ARLES KILCRUISE and ARLES KILEEN

Started by Unlaoised, October 05, 2016, 12:20:00 PM

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Unlaoised

Started a new topic on this as it was taking away from the senior final and I think it deserves a thread of it's own.....

HIGH FIELDER POSTED

The Killeen/Kilcruise situation is morally wrong in my opinion. It has gone on for far too long. I don't know the exact details of the row, but my understanding is that it started over a field. If that is the case, and I stand corrected, then all involved should be ashamed. Kilcruise have their title in 2003, but many lads on their current panel don't have a medal, and nobody in Killeen has one. They'd still be formidable for a year or two if they joined immediately, but there's also the future to think about. Time to get some sense.


HESHS UMPIRE POSTED

I think the split was over the club name and the dispute over the rights to the field happened later on.


THE MONUMENT ROAD  POSTED

I remember the whole fiasco well. It happened well over 20 years ago when an Arles club general meeting decided to change the name to Arles Kileen and the minority at that meeting didnt accept it. The outcome was a new club was set up called Arles Kilcruise with the old Arles club called Arles Kileen. As far as i can remember the whole episode went down the legal route. Ironically the two Arles clubs have joined together this year at under 13. Maybe a sign of things to come :P




RED SETANTA POSTED AN ARTICLE

Article from the Times back in 2003.

From The Sunday Times
November 23, 2003
Kilcruise relight fire amid the fury

A Laois community was split in two by a dispute at the local club. Now the whole county is united behind their pursuit of Leinster glory, writes Michael Foley
Two years ago, driving through Arles from his home in Kildare for the first time on his way to training, Jim Maguire noticed there was nothing to notice. In the village, he saw a church and the Tall Trees pub. He saw a derelict shop on one side of the road and a few houses collected near the pub. Out the road he came across the pitch, lined out on the side of a gentle incline on a lush part of James Kealy's farm, with a cargo container acting as a dressing room and clubhouse.
This was Arles-Kilcruise. They had little but their spirit, and a stubborn belief in themselves. They had known times as bad as they could ever have been, but now unimaginable things seemed possible. The spirit among the players was intense and seeped into every vein of the community. On the muckiest training nights, knots of locals would linger on the sidelines. The team knew they needed the cold input of an outsider, but it took Maguire, a new co-manager, time to cut his way into their trust.

"They were absolute fanatics for football," says Maguire. "For a club like them to achieve what they have they'd have to be."
The last two weekends have brought those unthinkable dreams to life. Last Saturday Arles-Kilcruise won their first Laois county senior title. The following afternoon they beat O'Hanrahans of Carlow in the Leinster club championship and this afternoon they play Round Towers in a Leinster semi-final.
Less than a decade ago, Arles didn't exist. Three years ago they had no field and almost saw their very existence crushed by a judge's gavel. But they found the resolve to survive, nurture their footballers and live the dream. This is their day.
Arles parish holds about 300 houses and three clubs, which carve those thin resources between them. On one side of Arles-Kilcruise sits Ballylinan, on the other Arles-Killeen. For 30 years the parish had two clubs, Arles and Ballylinan. For years Arles existed in happy obscurity. In 1974 they reached a county semi-final, but it was a rare spark that was quickly extinguished.

Larry Wall captained Arles in 1974, and soon after began calling to Arles national school to coach football. He still turns up every Friday evening, his enthusiasm hardly sapped by the years. The school houses about 40 children and two teachers and provided every player on Kilcruise's current panel. Wastage is considered a crime. No player with even an ounce of talent is left untapped.
Wall's household led the way. His own son Jim played until his mid-teens but after a few years he let it slide. His father worked on him over the year, and eventually he returned. Then a few years ago he broke his leg so badly that he had to have a plate inserted in it, yet he still lined out in midfield last weekend.
"When you drive through the big towns like Portlaoise, with maybe 20,000 people," says Larry, "or see the big clubs like Stradbally or Portarlington, they'd have more in one street than we have in our whole catchment area, but we'd make a team out of what they'd waste. We bring everyone on board and make the most of them."

