Palatine GAA is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in Bennekerry, County Carlow in Ireland. It draws players mainly from the parish of Bennekerry, including the townlands of Brownshill, Ducketsgrove, Kernanstown, Russellstown and Palatine, County Carlow.
The club was founded in 1909 and has won seven Carlow Senior Football Championships and one Carlow Senior Hurling Championship in its history.
Football
Formation and early history
Football was being played in the Palatine area almost 20 years before the present Palatine GAA club was founded. The original team was Ballyhade Slashers, and though Ballyhade is in neighbouring County Kildare, they were allowed to compete in Carlow. Another club named Ardnehue folded in 1905.
The current Palatine club was founded in 1909, and their first match on record is a 0–17 to 0–3 defeat to Carlow Graigue. They won their first championship in 1913; the Carlow Junior Championship.
They won their first Carlow Senior championship in 1919 and retained it a year later. Their 1919 victory was over Graiguecullen in a replay, after a scoreless draw. The replay was won 1–1 to 0–2. In the 1920 Leinster Championship, the Carlow team that defeated Wicklow 3–2 to 1–7 contained 10 Palatine players, including captain John Sweeney. Later that year Palatine defeated neighbours Tinryland 1–1 to 0–0 in Graiguecullen to retain the championship. They thus experienced the rare feat of winning two Senior Championships in the same calendar year, as the 1919 final had been played on 25 January 1920.
Third Senior Championship, 1920 to 1952
When Carlow won the Leinster Junior Championship in 1923, Palatine players Ed "Sonny" Wall, Matt Hanely and Tom Dillon were in the team, with Jack Scully, Lar Sweeney and Mike Delaney among the subs.
After relegation to Junior level following a dispute with the County Board (following a game with Milford in the early 1930s), Palatine won the Carlow Junior championship in 1936 and the Intermediate championship in 1938. They were re-graded back down to Intermediate again for the 1940 season, and won that title once more in 1948, returning to Senior. Much of the team that won promotion from Intermediate would go on to win the Senior championship in 1952. They beat Ballymurphy in the final. This team also lost to Tinryland in the 1950 final and to Ballymurphy in 1953. They did, however, also win Senior Football Leagues in 1950, 1952, 1953 and 1954.
Billy "Skinner" McGuill captained the 1952 team, and he also captained the Carlow county team for the following season. Carlow beat both the reigning All Ireland champions and the beaten finalists (Kerry and Armagh respectively) to reach the 1954 National League final, only to lose to Mayo.
1952 to 2006
After defeating Ballymurphy in the 1952 final (0-6 to 0–4 in a replay, after the first game ended 0–6 to 1-3), Palatine went 54 years without winning a Carlow county championship, losing several finals before re-capturing the championship in 2006. Among those losses were a defeat to Ballymurphy in 1953 (missing out on the chance to become the last team to hold that trophy, as a new one was commissioned the following season), to Kildavin in 1970, to Naomh Eoin in 1986, to Old Leighlin in 1997, O'Hanrahans in 2001, and Rathvilly (after a replay) in 2002.
Even though success in the Senior Football Championship eluded them, in 1971 Palatine captured a football and hurling double at Under 21 level. There was another football and hurling double in 1985, this time at Intermediate level.
After many close-calls in county finals, Palatine finally won their fourth Senior Football Championship after a 54-year wait, defeating Kildavin-Clonegal in the 2006 final by 1–9 to 0–11. Palatine led early on in the game, thanks in large part to a goal from Paul Reid. However, Kildavin-Clonegal had much the better of the play in the 2nd half and with a few minutes to go they led by three points. With the game entering its final stages, a comeback from Palatine culminated with midfielder Brian Farrell pointing from a '45 deep into injury time to secure victory for Palatine. Paul Reid was later named club player of the year for Palatine, and Joe Byrne was named player of the year by the Carlow county board.
In their first ever foray into the Leinster club championship, Palatine were defeated by Rhode of Offaly, 2–7 to 1–11. After a fractious game, Westmeath referee Peter Fox was struck by a Palatine supporter who subsequently received a lifetime ban from the GAA.