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DR. CROKE
(1823-1902)
Patron of the
GAA and Patron of the Dr. Croke Club
The
GAA was founded in Thurles on November 1st,
1884 with the main aim of promoting Irish Athletics.
It’s first President, Maurice Davin, invited Archbishop
Croke to become a Patron. Croke’s letter of acceptance
dated December 18th, 1884 was so celebrated
as to be recognised as a charter of the association. It
contained the strong plea for support for the games and
sports that were traditional in Ireland, and that seemed
to be dying out. Dr Croke’s support for the GAA was a
major cause of its early success.
The GAA in its turn has been
mindful of its great benefactor. In 1920, it erected a
monument to him in Liberty Square, Thurles. It consists
of a bronze figure of the Archbishop standing on a
limestone pedestal.
Dr. Croke was born in Castlecor,
Kanturk, Co. Cork. He was ordained a priest of the
Cloyne Diocese on May 29th 1847. He served
in Midleton, Mallow, St. Colman’s College Fermoy and
Doneraile. He was summoned to Rome and ordained Bishop
of Auckland, New Zealand on July 10, 1870. He returned
to Ireland and was appointed Archbishop of Cashel & Emly
in 1875. He served his people and country with
distinction until his death.
To him the Gaelic Athletic
Association owed a deep debt. The letter written to
Michael Cusack in 1884 consenting to become Patron of
the Association was one of its most cherised
possessions. He put a vigorous life into that
organisation that had done much to train, discipline and
develop the young manhood of our country. Croke Park in
Dublin is a lasting memorial to his work for the
organisation. Wherever the men of the GAA, the finest
type of the world’s manhood, sweep along their playing
fields, the name of Croke is an inspiration.
Killarney Dr. Croke
Connection
“The
Kerry Champion” journalist sums up our club’s honoured
tradition in his 1938 column. “If a free choice were to
be made in the problem of selecting, on its merits, the
GAA Club in the “Kingdom” which could rightly claim
pride of place in a record of the movement, the Dr.
Croke club, Killarney, could not easily be denied the
honour. Apart from the merits of the club’s case on
every other ground, the name of its patron was
sufficient. The proud distinction has been allotted to
it, without contradiction, that it is the only GAA club
in the country to bear the name of the illustrious
Archbishop of Cashel, whose distinguished patronage was
a great source of strength to the infant Association in
its uphill fight. It is no small boast that the Gaels
of Killarney can make, that they also had the honour of
enjoying the patronage of Dr. Croke, of golden memory.
His Grace conveyed his gracious assent to act as patron
in a letter which is still treasured at the club’s
rooms” Sadly this letter of 1888 from our Patron who
was a man of national, continental and universal vision
has been lost.
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