The circumstances demanded they must. At a meeting in 1993, a group of members from the Killeen side of the parish proposed the club name be changed to Arles-Killeen in order to recognise the input from that end of the parish. Others couldn't understand their gripe. There was talk that the new name might attract a few more players. A vote was taken, and the proposal was passed. Those present who objected — the Kilcruise people — walked out of the meeting, and never came back. The club was ripped in two. At least the Kilcruise group still had people like Wall to fall back on. In 1994, when Laois county board refused to affiliate them while affiliating the rest of the old Arles club under the name of St Michael's, they decided to keep going.
"We tried to hold the club together ourselves," says current chairman JJ Conway. "We knew we had talented young players so we just tried to keep those bunch of players active. We played around 20 challenge matches in 1994. We were only a bunch of junior lads but we went wherever we could get a game."
The following year, the Laois football board decided to affiliate them as a junior B club under the name Arles. Wall took on the job as manager, and has been there since. That year they won the county title. In 1996 Beano McDonald brought home an All-Ireland minor medal to St Michael's, while JJ's son Chris brought one back to Arles, who won the junior A title. Now they were intermediate, and level with their neighbours.
Relations had been tolerable, but both sides kept their distance. The Tall Trees was evacuated by the Kilcruise people, who relocated to Kellys in Ballickmoyler out the road. Brothers and neighbours ended up playing for two different clubs. Little things kept relations strained. The clubs shared the local pitch, but found training sessions were clashing. There might be a comment passed, or a dig given in company, but largely the peace was kept.

In 1996, they met in the intermediate final. Thousands came expecting enough dust-ups and spats to fuel decades of rivalry. Instead, the game was a classic. Arles led to the end but St Michael's sneaked ahead to win. It shattered Arles, but the desolation of losing to St Michael's in a football final was nothing compared to the next twist.
In 1999, Arles won the county intermediate title and St Michael's launched an objection to their retention of the name, which mushroomed into a legal action against Laois county board. Seeing as they had walked out of the club, surely, they argued, Arles had no right to the name or any recognition. There was talk of a High Court action. A priest from Wexford was called in to mediate, but he went home shaking his head. All kinds of old skeletons were allowed to escape.
"I was never in the High Court before," says Conway. "I didn't fancy going up with what was a local dispute. A lot of people were very concerned about the consequences of neighbours fighting over a trivial thing in the High Court."

With the case heading there, Croke Park's turbo-powered disputes committee was called in. With the GAA president and chief executive on board, they set to work on bringing the two together. "You wouldn't believe the tension at the meetings," says one source close to the committee. "All sorts of stuff was raked up. It was a community at war."
After a fortnight of the hardest talking, a resolution was reached. The committee agreed that Arles had acted improperly and were duly banished from the local pitch. However, given their thriving existence, they were allowed to continue under the name Arles-Kilcruise, with St Michael's reverting to Arles- Killeen. For under-age games up to under-21 level, the entire parish, including Ballylinan, would play as one team, called Ballylinan- Glenmore.
Last Saturday, they both fetched up on county final day, Kilcruise in the senior, Killeen in the intermediate. For some in Killeen, although they celebrated when they won their final, the day darkened with the senior result. Others have been able to move on.
"We keep our distance," says Conway. "But last Saturday one of them, a prominent man in the club, came up to me and gave me his congratulations, 'from the bottom of my heart,' he said. Some relations still aren't great. We'd be very good friends with some of them, but there'd still be a certain few. They'd be very much in the minority though."

When they came home to celebrate last Saturday, Arles-Kilcruise headed for Kellys, Killeen headed for the Tall Trees. Still, there have always been cracks in the tension. Some can remember Beano McDonald and Chris Conway high-fiving as teammates with the combined under-age team. Wall works happily as part of a three-man team that has brought the under-21s to the county quarter-finals, while the minors have reached the semis.
"As far as I was concerned," says Kilcruise's Ross Munnelly, "I don't see it as going to play with 'those lads'. The team I play with are my teammates, whoever they are. Any differences can't come into it if you want success."
While the mood has mellowed, they still egg each other on. In the league section of the county championship, Arles-Killeen won their game against Kilcruise by a few points, leaving Kilcruise needing a win against Graiguecullen to progress. The defeat shattered them, but tested the true meaning of their desire for the summer.

