On the 4th July 1888 the first meeting of the GAA was held in Kilconnell at
which John McKeigue was elected chairman, Joseph Callanan as treasurer, William Carroll as referee, David Hogan and Pat Naughton as umpires and P Dillon & Michael Kelly as goalkeepers. The first ever GAA social recorded in Kilconnell was on the 8th September 1888.
From 1900 to 1910 hurling wained in the area and in 1916-1917 a football team was registered, some of the names
who played at the time were J Murphy, Jack Kelly, Ted Finn, Martin Coen, Hession, Connelly and the Silke brothers. In 1924 a first class team was put together, some of that team were Jack and PJ Kelly, Brendan, John and Gerard Glynn, Pat, John and James Dillon, Tom, Pat and Martin Joyce, J Quinn, Ted and James Hession. Ted Hession was part of
the great Galway team in the 1920 period.
In 1932 Martin Joyce revitialised the club with a lot of the aforementioned players and the Costello, Cassidy, Connor, the Ward brothers,
Walter Hickey and Billy Callanan. At that
time there was two teams formed Calla
and a St Gabriels team.
In 1939 St Gabriels won the county Junior
title and the East Board Final and in 1941 Calla won it. In 1942 Paddy Cassidy was
a member of the Galway team that played
in the All Ireland Final against Dublin. In
1953 the St Gabriels minor hurling team were beaten by 1 point by Castlegar in the final. In the
50s - 60s new blood came into the teams namely the Farrell brothers. In the early 60's a revival
took place in the area with St Gabriels winning the East Board Junior football title.
Then in 1968 St Gabriels reached the
county Minor semi final. Emmet Farrell
played in the 1971 All Ireland Final
against Offaly. During this period Saint Gabriels had success on the field winning
the East Board U21 title in 1968, 1971 & 1972. Also in 1972 St Gabriels U21's
reached the county final but were unfortunately beaten by Oughterard.
In 1974 John Dillon was a member of
the Galway team that played against Dublin in the All Ireland final and this year also saw
St Gabriels add another East Board U21 title (1974). 1979 saw the start of a very successful
period in St Gabriels football history were they won the County Junior final backboned by a number of familys Farrells, Dillons, Treacys, Connellys and Quinns. Success followed in the
80s with the winning of the Intermediate Championship in 1980. St Gabriels progressed to senior football after this
and continued by winning senior league
titles in 1981 and '84. In between this the Junior team won the North Board title in 1983. In 1987 Hughie Bleahane was a
member of the Galway team that reached
the All Ireland Final. In the 90s the club continued to play with success at
underage level. 1995 saw the winning
of the East Board Junior title and the U16 team won the North Board League title. Success
then followed in 1996 with the winning of the U14 League title and the U16 County title with
Pat Lally as manager with a victory over Glinsk in Mountbellew. In 2003 they won the U14
League title with Brendan Malone as manager & the U16 League title with Robbie Keane
the manager.
2004 east/south brd jr champs
Also in 2004 Gabriels won the East/South Board Junior championship. 2005 U16 shield winners
In 2005 the U12's gained the County title under the tutelage of Pauric Donnellan against Glenamaddy, they also won the U14 County title under Padge Finn and also the U16
County Shield under Hubert Burke. In 2006 St Gabriels won the Junior B County title
by beating Gort in the final and the South Board Junior title under manager Jimmy
Connelly. This was followed up in the same year by the U14 league title in Pearse
stadium under Padge Finn. 2006 was a good year with the Junior team winning both
the East/South Board Junior final and the County Final.

2006 county & east/south board junior champions

2006 U14 shield winners
2008 was a highly successful season for St Gabriels under age teams and special
congratulations went to the U12's on winning the league final, the EASYFIX U12
League, the Jack Kelly Cup & the PFS sponsored Coiste Peil Na Nog team of the
month award for september. The U10's also won the Pa Jordan Memorial Cup &
the U16's won the Shield Final .
2008 U12 winning team
The next year of 2009 didn't see the level of success that St Gabriels under age
teams had hit in the previous year of 2008 but endeavours on the pitch brought
no less effort and with the 2010 season in full swing we look forward to further
success from our players and management team in the future.
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