History of Kiltimagh GAA Club in Co. Mayo
In 1887 three years after the foundation of the GAA, a club under the name of 'O’Donnell Abu’s' was established in the town but there is very little known of its activities or personnel until 1910 when the club was reformed under the Chairmanship of Sean T. Ruane.
The club adapted the name Kiltimagh Davitts and meetings were held in Ruane’s (beside Gilmartin’s old Cash and Carry). In 1914 they had their first taste of success, winning the County Junior C’ship. They won the Junior title again in 1917 and in the same year the club was reformed under the name Kiltimagh Plunketts. Two years later the Juniors were County Champions again.
The 1920’s brought little success on the playing field and little is known of their activities during this period. Things changed dramatically in the 30’s and the club won their fourth County Junior C’ship in 1932 and the following year had a great victory in the Intermediate C’ship with further junior titles being annexed in 1936 and 1939.
The victorious 1933 team, aggrieved at having no representation on the Mayo Senior team issued them a challenge, which was refused. In 1936 Johnny Carroll won a National League medal with Mayo.
The next 30 years were to prove a lean period for the club and in the early 60’s the frustration borne out of years of disappointment resulted in a major drive to develop underage football. This effort was to result in a golden era for the club from 1967 to 1971 when Kiltimagh teams captured six county titles.
In 1967 they won their first Junior title in 28 years and also the first of a three in a row of County U-16 titles. They also won the inaugral U-21 C'’hip in 1970 and the following year the Minors (U-18) won their first county title. This great run of success laid the foundation for one of the club’s greatest triumphs – the Intermediate C’ship success in 1978.
There was to be no success at county level in the 1980’s but underage teams had some notable success at East Mayo level and this culminated in the winning of the County Minor Championship in 1990. A year earlier the U-12 team had won the County ‘B’ title.