"We thought we were flying," says Munnelly. "Then they beat the stuffing out of us. In a way we have them to thank. We were able to refocus and get ready for our last match, which we won quite comprehensively. After that match I said to the lads that now I felt we could win the county championship."
"This is the kernel," says Wall. "We're out to prove a point. We couldn't fail. We had to succeed. There was a lot of people saying we should've stayed together, that we shouldn't have split. But we drove on and strove to get to the top."
Now that things they could never imagined have happened, who can ever tell them what can and cannot be? They have done their recent training in nearby Crettyard, but next spring they move to a new pitch. Jim Maguire's approach has got them far fitter, fusing seamlessly with the natural drive of Wall and selector Leo Flanagan. The entire county has rowed in behind them, and this afternoon the support will be bigger than anything they could have dreamed of.
But for all the fighting, their survival is rooted in the purest expression of their devotion. Every Friday, Larry Wall heads for the national school, teaching and coaxing and encouraging. Every evening, as the children go home, he tells them that while they have homework to do for school, they have football homework to do in their back gardens for him, too.

When they start skipping that, then they'll know trouble.





JUNIOR EX LAOISTALK

I could write a book on this local spat.
Some 14 years ago when at the time I was a member of the Tipp County Board, I was one of 4 independent mediators asked by Croke Park to investigate and try and solve a bitter dispute which had reached the high court with the legal bills mounting on all sides. The 2 clubs, Laois County Board & Croke Park were all parties to the High Court action, so a solution was required otherwise the legal bills would rocket.

There were plots and sub plots along the line, but here goes, these were the true facts upon investigation.

Back up to 1993 2 adult clubs existed in the parish of Ballylinan. Ballylinan Gaa, a small village team, and Arles GAA, another tiny village outfit, with a slightly more rural make up. Few arguments arose as to who belonged to the two adult clubs. They played together as Ballylinan Gaels, or by times St Michaels at underage level. That was the back drop   .

In the January of 1993, Arles adult club held its AGM. A proposal was taken from the floor that the actual name of the adult club be changed from Arles to Arles Killeen. The proposal was seconded and on a vote won substantially, well over 70%.
From our investigations the actual change of name caused no great bother to most members. What lay beneath the surface was the real problem. Within the original Arles, two big GAA families dominated. The Conways, including ex Leinster footballers JJ and John. And on the other side the Brennans, headed up by Danny, another former inter county footballer, his father before him had been a long standing Runai of Laois GAA. So picture two heavyweight families. From our research we believed that a dispute, non GAA related, was the origin of the bad blood between the two families. Danny Brennan was the brainchild behind the club AGM motion to alter the club name. He covertly rounded up enough of members to get the motion passed. The Conways were kept in the dark and the first they knew about the name change was on the day. They got the hump because they were not consulted. Instantly two factions developed.

Fast forward 14 months then to the middle of March 2005. Internally in Laois the Hurling and Football boards ran their own affairs at the time. When it came to the entry for teams and affiliations the fun started. Arles Killeen, the new name for the original club entered two adult teams as they were entitled to, one intermediate and a junior B . Then at the last moment, the Conways and their allies entered up a junior team calling it Arles, still claiming they were the original.

Matters were complicated at the Football affiliations meeting because, the then Chairman of Laois football board was D.ick Miller. He was also a first cousin of the Conways and firmly in their corner.
So as a fudge, he allowed the two teams to enter the Laois championships, and the players from the original Arles club were freely allowed to pick their choice of new club. The championship was played out that year, with neither making any inroads, before the nitty gritty of GAA law and national law arose.

Arles Killeen, took cases to the Leinster Council and Croke Park, and were proven to be 100% correct in their actions and that they were found to be the original club. But as you get with Gaa matters, no organ within the association was prepared to dismiss the other club from the picture.

Arles Killeen had acted correctly by the letter of the GAA law and with a fudge emerging not to their liking, took the decision to thrash the case out in the High Court, a main bugbear with them being that the new club should never have been affiliated by Laois football board, and under no circumstances could it be named Arles.

Along with 3 others, I was appointed, by the then GAA president Jack Boothman, plus a mediating member of the cloth to offer a solution. Our interventions were stonewalled, getting nowhere and the gulf was growing between the factions. After a few high court injunctions, with the legal bills reaching well beyond six figures   (sky high back in mid 90s   )   , a deal was brokered, reluctantly I might add on the part of Arles Killeen.

