Tralee Parnells are a hurling club from the town of
Tralee in
County Kerry
County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...
,
Ireland.
Original club
The original Parnells won 2
Kerry Senior Hurling Championships in 1918 and 1919. All Ireland winning football captain and one of Kerry's greatest players
John Joe Sheehy
John Joseph Sheehy (16 October 1897 – 12 January 1980) was an Irish political/military activist and sportsperson. He participated in the Irish War of Independence and Irish Civil War in the Irish Republican Army (IRA), where he was a senior fig ...
played with the club. The club appeared in their first final in 1911 when they lost to fellow Tralee side
Tralee Mitchels
Tralee Mitchels were a Gaelic Athletic Association club in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland before the formation of the three Tralee clubs namely John Mitchels, Austin Stacks and Kerins O'Rahilly's. They were one of the top teams in the county w ...
5–03 to 1-02. They won their first title in 1918 overcoming
Kilgarvan 1–10 to 4-00, they were to face the same opposition in 1919 but received a walkover. They made the semi-final in 1920 and were to play Kenmare but the championship was abandoned. The championship was abandoned for much of the 1920s and by the time it resumed
Tralee had three new clubs in the shape of Rock Street, Strand Road and Boherbee. Parnells last played in the 1924 championship when they beat Ballyduff in the only game played 6–03 to 1-02.
Modern club
The original club disbanded in the 1920s but in 2012 the club was reformed to promote underage hurling in
Tralee. For the first number of years the club had teams up to Under 16 level. The club joined with other North Kerry clubs at minor level such as Ballyheigue and Abbeydorney, in 2017 along with Abbeydorney they made it to the Kerry MHC final but lost out to
Crotta O'Neill's. In 2018 the club fielded their first stand alone minor team and had a famous win over
Crotta O'Neill's.
In 2019 100 years on from winning the 1919 county SHC the club returned to adult hurling with the announcement of an Under 21 and Intermediate team with plans to field an adult
Camogie
Camogie ( ; ga, camógaíocht ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities.
A variant of the game of hurling (which is played by men onl ...
team.
In the clubs first season they qualified for the
Kerry Intermediate Hurling Championship semi-final where they lot to
Kilgarvan.
In 2020 the club went a step more and qualified for the final, but lost out to
Dr. Crokes
Dr Crokes is a Gaelic football and hurling club based in Killarney in County Kerry, Ireland. Notable players include Colm Cooper.
Founded in 1886, the club's successes include the capture of the All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship i ...
.
In 2021 the club represented
Kerry in the
Munster Junior Club Hurling Championship. They suffered a heavy loss to Tipperary champions
Skeheenarinky.
2022 was another notable year for the underage section of the club. They won the Kerry
Féile na nGael Div 1 title, before later adding the
Féile na nGael Div 3 title.
The club has a growing membership, with well over 240 boys and girls as of 2018.
Achievements
*
Kerry Senior Hurling Championship (2) 1918, 1919
*
Kerry Intermediate Hurling Championship (1) 2023
* Kerry County Senior Hurling League Division 2 (1) 2023
* North Kerry Under 21 Hurling Championship (1) 2021
*
South Kerry junior championship (1) 2022
Underage
* Kerry
Féile na nGael Div 1 winners (1) 2022
*
Féile na nGael Div 3 winners (1) 2022
References
Former Gaelic Athletic Association clubs in Kerry
Gaelic games clubs in County Kerry
Hurling clubs in County Kerry
1890s establishments in Ireland
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