Christy O'Connor: Castleknock show how new empires are built, how much are home comforts worth?

Meanwhile Lough Lene Gaels hoping to have learned from harsh lessons

Castleknock’s Kevin Stephenson. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan.

It all began for Castleknock GAA from an idea. One night in April 1998 Fergus Hamill, a Monaghan man teaching in a local school, Johnny Corcoran, a member of Dublin’s 1976 All-Ireland winning panel and originally an Erin’s Isle man from Finglas, along with John Conway organised a meeting in Myo’s bar in the village. And they decided to set up a club.

Despite objections from some of the long-established local clubs in the area, Conway, Corcoran and Hamill got the use of a green in the middle of a housing estate beside Castleknock Community College. Christened Tir na nÓg, Castleknock held their first training session on that green that summer.