Arles Killeen was accepted as the original club, they had rights to the original pitch, and it was a poor pitch without dressing rooms at the time. The other club could not use the name Arles, they were given a variety of alternatives, selecting Arles Kilcruise, not to the pleasure of Arles Killeen. My part in this polluted episode ended then, I do know that the legal costs were agreed to be borne by the provincial and national bodies.

Reconciliation was not an outcome, so from my experience I would be convinced the bad blood will remain for a number of decades, assuming the two main families remain at the helm of the different clubs.

From a distance it looked a piece of cake to solve, the more you scratched beneath the surface the more poison emerged, and it still appears to be as toxic as ever.




REDSETANTA POSTED

Never heard that about slurry being spread by the Brennans the day of Chris Conways wedding. And robbing the greyhound and painting it black and white.

I do know that there were plenty of rows in Pedigree Corner back in the day that were directly as a result of the split. All the younger club members would have drank there at the time. It got very bitter with rows and arguments a regular occurence.


BALLYROANABU POSTED


They will sort it out themselves in time when their both Junior A, one of the greatest disasters in Laois football.  With the talent they had in the early millennium could have won an All Ireland Club.  St Michaels were a serious underage team back in the day.




LAOIS ABÚ

Unlaoised

here is a parish with 2 senior clubs-Arles and Ballylinan.....

One year at the Arles AGM there was a bit of a row because some wanted to change the name to Arles/Killeen in recognition of the fact that many of the players were from that area.
This was passed and those that disagreed walked out.
Those who walked out tried to enter a new team but were vetoed as it was them who walked out.
Eventually they managed to enter a team themselves but a row over who could use the name "Arles" ensued and went all the way to the High Court in the late 1990s.
Eventually an agreement was reached in that those whos stayed with the original club could use the name Arles Killeen.
Those who walked out could use the name Arles Kilcruise but had to give up all claim on the local field.
This is the way they have been since.
Arles Killeen beat Arles Kilcruise in an intermediate final around 1999.
They clashed at the weekend in the SFC Semi Finals.

At underage level there is a parish team, encompassing the 3 adult clubs. Ballylinan and the 2 Arles`. This team is known as Ballylinan/Glenmore



SHORT BUT SWEET VERSION FOR ANYWAY WHO WANTS TO CATCH UP


LAOIS ABÚ

Unlaoised

There are not just 3 adult clubs in the parish, there are 3 SENIOR clubs in the parish. Each of the 3 clubs would have 2-3 multiple All Ireland Minor winners and each club would also have 2-3 Leinster Senior winners in there ranks.....would be one serious club team all together.

Where you go to National School and what family you are born into would be the major determing factor in who you play for.
But having said that, at one stage in the second half in a county semi final a few years back Mick O` Shea  (corner back for kilcruise )  ended up marking his younger brother Sean  (corner forward for Killeen ) . Not quite sure how this came about but the older brother, Mick, plays for Arles Kilcruise, while the younger two, Sean and Brendan, play for Arles Killeen.

They all play together for Ballylinan Gleannmor at underage level. There would be rough geographical "ends" of the parish that, along with family, would determine who you play for.

The crazy thing is that it is a tiny little parish and each of the clubs fully maximise all the playing resources they have. Although Arles Killeen have attracted alot of transfers fairly controversially in the past year or two.
LAOIS ABÚ

Unlaoised

POSTED ON ANOTHER WEBSITE IN 2009

Well Ballylinan and Arles are two seperate villages a couple of miles apart. They were always two seperate clubs so Ballylinan`s pick would come from the immediate surrounds, village and local school.

