Pioneers Forging Ahead

Kiltullagh holds off city rivals

Pioneers Pounce

Kiltullagh do Galway soccer proud

Kiltullagh Advance to the FAI junior cup

Cooney's goal does the business for Kiltullagh

Mervue fall to their bogey team - again

FAI junior cup tie against Kellybegs

It's penalty blues for Kiltullagh

Go West!

Bel's Sunk

Pioneering Win For Kiltullagh

Goalkeeper Murphy

No Stopping Kiltullagh

Four-Star Ochard

Kiltullagh hold off city rivals again

Kiltullagh's late saviour

Kiltullagh Advances

Kiltullagh copperfasten second place in league

Kiltullagh hit for 6 by rampant Rangers

Kiltullagh's commanding home show

Earls at the Death

Pioneers forging ahead

Kiltullagh in Connacht junior cup

Murphy's Law saves Kiltullagh

First Competitive games played by Kiltullagh Pioneers

The first official game played by the club took place on Sunday September 16th at 12.00 in West Park in Galway City.

Castle United were a Galway City based team, the game was played in West Park Renmore. For this season Kiltullagh played all home games at this venue as Castlepark at the time was not suitable for league games.

The line up for this first game was :
Paddy Duane
Sean Lawless
Liam Lawless
Joey Murphy (RIP)
Paul Lawless
Stan Lawless
Fintan Lawless
Gerry Murphy
Tom Hanlon
Martin Donoghue
John Whelan (RIP)
Subs
John Leahy for Joey Murphy
Christy Corcoran for Tom Hanlon
First Goal scored: The first goal scored by Kiltullagh Pioneers in a competitive game was scored by John Whelan on Sunday 21st October in a game v Lavally in Tuam. John finished joint top scorer for the first season with 5 goals and continued to play for the club for a number of seasons. He later immigrated to the United States and tragically passed away in October 2011. Another club player from that first season Joey Murphy is also sadly no longer with us having passed away in September 2002.

List of Registered Players 1979-80

Gerry Cannon
Kevin Kelly,
Christy Corcoran,
Kerrill Hanlon,
John Martyn,
Tom Hanlon,
Seamus Cannon,
Michael Martyn,
Kevin o Connor,
Gerry Murphy,
Liam Lawless,
Martin Kelly,
Martin Donoghue,
Frank Duane,
John G Duggan,
James J Duggan,
Kieron Jordan,
Kevin Jordan,
Sean Lawless,
Fintan Lawless,
Paul Lawless,
John Lawless,
Stan Lawless,
John Whelan (RIP),
Joey Murphy (RIP),
8/9/1979
John Leahy,
Paddy Duane,
Noel Murphy,
Noel O Connor

Along with playing games in the Galway FA leagues the club also ran a very competitive indoor soccer league in the Temperance Hall Gym in Loughrea and a series of Discos held in Kiltullagh hall in order to find raise for the newly formed club.

First year in Galway FA League

Kiltullagh Pioneers entered the Galway FA league structure for the season 1979/80. In that season 17 games were played.

The Beginning – First Season 1979-1980

Kiltullagh Pioneers was founded in August 1979 by a group of local people interested in taking part in the local Galway Football Association leagues. At the time in Kiltullagh there existed a progressive group called Kiltullagh Sports Centre which organized and ran a number of local activities such as Kiltullagh Tennis court and a wide range of other activities for the youth of the area. Looking to advance the range of activities a group met in August of 1979 to look into setting up a soccer club. At a well-attended meeting Kiltullagh Pioneers AFC was created with the first set of officers elected
Chairman: Michael McGloin
Secretary: Patrick McGloin
Treasurer: Nora Gibbons
Committee: Christy Corcoran, Seamus Cannon, Stan Lawless
We as a club are lucky that the original minute’s book exists and we can draw from it when detailing the birth of the club.

Minutes of the first meeting of the Kiltullagh Soccer Club

The meeting opened with Mr Jimmy Finn, Chairman of the Kiltullagh Sports Centre in the chair. Attendance included John + Michael Martyn, Seamus + Gerry Cannon, Patrick + Michael McGloin, Stan, Fintan, Liam, John + Sean Lawless, Frank Duane, Mary Maloney, Gerry + Joseph Murphy, Christy Corcoran, Kevin + Martin Kelly. Apologies were received from Nora Gibbons.

The meeting commenced with a discussion as to whether the new club should be independent or a subcommittee of the existing Sports Centre. It was decided to opt for the latter choice.

Election of Committee: Michael McGloin was proposed for the chair by Stan Lawless + seconded by Christy Corcoran. Michael was deemed to be elected – there been no other proposals.

Patrick McGloin was proposed as secretary by Christy Corcoran + seconded by Liam Lawless. Nora Gibbons proposed by treasurer by Christy Corcoran + seconded by Stan Lawless.

Funds: It was decided that funds would be requested from Kiltullagh Sports Center in the form of a loan. Fund raising was put on the agenda for next meeting.

Name of team: Stan Lawless proposed that the team be called the “Pioneers”. This was seconded by Patrick McGloin + passed.

Galway League: It was unanimously agreed that the club should enter a team in the Galway League. The Chairman undertook to see to this.

Registration: It was agreed by all present that players would pay their own registration fees. Non-members of the Sports Centre would be asked to pay £5.00 + would cover the cost of registration.

Indoor Soccer: The secretary was asked to write requesting the use of Loughrea Gym for indoor soccer in coming winter months.

Insurance: frank Duane asked if it would be possible to have the soccer players insured. Sean Lawless agreed to contact Sean O’Donnell, Loughrea + Patrick McGloin was to contact Gerry Nevin about this.

A meeting of the club was arranged for Aug 23rd Proposed : Liam Lawless Seconded : John Lawless