a servant to Clare GAA throughout his 74 adult years.
Frost recounted, “The first development was done around 1972 or 1973 and I was involved in it when we did the handball alley, we built meeting rooms and a clubhouse, before that we only had small dressing rooms in the far corner, the handball alley is still there, I was secretary at the time and we were told we were off our heads building a handball alley, now it is very popular and we’ve a couple of All-Ireland champions coming out of the handball which has proven to be very popular”.
Matt Donovan is a former Chairman of the club, he said the improvements since that initial development have been very evident. “I’m here since 1972, the improvements that have gone on are unreal, Joe Cooney has spear headed most of it to be honest, it’s great to see where we are now”. In the past decade, the development committee came together with plans to install a new gym, meeting room and hall which have proven very popular and have East Clare Fitness as tenants. A stand was constructed in 2002 with the car park also developed prior to COVID-19.
Indeed Joe Cooney has been a constant figure in the club’s development and he now serves in the role of Chairman. “In fairness to all involved in Kilkishen there has been fantastic work done over the last 100 years, more so from the 70s on with major improvements taking place, we’re all well aware them things wouldn’t have happened only for the great volunteers we had and also the demand out there for people to use the facilities. The facilities are up to a high standard, fantastic use is made of them, you could pass at half six in the morning and there is a number of cars in the car park for people in using the gym or pitch”.
He explained the demand for the facilities forced the club to expand and acquire additional lane in O’Callaghans Mills. “The demand for the use of the pitch here in the 80s and 90s right up to the 2000s was unbelievable, we also played football back then and had a good team, we had to acquire land in O’Callaghans Mills and develop a playing pitch over there which has an awful use made of especially by juveniles where otherwise they would not have been able to get on the pitch here which did happen back the years, naturally enough adult teams will train from 6:30pm on, we were ending up with juveniles not getting on the pitch which is why we had to take action and get the second development in the parish, the young people have thrived over what has been achieved. It is not easy, there is a lot of work done by volunteers but this club is a credit to the parish, the community and the surrounding areas. We work very well with the surrounding clubs in the catchment, if we were short facilities or other clubs were short facilities we would help out each other which is very important”.
Cooney added, “It is hard to believe what has been achieved 100 years on, I remember when I started playing myself, Robert was secretary at the time and had been for a good bit before that, I can remember an awful lot of underage teams togging out under a tree out on the field, I’m telling my age now but that’s the way it was, what has developed since is unbelievable”.
Such conditions would seem alien to Killian Nugent who is the club’s senior goalkeeper and has an active role in field maintenance at Hamilton Park. “When I started out it was nearly a dance hall downstairs, two dressing rooms and shared showers, it is unbelievable compared to what it is now, we’ve upstairs a brand new meeting room, a gym, two massive dressing rooms, a massive hall, a kitchen, new handball alley, it’s brilliant”.
Nugent is part of the Mills side aiming to bridge a 28 year gap by winning the Clare Cup this Sunday against Clooney/Quin, a tie that is to be held in their own club grounds to mark the centenary, an agreement that was reached long before they qualified for the league decider. The Junior B League final will be held on Saturday evening at the grounds with the Mills meeting neighbours Tulla at 5:30pm.
Both games are among the many events planned for the Kilkishen facility this weekend. Secretary Patrick Hogan outlined, “We have a day of activities for the club mainly on the Saturday, we have an underage blitz, an U14 camogie match, we’ll have a barbeque on that evening, kids entertainment and games to bring the whole community into the whole facility. On Sunday, we have the Liam O’Brien tournament which is in memory of Neil’s father, it is an U13 tournament that we’ve ran for the last few years, we’ve a senior camogie match and in the evening we have the Clare Cup final”.
Growth off the field has been replicated in a rise in playing numbers. O’Callaghans Mills currently has in the region of 500 members which is comprised of over 100 juvenile players and up to 70 adult players. “We’ve currently three adult teams, for a couple of years we didn’t have the numbers but in 2018 we resurrected a Junior C team who have since gone on to Junior B, the Junior As won the county final in 2020, they are intermediate now, the adult playing is strong at the moment so we need to try keep the juveniles coming to keep the numbers up,” Hogan stated.
A family aspect to the club remains a core philosophy, Neil O’Brien said, the memorial tournament taking place on Sunday morning is in his father’s memory. “Anyone from a rural perspective will know that all GAA clubs are family orientated, that has always been the tradition down through the years, you could look back to teams in the 1990s and 2000s with the names coming up and the generation behind them. The family connection to where you are from and the club where you grow up with your friends always builds into it and there’s always support in that area, everyone is intertwined in it and knows what people are doing and what family events are on. Family has always been important locally. For us, it is great to have a tournament in memory of Liam, he was a keen player, a supporter, an administrator and coach down through the years, it is great there is a legacy and a tournament in his memory, there’s many more tournaments and great people around, I’m delighted there is one in Liam’s memory”.
Through its 100 years, there have been many memorable encounters at Hamilton Park. There is the infamous Clare Cup final between Newmarket-on-Fergus and Sixmilebridge noted for the digging of graves on the pitch, the 1939 National League clash between Clare and Cork which occurred during the time of a flu epidemic so there was more players on the field than spectators and of course the 1923 Cup final which pitted Kilkishen against the Mills, “It was around the time of the Civil War, there was more fighting than hurling,” O’Brien quipped.
Those involved with the Mills will hope this coming weekend adds a new chapter to their history by claiming the Clare Cup title.
