KILLEEVAN LAUNCH CENTENARY HISTORY

BY PATRICK SMYTH

There was a great air of nostalgia in the Acorn Centre, Newbliss, on Friday night last as the Killeevan Sarsfield’s club rounded off their centenary celebrations with the launch of the official history of the club, “Killeevan Sarsfield’s: A Centenary History 1915-2015 and Parish Record” by JP Graham.

In welcoming everyone, Club Chairman Dominic McPhillips spoke of the great achievement that it was to have the efforts of the founding fathers and the successive generations of people recorded and documented and he thanked the author and described the work involved as a daunting task.

The Director General of the GAA, Paraic Duffy, present to officially launch the publication, described the publication as very impressive. He also congratulated the author on the great pictorial record that had been assembled and the fact that the book also embraced wider areas of parish life, the history of the parish and Newbliss village and the documentation of the oldest school in the parish that was established in 1877. He concluded by paying tribute to JP Graham for his outstanding contribution to the GAA at club and County level.

Parish priest, Fr Peter Corrigan, complimented JP Graham on the achievement of compiling the Centenary History and thanked the Graham family, the men and women, for their contribution, not only to the club, but to Killeevan parish. Following the official launch JP Graham spoke about the work of compiling the information in the book and while in some regards a labour of love it was also a test of endurance. The book is dedicated to JP’s grandson and godson, Aaron Patrick Graham and his other five grandchildren are included in that dedication. Aaron’s father Adrian spoke on behalf of his son and of how proud he was of the achievement of publishing the official history of the club for centenary year.

To mark the occasion JP Graham was presented with a specially commissioned painting of his ancestral home and his wife Etta with a bouquet of flowers. Copies of the book were presented by JP to Dominic McPhillips, Club Chairman, Pat Finnegan, now the club’s oldest former officer and player, Pat Gilsenan a former great and Breda McCooey, representing the County Committee. Darren Greenan was a very capable Fear a Ti. The book is on sale in Martin’s Londis, Newbliss, Matthews of Clones, McMahons in Scotstown and Easons Bookshop, Monaghan.