The two Arles` is where the fun begins. AFAIK one side of the village is Arles Killeen and the other side is Kilcruise. Interestingly Ross Munnelly lives across the road from Donie Brennan, yet they play for different clubs. There were moves made by Munnelly and a few other players for the clubs to join up about 2/3 years ago. Needless to say those efforts failed. There are huge rifts between two families that are really scuppering any hopes of uniting. Chris Conway`s family are Kilcruise and Donie Brennan`s are Killeen. They both basically run their respectful clubs and as long as this is the case things will never change. Donie`s sending off actually resulted from an off-the-ball incident with Conway  (his former teacher and Hogan cup winning coach I might add - it just gets better!!! )

There are some great stories from there over the years. One being when Chris Conway was getting married in Arles church last year, the Brennans who own the field behind the church spread slurry that morning! Another one goes that the Killeen lads got hold of Ross Munnelly`s greyhound one evening leading up to when they contested their only county final and painted it `black and white` - the Killeen club colours!
LAOIS ABÚ

Unlaoised

n the early 1990s, an idea was mooted in the Laois villages of Arles and Ballylinan to join forces and have one senior football team. Their underage teams already played as one and were very successful, so an amalgamation of the adult teams under the new name St Michael's seemed the logical next step for the two small neighbouring villages.


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However, in typical GAA fashion, the union didn't go to plan. A disagreement about the name ensued, a season of championship football was lost and the end result was that instead of having one new club for the area, they now had three.
Ballylinan remained as it was and Arles split in two, and they now play as Arles-Kilcruise and Arles-Killeen.

Chris Conway, the former Laois inter-county player, was just breaking onto the senior scene at that time. He recalls the effect it had on the parish, how hard it was on families and on the older players who were looking to break onto the county team at the time and had no shop window to help them along.
"When the clubs reformed, we decided to start off at the lowest division which at that time was junior B," says Conway. "I was young so I wasn't really affected but it was hard for the older players who were used of playing at a higher level."

The three clubs have their pitches within a couple of miles of each other. Their catchment area is shared so the pool is small. At present, the three clubs have one combined underage team and when the players reach the appropriate age for senior they affiliate as they please.
Arles-Kilcruise is the only one of the three to win the senior county title since the split; they did this in 2003 after progressing through from junior B.

And they contest the county title again but are underdogs as Portlaoise are going for six county titles in a row having won their semi-final by 19 points.
The defending champions progressed to the final with relative ease, overcoming Crettyard, Portarlington after a replay, Stradbally and St Joseph's, with Brian McCormack and Paul Cahillane both firing 1-5 each in the last game.

However, Conway isn't fazed by their records or their scorelines. Although they have lost in the championship to Portlaoise for the last three years, it's never been by much.
And as for their opponents' domination of the championship in recent times, the Kilcruise captain feels that the other clubs in the county need to work harder on the field to stop it.

"They are a very strong team and club but that is something we have to aim for," explains Conway. "We know that as a club we have to raise the bar for ourselves instead of just giving out that they have such a big pick and catchment area. We should look after what we can control and that's ourselves and getting into the best position we can so that we can deliver a performance that will help us succeed."
But would Portlaoise have been prevented from dominating the championship to such an extent if Arles had stayed together?

"That's obviously possible but it's also possible that I might not have the senior medal that I have if we hadn't split," he says.
"A lot of clubs have lost players over the years but we've managed to hold ours and so have Killeen. This could have a lot to do with the local rivalry that exists between the clubs; if we hadn't split that might not have been the case."


Imagine the team they could have had a few years back..

Michael Leigh
Brian Kennedy
Paudge Conway
Micheal O'Shea
Colm Munnelly
Shane Julian
Paul McDonald
Kevin Meaney
Jason Enright
Sean O'Shea
Chris Conway
Donie Brennan
Ross Munnelly
Donie Kingston
Brian McDonald


With injection of David Conway ,maybe a young Paul Kingston on the bench ...I'm probably missing players aswell Larry Wall Stephen Miller James Mahon Dermot Julian etc etc.....



LAOIS ABÚ

Portbush

Some reading very interesting. My opinion is that this fallout helped portlaoise a lot we all talk about there dominance. This is the main reason behind it.

