CLUB OF THE WEEK  St Senans  By Marian McAuliffe.

There are records going back as far as the 1890s of teams from the Senans area.

There were many teams under many different names wearing many different coloured jerseys down through the years, but they all had one thing in common, pride in their locality.

The St Senans club was formed in 1934 by a number of like-minded locals. The club’s first success came in the 1950s winning some titles.

In 1962 St Senans were beaten in the semi-final of the North Kerry intermediate championship by Ballylongford. Senans reached the final again in 1963 and were victorious this time, beating Listowel. This team was captained by Billy Buckley. In 1964 they reached the intermediate final beating Finuge, captained by Teddy Sweeney. In 1965 going for three in a row Finuge again were the opposition, this game ended in a draw, however Senans went on to win the replay. Antony Halpin, Sonny O’Keeffe, Jack & Ger Callaghan, Buddy Kelliher, John Stack, Jack Whelan, Teddy & Paul Sweeney, Patrick Carey, Jack & Billy Buckley, Mickeen McElligott, John Joe Lynch, Jackie Walsh, Mike Hickey, Dan Kennelly, Eddie Daughton, Johnny Pa Brosnan, were involved in these matches.

In 1967 Senans reached the semi-final of the North Kerry Senior Championship playing O’Rahillys Ballylongford. Three goals scored by John McCarthy rocked Bally but they clawed their way back to win 0-11 to 3-0, the team also reached the league semi-final but were beaten by Tarbert. In 1967 St Senans won the Al Roche cup beating Duagh.  During the 70’s Senans reached the semi-final of the NK senior championship in 1973 Roundy Landers trained the team in Jack O’Halloran’s field in Glenoe. Tarbert proved too strong Senans were missing some players especially Billy O Connell who emigrated to London where he played with the Kingdom

The 70’s proved to be a lean decade for the club with the seniors being on the wrong side of the results of some closely fought games. It was towards the end of the decade that Robert Barry started working with the under age teams which eventually lead to the U21 team entering a three game saga with Ballydonoghue for the 1979 U21North Kerry Championship.

The final was played  in Ballybunion against Ballydonoghue who were three points ahead with two minutes to go but Denis Kennelly rattled the net to snatch a draw. The replay again failed to separate the teams, and 16 th  March 1980 Senans looked set to win the Bob Stack Memorial cup but conceded a penalty. Robert Bunyan drove it home and again the game failed to produce a winner. The fourth fixture was played a week later and Senans were victorious. The team included Mike Kennelly, Pat Doody, Tom McElligott, Pat Dillon, Tom Shanahan, Joe Lyons, Pat O’Connell, Denis Kennelly, Gene Sullivan, Declan Falvey, Tom Canty, Tom O’Connell (C), Denis McElligott, Denis Courtney, J. P. O’Connell, Tom Thornton, Johnny Horgan, John O’Connell, Jim Doody, James Sheahan, Tom Hayes, Ger Behan, Eddie Relihan and Batt Maher.  Many of this team went on to serve Senans for many years successfully.


The club purchased land in Mountcoal in 1984 and have developed into a fantastic pitch, club rooms, astro pitch and gym. The 80’s and 90’s brought further honour to the club in all grades but losing the 1980 NK championship final to Desmonds. 1984 Ballydonoghue were again the opposition in the NK League final again it took a replay to separate the sides Senans winning 1-15 to 1-07. They also won the County novice championship beating Knockagoshel in the final. In 1986 they captured the county junior title and gained promotion to division 2 of the county league. Senans won their second NK league title in 1988 beating Beal 2-07 to 0-07 in the final.

In the 90’s they won North Kerry junior league beating Ballydonoghue, in 1992 Senans won Co League and  North Kerry Junior final.1994 the senior team contested the county junior final losing to St Pat’s after a replay they also contested the North Kerry championship semi-final but lost 2-05 to 1-05 to Ballydonoghue. In 1996 Senans beat Rathmore in the junior championship on a score of 1-14 to 0-16 for their second title. Senans Minors had a superb run in the North Kerry Championship starting in 2007 and continuing to complete a 5-in-a row in 2011.

2015 Senans won the County Novice final beating Lispole. 2016 Senans won Division 1 Minor North Kerry league beating Ballydonoghue in a thrilling final. St Senans 2-12 Ballydonoghue 3-06. Senans B lifted the junior cup beating Duagh 1-06 to 0-07.

2018

St Senans quest for a first North Kerry Championship continued into 2018 starting with Listowel, in Mountcoal in the First round. Despite the late time of year the game was played in summer like conditions and both teams served up some fantastic football, Senans emerged winners on a score line of 2-15 to 1-15 and progressed to a quarter final meeting with Castleisland Desmonds The quarter final was played in Finuge and again a cracking game of football saw Senans lads emerge victorious on a score line of 2-10 - 2.07. This put the Senans lads on a collision course with near neighbours and fierce rivals Finuge in the Semi Final. The hugely anticipated Semi Final was played in Tarbert on 18th Nov, and after a hectic start to the game where Finuge took the first green flag of the day the Senans lads responded magnificently by scoring two of their own. Senans gradually took control of the game and ran out winners by 3-09 to 1-09
Back to the Final for the second time in three years facing the same opposition, Ballydonoghue, who were chasing a three in a row. Senans memories of North Kerry Finals had not been good up to this point with the club losing in all finals contested. However the squad of 2018 had other ideas and took the game to the Bally lads on a cold December Day in Moyvane. The first half whistle saw Senans head to the dressing room with a good lead which they never lost in the second half. The final score was St Senans 1-12, Ballydonoghue 1-06. Finally St Senans were North Kerry Senior Champions and every Senans supporter present saw Sean T Dillon raise the Eamon O’Donoghue cup for the first time in the club’s history under the management of Mark Bourke, Jerry Foran and Aiden Behan. This result meant a double of North Kerry titles for the club as they captured the North Kerry Div. 1 league earlier in the year. Celebrations started with a homecoming to the Club grounds in Mountcoal where a large crowd turned out to welcome the lads home and continued long into the night, (and a few nights following)

2019

2019 started with the unusual position of being defending champions. The first round draw threw up a meeting with Beal. Senans emerged victorious and progressed to a quarter Final with Duagh. The Quarter final was played in Listowel and following a hectic battle Senans progressed toanother Semi Final. Tarbert awaited the Mountcoal lads in the Semi-Final which again saw Senans take the spoils and a position in the Final for the second year running.The opponents this time were Brosna who were chasing their first title. The game was played in Ballylongford and a frantic first half with some terrific play saw Senans in a comfortable half time lead of 5 points to 1. Brosna battled back to a deficit of one point but Senans upped their game and finished strongly with two goals in the final 20 mins to see the Eamon O’Donoghue cup remaining in Senans possession. Two in a row…. after a wait of 84 years. All Senans supporters enjoyed this one just as much as the first one.  The U21 team brought down the curtain on 2019 by beating Listowel in the Final of the North Kerry U21 Championship, played on St Stephen’s Day in Duagh

The following players from the club represented County teams at various levels through the
years Jeremiah Galvin, Mick Landers, Tom McElligott, David Dillane, Jack Whelan Lisahane, Brendan Landers, Jotty Browne, Billy Doran, Billy O’Connell, Denis Kennelly, Tom O’Connell, Johnny Horgan, Peter Lyons, Marcus Kelliher, John Walsh, Brendan Mahony, Alan Doran, Tom Finnerty, Thomas Stack, Padraig Somers, Damian Somers, Sean T Dillon, David Foran, Eoin O’Connell, Barry Mahony.