Celbridge's Donal Moloney reflects on a mighty career and seven Kildare SHC title wins

Just like Rose recalling her time on The Titanic in James Cameron’s blockbuster film, Celbridge had to look back 84 years to their last Kildare Senior Hurling Championship before they were climbing that mountain again in 2005.

Celbridge had become well-used to that sinking feeling in the years prior as they failed to break into the elite Kildare hurling bracket alongside the likes of Naas, Ardclough and Coill Dubh, who had taken up all the final spots since the turn of the century.

Captain of the team that did breach that gap and win the big one was Donal Moloney. He of course still reflects fondly on that first SHC title win as a part of what came to be the finest generations of hurlers that the club had ever seen.
“They were great days, the first one was the best one,” he said.

“We had no baggage in 2005 and maybe created some for ourselves afterwards. We were just used to winning minor finals and U16 finals, it kinda didn’t enter our heads anything but a win. We got on a roll, we beat Éire Óg in a league match down in Raheens and it was tight at the end. That was a moment that we thought was big because we had gone toe-to-toe with a big strong senior hurling team that had savage hurlers. To them it was probably only a league match but to us it was a big step along the way in that year.”

The team was led by manager Jimmy Doyle, who had carried a large portion of the members of the title winning team through the Celbridge underrage system. Donal was made captain by Doyle and captained the team to county glory at 22, a fact that shocked the man himself for a number of reasons.

“It was a surprise to me that I was captain,” Donal said. “Jimmy (Doyle) asked me at the start of the year. I had kind of been trying to do hurling and football for a long time, that year a few dual players went to play football and I chose hurling.

“Jimmy asked to be captain after that and it was unreal, but Jimmy and I both wanted the best and we would often butt heads. We would have a very good relationship a lot of the time. We were both strong-minded and strong-willed and we often clashed. But it was a great honour.”

Despite their demands of the people around them and one another, Donal has nothing but praise for the man in the dugout for Celbridge’s SHC win that year.

“I owe Jimmy a lot and Celbridge hurling still owes Jimmy a lot. He was our manager in our Feile final, he put a lot of work into underrage and he was just stone mad about hurling.

“He was a real driving force for the club. It was great that we got that win under him in ‘05 and then in the years after we maybe didn’t do ourselves justice. We lost a lot of semi-finals and Jimmy stepped down after 2008. But he had put a fair shift in at that stage, because it's not easy to be in charge with a senior group like that for that length of time.”

The disappointments that followed under Doyle would never detract from the glory of 2005 as Celbridge beat Coill Dubh 1-14 to 0-9 in Newbridge.

“Tony Murphy got a goal just before half-time, and even when I think of it now I still can still hear the roar in the stands. It would put hair standing on the back of your neck,” Donal explained.

“Niall Lanigan broke his arm in the first half. Phillip Kenny, who was our semi-retired substitute ‘keeper, went in goals. Yet still just nothing seemed to phase us.

“It definitely wasn’t comfortable, we were confident in what we could do but it was great to get to a stage in the match with a minute or two to go where you realised that we are actually going to do this.”

The Celbridge footballers would break their own duck three years later and unleash further scenes of celebration around the town in what was an unforgettable few years for the club.

However, the hurlers were first to do it and when they did get to their first county final since their last Championship win in 1921, the town got behind their men in a major way.

“When we got to the final and there was stuff up around the town, it was incredible. Sure we had never seen that before. It was such a big thing for us, because half the time most of the people in Celbridge wouldn’t know there was a hurling match on. So it was great to see signs in the windows and flags up around the village wishing the team best of luck. It was a real buzz and sense of occasion that we hadn’t felt before,” Donal recalled.

“I have often said it to teams I have been involved with. You get to that stage where you are winning county finals and the sense of comradery that you have with the team. They are up there with the best days of your life, they are up there with the day you get married, up there with the day your kids are born. They are unbelievable (days), it’s hard to describe. The nights after the matches, the craic we used to have afterwards. You would then go to play matches in the Leinster Championship and you felt like you were on such an adventure.”

After Jimmy Doyle’s departure in 2008, the years that followed would be truly special for the club. Celbridge further capitalised on their finest ever generation of players with four SHC titles in five years between 2009 and 2013, only missing out in 2012.

“Anthony McCormack came in for 2009 and he brought such a fresh approach. At that time we just felt like we were at the peak of our powers. Everytime we played a match we thought we were going to perform. That was the most enjoyable period of hurling we had and perhaps the only disappointing thing was coming up short in a couple of Leinster finals. But it was a great team to be a part of,” Donal said.

The most painful of Leinster final defeats being in 2016 when Celbridge threw away a lead to a flurry of late goals against Kilkenny Champions Carrickshock, losing 3-12 to 1-16.

Donal would retire with seven Kildare Senior Hurling Championship winners medals after a club career that began in 1999. He departed with no regrets and remains heavily involved with the growing the next generation of Celbridge hurlers.

He concluded, “That is the number one thing I say when I coach kids teams or that I say to parents who aren’t from a GAA background. The great thing is that they will be part of a team, group and a community that is bigger than themselves. It’s what it’s all about, no mind winning or losing, to be a part of that group is the main thing.”