St Kevin's GAA 3.52

St Kevin’s is a Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club in the Kildare GAA based in Staplestown in North County Kildare, Ireland.HistoryStaplestown Lord Edward Fitzgeralds affiliated in 1888 and were heavily beaten in their first two matches, 6-12 to nil by Rathcoffey and 7-12 to nil by Sallins..The club was founded in 1945 and played under the name Staplestown GFC. The original colours were green white and gold and remained so until 1963 when the club added St. Kevin's to the Staplestown name and changed their colour to black and red. The name refers to Saint Kevin of Glendalough. Various locations were used for matches until the present grounds were acquired in 1961. The dressing rooms were built in 1982 and the ground was named the Jack Casey Memorial Park in memory of the club secretary who had been so instrumental in purchasing the pitch originally. The bar and hall were added in recent years.The first official match played by the club was a junior league game against Caragh in Prosperous in March 1946 losing out by 3-4 to 1-3. It took until the third round of the league to gain the first win, defeating another newly formed club Firmount 1-3 to 1-2 which was played in Allen. In their first ever championship match they defeated Rathcoffey 1-2 to 1-1 but lost to Straffan in the second round. A lean few years followed until 1966 when they contested the junior league final, the first ever final contested by the club, but were beaten by a point by Milltown.The seventies proved to be the most successful decade for the club when they went from Junior B to Senior. In that period the club contested two Junior B finals, two Jack Higgins Cup finals, a division 3 senior league final, a division 2 senior league final and two junior league division 2 finals. The Junior B championship was won in 1972 when they defeated Raheens, the first ever championship win for the club. The Junior A championship was won in 1976 when they defeated Leixlip. The intermediate final was contested for the first time in 1978 but was lost by a point. The intermediate championship crown was secured in 1979 when they defeated St. Laurence's in the final. The senior league division 3 crown was also won in 1973 by going through the entire campaign unbeaten. Although they lost the division 2 final, promotion to division 1 was won for the first time in 1980. Another Division 2 final defeat came in 1982. The club played in the senior championship from 1980 to 1990, reaching the semi-final in 1984 where they were beaten by five points by eventual winners Clane.