The Hayden Cup
In 1970 Mary Hayden, a local business woman presented the Club with a cup in memory of her late husband Dave, a man held in high esteem in the community. The club committee decided to put up the cup for an eight-team senior football tournament. Carbury were the first winners and very soon the competition became a hit with the fans and participating clubs alike.
Always anxious to break new ground the club soon embarked on a policy of inviting teams from outside Kildare to compete. So it came to pass that the Hayden Cup attracted teams of the quality of Summerhill, Navan O' Mahony's, O' Dempseys, St. Josephs, Gracefield, Baltinglass, Eire Og(Carlow), Clan na Gael (Roscommon) and Synge St. Thus players of thre calibre of Loe Cassells, Matt Kerrigan, John Costelloe, Pauric Dunne, Kevin O' Brien and Tony McManus came to try conclusions with regular Kildare standard bearers Carbury, Allenwood, Raheens and Sarsfileds.
But perhaps the most popular visitors were the green and white hoops of Walsh Island. The Island with with seven Connors, two Bryans, two Mulhalls, Mick Slattery, Paddy Shea, Noel Comerford and Pauric Corcoran, making up their squad were at their height of their considerable powers during that period. Indeed it could be fairly said that the Hayden Cup became synonymous with Walsh Island's finest footballer Matt "The Thresher" Connor.
Another great character associated with these games was "resident" referee Paud Moore(Rath De ar a anam), who died tragically "in harness" officiating at the last final between Carbury and Allenwood.
As happened with most tournaments of its like, the competition eventually fell into decline and was discontinued. In it's heyday it was one of the premier competitions of its type, thanks to a large degree to the publicity afforded it by Donal Carroll in the Irish Independant. It is fondly remembered for the quality of teams and stars which it brought to our ground
Last year we were proud to revive the famous trophy in a repeat game of the All-Ireland Final, Kildare versus Galway, which will be hence forward be played as an Inter County Senior Football Tournament.
The Owen Coyne Cup
This trophy comemorates the memory of Owen Coyne, one of our most promising under-age players who lost his life tragically in 1994 while still eligible for Under 16 ranks. 'Skinny' as we all knew him was a close tackling, gutsy wing back on the Under 16 side which lost the B Championship final to Round Towers in 1993. Kindly donated by the Coyne family, the cup was first played for as a parish tournament and was won by Allenwood. Recently the format has changed and Kildare were the winners of an inter-county Under 16 tournament, a side captained by Carbury's Colm Reilly from just down the road.
Last year it acted as a curtain raiser for the Hayden Cup which catered for all the young footballers from the four clubs of our sprawling parish. Hopefully it wil become an annual event.