Ballymun Kickhams ( Irish: ''Ciceam Bhaile Munna'' ) is a GAA club in

Ballymun Ballymun () is an outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland, at the northern edge of the Northside, the green-field development of which began in the 1960s to accommodate a housing crisis in inner city areas of Dublin. While the newly built housing was ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. The club has a clubhouse and its home pitch, ''Pairc Ciceam'', just off the

(junction 4) exit of the M50. Ballymun also has a full size

astroturf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Since the early 2000s, AstroTurf has ...

pitch. The club derives its name from Charles Joseph Kickham (1828–1882). They last won the

Dublin Senior Football Championship The Dublin Senior Football Championship (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the '' Go-Ahead'' Dublin Senior Football Championship) is an annual Gaelic Athletic Association competition between the top Dublin GAA clubs. The winners of th ...

in 2020.

History

The club was set up in 1969 following the merging of two clubs, Ballymun Gaels and C.J. Kickhams. Senior status was first achieved in 1978 when Ballymun Kickhams beat

Fingal Ravens Fingal Ravens is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in Rolestown, County Dublin, Ireland. Fingal Ravens won the 2007 Dublin Intermediate Football Championship and are therefore in the Senior championship for 2008. The Senior team won th ...

in the Intermediate league final. In 1981 Ballymun made it to their first

Final. The club's Intermediate team participated in the 2010 RTÉ series ''

Celebrity Bainisteoir ''Celebrity Bainisteoir'' was a prime-time reality programme created by Fiona Looney and first broadcast in 2008 by RTÉ. It involved a number of celebrities competing against each other as a Gaelic football team coach. The title derived from t ...

'', with Today FM's Maireád Farrell. Ballymun Kickhams won their first Dublin Football Championship in 1982, won their second in 1985 before claiming their third in 2012. Ballymun claimed the Division 1 league title in 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988 and, most recently, in 2009. On Sunday 9 December 2012, Ballymun Kickhams won their first Leinster Senior Football Final, defeating Portlaoise, in Mullingar. In 2011, the U14 Ballymun Kickhams team won the All Ireland Division 1 Féile for the first time in the club's history. In March 2013, Ballymun Kickhams reached the All-Ireland Senior Club Football Final, a game which

Roscommon GAA The Roscommon County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael, Coiste Chontae Ros Comáin) or Roscommon GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County ...

club St Brigid's won. In 2015, the Ballymun minor team, managed by former Dublin senior footballer, Paddy Christie, won a historic treble. They won the Minor 'A' Football Championship, Division 1 League Title and Leinster Minor Football Championship. As the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

emerged in 2020,

Brendan Hackett Brendan Hackett (born 1960) is a Gaelic football manager, sports psychologist and former chief executive officer of Athletics Ireland, who is currently managing Ballymun Kickhams. He previously managed the Longford, Offaly and Westmeath county ...

was Ballymun Kickhams coach. He led the club to the 2020 Dublin Senior Football Championship. As of 2022, Hackett was still managing the club.

Notable players

* Paddy Christie * Evan Comerford * Dermot Deasy * Gerry Hargan * Kevin Leahy * James McCarthy * John McCarthy *

Gerry McCaul Gerry McCaul is a former Gaelic football manager and player who spent time in both roles with the senior Dublin county team. Before being appointed as manager of Dublin, McCaul had been the player-manager of Dublin club Ballymun Kickhams. He i ...

Philly McMahon Philip "Philly" McMahon (born 5 September 1987) is a Gaelic footballer who plays for the Ballymun Kickhams club and for the Dublin county team. Playing career Club McMahon is a member of the Ballymun Kickhams Senior Football team. in 2013, ...

* Ian Robertson *

Barney Rock Barney Rock (born 10 January 1961) is a former Gaelic footballer and manager at club and inter-county level (he managed Westmeath in the mid-1990s). Biography Born in Ballymun, but growing up in Glasnevin, Dublin, Rock attended St Kevins Colle ...

Dean Rock Dean Rock (born 26 February 1990) is an Irish Gaelic footballer who has been a senior member of the Dublin county team since 2013. He has represented Dublin at all grades, Minor, Junior, U21 and Senior. He is a noted free taker and scored the ...

* John Small * Paddy Small

Managers

Honours

All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football tournament which began in season 1970–71. It is the top-tier competition for the senior football clubs of Ireland and London. The current champions are Kilcoo of ...

runner-up: 2013 * Leinster Senior Club Football Championship winner: 2012-13; runner-up: 1982-83 *

winner (4): 1982, 1985, 2012, 2020 *

Dublin AFL Division 1 The Dublin Adult Football League Division 1 is the top Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on ...

winner: 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 2009, 2019 *

Dublin Intermediate Football Championship ''See also Dublin Senior Football Championship'' The Dublin Intermediate Football Championship is an annual Gaelic Athletic Association competition organised by Dublin GAA between second-tier Gaelic football clubs in County Dublin, Ireland. Qua ...

winner: 1979 * Dublin Junior B Football Championship winner: 2016 * Dublin Under 21 A Football Championship (6): 1990, 1991, 1996, 2007, 2008, 2018 * Dublin Under 21 B Football Championship (1): 2013 * Dublin Minor A Football Championship (5) 1951, 1952, 1953 (as Kickhams), 1977, 2015 * Dublin AFL Div. 4 winner: 2014 * Dublin AFL Div. 6 winner: 2017

References

External links

* * Ballymun Gaelic games clubs in Dublin (city) Gaelic football clubs in Dublin (city) Hurling clubs in Dublin (city) {{Dublin-GAA-club-stub