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The History of
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The Club and the ParkSt. Brigid's G.F.C. came into being in the autumn and winter of 1962. The first AGM was held in Katsie Brown's cottage in December of 1962. The clubs first top-table committee consisted of: Chairman:Seamus Maguire (RIP) The meeting was attended by many from the locality who were playing with neighbouring clubs up to then. They all expressed an interest to play for the new club and their transfer arrangements were started. The club was named St. Brigid's, Killeagh because at that time the name Ballinacree could not be used according to the Meath County Board. Mrs. Kidman rented the existing field to the club for £20 per year for the first eight years and then she sold it to the club for £1,000. On St. Stephens Day 1962 volunteers from the parish erected a fence around the pitch and attempted to level ridges on the field. By 1976 it was time to develop the pitch and the playing field was extended by 20 metres. A new concrete post fence was erected around the pitch. The existing wall that runs along the roadside was completed in early 1978. Work on the dressing rooms commenced in 1978 and was completed in 1980. All the labour was donated by local volunteer's on Saturdays. The cost of this development in the 70's was over £6,000, which was financed by various fund-raising activities in the parish. The pitch was officially opened in April 1983 when the club hosted a match between Walterstown and Laragh, Meath senior champions and their Cavan counterparts respectively. The next development was in the early 1990's when the club spent over £3,000 installing heated showers in the dressing rooms. In 1996 the club, spearheaded by Hugh Gilsenan, decided to further develop the playing field and tracts of land adjoining the pitch were purchased from Lords' and Clavin's. A fishbone drainage system was put into the field, the entire surface levelled and then re-seeded. New goal posts were erected, new floodlights were purchased, a third fence was erected around the now larger playing field and dugouts were constructed. This entire project cost over £60,000 and was funded by bank loans, small grants and of course the Blotto. Efforts were made to officially open the park again in 2000 but the County Board would not let us use the Meath Senior team for one evening. Efforts still persisted in 2001.
The Football TeamThe club started off in Junior A football grade until 1968 when it was relegated to Junior B grade. It regained Junior A status in 1970. The club played intermediate football from 1973 to 1975 before settling back to Junior ranks in 1976. Throughout the 1980's the club competed in the Junior A championship. The decade was strewn with quarter finals and semi-finals but there was to be no appearances in a championship final. The team came close many times but a semi-final day in Kells against Bellewstown team in 1986 was considered to be the 'one that got away'. The team did however win a few league titles in this period. The early 1990's began as the 80's finished. Was the club ever going to break through? Then in the autumn of 1993 Leo McEnroe from Oldcastle took charge of the U-21 team. The team went on to capture the U-21 title that year, captained by Ronan Hennessy and at last the parish tasted knock-out success. In 1994 the parish was quietly confident of following on from their U-21 success and capturing the elusive Junior A Championship. Coached by Gerry Farrelly, a team mixed of some very young footballers and other more experienced players committed themselves to training as a unit for nine months. The St. Brigids team won all of their games in the group and qualified for the knock-out stages. They squeezed past a promising Duleek team in the quarter final, and comfortably beat St. Vincents in the semi-final. A JFC final day against Baconstown was fixed for 4 October 1994. It was to be the club's finest hour and after conceding two first half goals the Brigids rallied back to score two goals themselves in the second half. In the end they won by four points and Ronan Hennessy lifted the cup. Celebrations went on until Christmas! From 1995 to 1999 the club competed at Intermediate level but never made any impression at the grade. In 1999 the club lost a relegation play-off to Moynalty and was relegated to Junior football once again. In the Winter of 1999 the U-21's coached by Paddy McNamee succeeded in capturing more silverware and the new century looked promising for the Ballinacree side. But the first year back in Junior ranks proved to be unsuccessful with the team failing to qualify for the knock-out stages.
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