High Fielder

I agree. It's certainly a contributor. Even if Portlaoise could have beaten the two combined, and I doubt they would, it would have been better preparation for Leinster. Win Win. Laois benefits. The club scene is weak and stale because of nonsense like the above. Someone with half a brain will see the stupidity of it all one day and do something to repair the damage. Even if they did it in the morning, they could give Laois a rattle in the next year or two. Ah sure why would you want a county medal?  ::)

Keyser Söze

Quote from: High Fielder on October 12, 2016, 10:03:13 AM
I agree. It's certainly a contributor. Even if Portlaoise could have beaten the two combined, and I doubt they would, it would have been better preparation for Leinster. Win Win. Laois benefits. The club scene is weak and stale because of nonsense like the above. Someone with half a brain will see the stupidity of it all one day and do something to repair the damage. Even if they did it in the morning, they could give Laois a rattle in the next year or two. Ah sure why would you want a county medal?  ::)

Agree whole heartedly that they should join, but I'd imagine at least some of the contributors to this discussion are from clubs that aren't a whole parish club. Laois (and every county) has lots of examples of parishes divided for historic reasons and refusing to join because old ideas are perpetuated by older/more traditional club members who can't see past their own noses.
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled.......

Pat Spillall

I'd imagine all contributors from the football side of the county are from clubs that aren't a whole parish club with the exception of Crettyard but I'm open to correction on that one.

As regards Kilcruise and Killeen and looking in from the outside over a long number of years I don't see it as a case of two halves of the one club. If you look at both their senior teams you would have to say that the vast majority of the Kilcruise players can trace their football pedigree to the original Arles Club and you could say the same of their members and officials. You can't say that for Killeen as most of their players can trace their football pedigree to Ballylinan or Graigue/Killeshin or Barrowhouse, the majority of their team mentors seem to be former Ballylinan footballers rather than former Arles footballers.

To me Kilcruise and Killeen are two separate parts that don't actually fit together and Kilcruise are Arles while Killeen are a gathering of disaffected GAA people.

Gmac

Quote from: Pat Spillall on October 13, 2016, 01:01:48 AM
I'd imagine all contributors from the football side of the county are from clubs that aren't a whole parish club with the exception of Crettyard but I'm open to correction on that one.

As regards Kilcruise and Killeen and looking in from the outside over a long number of years I don't see it as a case of two halves of the one club. If you look at both their senior teams you would have to say that the vast majority of the Kilcruise players can trace their football pedigree to the original Arles Club and you could say the same of their members and officials. You can't say that for Killeen as most of their players can trace their football pedigree to Ballylinan or Graigue/Killeshin or Barrowhouse, the majority of their team mentors seem to be former Ballylinan footballers rather than former Arles footballers.
A very misinformed outside view

To me Kilcruise and Killeen are two separate parts that don't actually fit together and Kilcruise are Arles while Killeen are a gathering of disaffected GAA people.

Dave like the tv channel

It's nearly too late for this now anyway. The worst thing would be for them to join up and not do well, as the "I-told-you-so" gang would be up in arms.

There was resistance in RE to their amalgamation. Winning in Year1 sorted all that out. There was resistance in BK too, but any nerves would be settled with a SHC win this year.

AKx 2 should have happening 10 years ago, but now, it could be disastrous.........and all the while Portlaoise gather up SFC titles for fun.

BallyroanAbu

BallyroanAbbey are an all parish football club

les Antiques

15 years too late Arles . There is no current agenda anyway to reunite Killen  and KIlcruise .!!

Dave like the tv channel

Quote from: BallyroanAbu on October 13, 2016, 12:28:55 PM
BallyroanAbbey are an all parish football club

The earth revolves around the sun. Don't get your point.

BallyroanAbbey

Quote from: BallyroanAbu on October 13, 2016, 12:28:55 PM
BallyroanAbbey are an all parish football club

What does that have to do with anything?


Look at the end of the day teams can't be forced to join together no more than portlaoise could of been forced to split. Portlaoise won't be on top forever, every team gets caught eventually, just look at Crossmaglen in Armagh this year. As regards Killen and Kilcruise I actually think they would of won an all ireland club had they went together, but im sure that arguement could be made with stradbally and timahoe, rosenallis and clonaslee, colt and shanahoe in hurling. The fact that they have achieved more than the likes of josephs and ourselves with much greater picks and resources is a credit to themselves. Unfortunately they seem to be going on a downward spirll at the moment, certainly Kilcruise, but senior medals at the end of the day isnt the be all and end all of the gaa, and from ive seen on this fourm and generally in the gaa alot of people have forgotten this.Take Barrowhouse and Kilcavan for example, im sure if you ask most people in those clubs winning a junior championship means alot more to them than a senior with mountmellick and josephs, same with Slieve Bloom last week.