Athlone GAA
Gaelic games club in County Westmeath, Ireland
title: "Athlone GAA" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["gaelic-games-clubs-in-county-westmeath", "sport-in-athlone"] description: "Gaelic games club in County Westmeath, Ireland" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athlone_GAA" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Gaelic games club in County Westmeath, Ireland ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox GAA club"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| club gaa | Athlone GAA |
| irish | Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Baile Atha Luain |
| founded | 1885 |
| province | Leinster |
| county | Westmeath |
| colours | Blue and White |
| grounds | Pairc Chiaran, Ballymahon Road, Athlone, Westmeath |
| coordinates | |
| pattern_b | _whitehoops |
| leftarm | 87CEEB |
| body | 87CEEB |
| rightarm | 87CEEB |
| shorts | 000080 |
| socks | 87CEEB |
| f3 | 19 |
| h3 | 4 |
| :: |
| club gaa = Athlone GAA | irish = Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Baile Atha Luain | crest = | founded = 1885 | province = Leinster | county = Westmeath | nickname = | colours = Blue and White | grounds = Pairc Chiaran, Ballymahon Road, Athlone, Westmeath | coordinates = | pattern_la = | pattern_b = _whitehoops | pattern_ra = | leftarm = 87CEEB | body = 87CEEB | rightarm = 87CEEB | shorts = 000080 | socks = 87CEEB | f3 = 19 | h3 = 4 |}} Athlone GAA is the Gaelic football club in the town of Athlone in County Westmeath, Ireland. Athlone is Westmeath GAA's most successful football club, having won the Westmeath Senior Football Championship on 19 occasions. The local hurling club is called Southern Gaels.
Club history
Foundation and development
The club was founded in 1885 by Irish National League members, bringing GAA to Athlone.
Athlone GAA club, which is Westmeath's most successful club with 19 senior football titles, achieved an unprecedented six-in-a-row between 1955 and 1960. The club won its last senior football title in 1998.
The club is home to Westmeath's first footballing All-Star, Rory O'Connell. Irish rugby international Robbie Henshaw also previously played senior and underage football for Athlone.
In 2017, the club bridged a 24-year gap by winning the County Minor Championship.
2018 represented their seventh time to qualify for Feile Peil na nOg, winning Div 2. Athlone also won the inaugural U20 Football championship in 2018, beating Castleday/Rosemount in the final.
John Deacy, a defender on the 1965 Westmeath Senior Championship winning team, received his medal after a 55-year delay in October 2020.
Legal dispute
Following Athlone GAA's winning of the Westmeath County Championship in 1984, it was decided to send the team to the United States in 1985. More than £11,000 was collected and put in a bank account set up for the purpose. A dispute over control of the trip's finances between executive committee members and the tour committee led to a lengthy legal dispute. In 1994, the case went to the Supreme Court of Ireland and was still ongoing in 2001.
Club infrastructure
The club caters for both football and hurling with the hurlers playing under the Southern Gaels banner. The club has three full size floodlit pitches, the third pitch is dedicated to the memory of former player and coach, David Allen. The Athlone GAA also has its own bar and ballroom and is used by various local groups.
Notable players
Notable managers
Honours
- Westmeath Senior Football Championships (19)
- 1892,1947, 1949, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1965, 1971, 1973, 1977, 1979, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1991, 1998.
- Westmeath Intermediate Football Championships (1)
- 2015
- Leinster Intermediate Club Football Championship
- Runners-Up 2015
- Westmeath Junior Football Championships (8)
- 1916, 1921, 1945, 1954, 1969, 1975, 1976, 1977.
- Westmeath Under 21 Football Championships (11)
- 1963, 1971, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1996, 2005, 2013
- Westmeath Under 20 Football Championships (1)
- 2018
- Westmeath Minor Football Championships (12)
- 1949, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1969, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1993, 2017.
- Feis Cup Senior Football (10)
- 1956, 1957, 1960, 1967, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1977, 1993.
- Westmeath Senior 'B' Football Championships (1)
- 1985
- Féile na nÓg
- 1985 (Cork) 1997, 1998, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2018 (Div 2)
References
References
- "Athlone.ie (Athlone Town Council)".
- (October 2025). "Athlone GAA official website".
- (4 October 2020). "GAA man (81) receives county final medal after 55 year wait". independent.ie.
- (2001-05-06). "Still no sign of the GAA US tour, 16 years on". [[Sunday Tribune]] }}{{dead link.
- (3 December 2019). "Liam McHale appointed as new Athlone GAA manager". Westmeath Independent.
- (30 November 2015). "Ratoath take title after late scare". [[Irish Independent]].
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::