We are half way through the year, league campaigns are wrapping up, championship preparations are well on the way and the sun is shining.
But before we jump into the half year round up we have a to say a big congratulations to the Dublin Senior Hurlers for reaching the All-Ireland semi-finals. Hopefully we can go one better than in 2013 when Cork narrowly beat the Dubs and reach our first final since 1961 when Tipperary beat us! If you think that’s a long time ago we have to go all the way back to 1938 when Dublin won their last title. Playing that day at corner back was Charlie McMahon who grew up in the Kevin’s club and won an Intermediate Championship title with the club in 1924, before reaching our one and only Senior Championship County Final in 1926. Charlie was on the first Dublin team to win a National League in 1929 and also narrowly lost out on an All-Ireland winners medal in 1930 while representing Kevins… who beat them in the All-Ireland Final? It was Tipperary. No doubt we will be keen to get back to a final and reverse our fortunes against our friends from Munster!
Fast forward to 2025 and the half year review and the summary is that we are making good progress once again! After many years of hard work a flow of underage players are starting to transition to adult level and it’s beginning to show as once again we fielded 3 adult hurling and 2 camogie teams.
Our AHL4 got their league campaign off to a great start winning 3 from 3 with new comers from the underage ranks Christopher Tuite and Declan Power making a good impression. While momentum stalled mid way through the campaign, our boys picked up their game and landed in 3rd place which is higher than in previous seasons. No doubt the injection of youth from last year’s Minor squad has given this squad an extra few percent. Our AHL7 side also finished higher than last season and our AHL10s squad won their league having lost only 1 game. This is the first time since 2003 Kevins have won an adult league! Well done to all our players, but especially to Conor Bracken who made his debut at adult level over 25 years ago.
Our adult camogie squads also received a boost of underage players and with more to come over the coming years the future is looking bright. The impact was already clear to see in the league campaign with our Intermediate 2 squad gaining promotion and our Junior 3 squad coming a respectable 3rd place in their first league campaign. On an individual level one of our great role models Meadhbh Hicks made a return to the inter county scene and bagged an All-Ireland winners medal with the Dublin Under 23 squad.
Progress at under age level is also evident. Our Minor hurlers are competing in Division 3 and are holding their own winning 3 from 6 games, with 3 games remaining. Our camógs also played in Division 3 and despite finishing the campaign unbeaten they finished in runners-up spot. Despite the disappointment of not winning the league they did secure promotion to Division 2. Mother and daughter duo Jenny and Chloe Kearns also featured prominently with the Dublin minor squads as coach and player.
Our Under 16 hurlers and camógs ended their league campaigns in respectable mid table positions with the hurlers playing in Division 6 and camogie in Division 2. Aisling Fitzgerald also starred with the Dublin Camogie squad who won the Under 16 All-Ireland B Final against Limerick earlier in the year which was a great achievement!
Our Under 15 hurlers and camógs had a very good first half, with our hurlers winning both the Féile na nGael Division 3 Shield and coming runners up in the Division 9 Cup. While the camogie squad were disappointed with their Féile campaign they quickly regrouped and won the Division 3 league in style. The camógs were once again well represented on Dublin development squads with Chloe Madden, Meabh Ramos and Rachel Leavy holding down some prominent positions on the pitch.
Our Under 14 hurlers have progressed well through the grading leagues having gained some big scalps in the 1st phase of the B division. While their second phase hasn’t been as successful they have unearthed some new talent as well as being represented by Charlie McKenzie, Ethan Norton and Taiguara Murphy! It’s likely at this stage that they will land in Division 3 of the league proper. Our Under 14 camogie are competing in Division 4 and while they opened their campaign with a good win, the remainder of their games were against stronger sides. The camogie representation on the Dublin squads seems never ending as we congratulated Lilly Gannon who won the Leinster Division 2 Shield!
Our Under 13 hurlers finished their grading leagues and landed in Division 5, 2 divisions higher than 2024 and started their league campaign proper on a high winning their 1st 2 games and narrowly loosing to Commericals and Na Fianna after. This league seems very competitive and as a result will give the boys some great opportunities to develop their skills in 2025. Amazingly the is team includes 4 hurlers who captained their schools, 3 of whom made it to their finals in Croke Park.
