Success for Castleknock and Blanchardstown

When sprawling suburbia enveloped Castleknock and Blanchardstown, the local GAA club didn’t sit on their hands. St Brigid’s instigated a juvenile programme which has brought them all the way to an All-Ireland Club SFC semi final on Sunday. Mark Gallagher visited Dublin 15.

ALL IS quiet in Dublin 15. A spring breeze whistles through the leafy suburbs, but nobody is talking. All minds are focused on Sunday, but they dare not speak about it. It will be a big day around the disconnected housing sprawls that make up this part of the capital. St. Brigids are within touching distance of an All-Ireland final. All those years out in the cold are about to come to an end.

Since they took the first county title, there has been a lot of hype about the Castleknock club. Much of it centres on the Gallaghers, particularly Rory who has found himself, through no fault of his own, cast as the saviour-in-waiting of Dublin football. The cousins were the final two pieces in the Brigids puzzle and, around these parts, the picturesque Fermanagh village of Belleek is no longer just famous for its china.