Our Under 12 hurlers started their campaign in the C grading leagues winning their 1st 2 games well and narrowly loosing their remaining 3. A number of the boys on the squad also had the honour of playing in Croke Park with the schools on Cumann na mBunscoil finals day which gave them great experience. They landed in Division 6 after the grading and have put in some spectacular performances since, winning 3 from 3. This squad top the table along with Setanta who are also unbeaten and look forward to hosting the Ballymun outfit on their return in September. This game will be at home and is expected to be entertaining! There is no entrance fee, so pop in and support the boys in their top of table clash on Saturday the 6th September! Our Ninjas – AKA the Under 12 camógs – are also flying it under the Go Games format. This team has put in some really strong performances this year and have grown in numbers in the 1st 6 months of the year.
Our Under 8-11 squads have been well represented in both hurling and camogie with some very strong performances throughout the 1st half of the year. More importantly the skills on show throughout the 1st 6 months have been fanatics with lots of top quality hooking, blocking, catching and striking. A big thanks also goes to our young referees who make sure these games go ahead and to our adult referee Conor McKenna who jumped in to referee some games when resources were limited. Trips are currently being organised but the Under 11s were ahead of the pack, as they travelled down to support the Dubs against Kilkenny and organised a challenge against O Loughlin Gaels. Our Under 9 Camógs also got to play at half time at a Dublin game in Parnell Park.
Our ABC Nursery was busy every Saturday morning for the past 6 months and we broke for the Summer at the end of June. Keep an eye on social media for news of our return!
As mentioned earlier a big congratulations to all our boys and girls who played Cumann nA mBunscoil earlier in the year. St Clares made it to the quarter finals stages and Griffith Barracks reached the final in Croke Park. We also had boys involved in other schools including Gaelscoil Na Fuinseoige and Scoil Mologa, both of whom made it to Croke Park finals day, with Alfie McCarron captaining the Mologa boys to victory!
Our Coaching & Development Committee were also busy in the 1st half of 2025 running Child Protection, Foundation and Level 1 Coaching Courses in conjunction with Dublin County Board. An Easter Camp was held in Loreto College and in June a very successful Striking Academy was run every Friday night with some very positive feedback received from parents and players. As we publish this half year report we have over 150 kids on our annual Cúl Camp hosted in Loreto College!
In other codes we were delighted to host the a pilot Go Games GAA Rounders session in May for Under 10-12 age groups. There was great excitement in Loreto College as boys and girls from Kevins competed with Emo (Laois) and Na Fianna (Dublin) clubs. We have been playing every Friday at 6.15 pm since hosting the blitz and plan to continue throughout the summer. Our GAA Handball programme has also ramped up in 2025 with Matthew McGlade reaching the Leinster Under 12 B Leinster Semi-Finals in 40×20. Fred Macklin and Alfie McCarron also represented club and county in Leinster Championships and were delighted to be picked for the annual Friendship Games between Dublin and Antrim Cumann nA mBunscoil. Kevin’s members assisted in the running of an Introduction to Handball session in Croke Park for all Dublin clubs and the club was also delighted to see so many of its players participate in the Cumann nA mBunscoil tournaments. A big shout out to St Clare’s who had a strong representation on the day.
Teams were also busy off the field as the CCC1 groups had a great day out with over 130 players competing in The Hell & Back course. Despite trudging through the mud and water obstacles a fun filled day was had by all! On the PR front we created a NEW WhatsApp Channel where regular news items are posted.
To top off a successful 6 months we had a lucky winner of the Club Lotto Jackpot worth €4,700! All funds raised go towards the running of our activities many which are listed above. You can support the club by playing online here and hopefully scoop up a prize.
Plans are in play to ensure positive momentum in the 2nd half of the year including the annual golf classic on All-Ireland Week-End and the revision of our club strategy which is being led by club Vice-Chairman Aidan O’Sullivan.
