Dolores still a driving force behind Kilmessan success

Around the world fundraiser a huge success for local club

When Kilmessan Camogie Club was recording live social media videos to launch its massive 2021 fundraiser, ‘Around the World in 18 Days’, its ultimate interview was with an enduring figure in the club, Dolores Donohoe, who as Dolores Hanbury was a key player and administrator in the 1960s glory days, remaining a dedicated supporter ever since.

Prior to the pandemic lockdown, Dolores could still be found at the club’s games cheering on the present generation of players, and in 2004, the centenary year of the Camogie Association, she was named Hall of Fame recipient by Kilmessan.

With her daughter, Deirdre, she did regular 5km walks to build up kilometres for the fundraiser, for the camogie club and Meath Women's Refuge, which had hit the €10,000 mark at the weekend.

In 1964, the Meath Camogie Board was formed, with 10 clubs. Kilmessan, which had reformed two years earlier, won its first senior county championship that year, beating Boardsmill. Dolores recalls that as the county board had just been formed, there was no trophy to present to the champions.

“Then, out of the blue, Trim solicitor Michael A Regan and the hotelier and pharmacist, Paddy Fay came together to donate the Fay-Regan Cup. Kilmessan were the first winners,” she recalled. Camogie dinner dances were held in Fay’s Central Hotel.

They went on to win the finals of 1968, when the Meath Chronicle reported that ‘Dolores Hanbury showed great accuracy in taking frees’, and ’69, when there was a junior and senior double. It was to be their last final win for 30 years, but the club has made up for that in the last two decades.

There were seven Kilmessan players on the Meath team that beat Kildare to win the Leinster Junior Championship in 1965, including Dolores, who is missing from the celebration photos at the end of the game in Trim as she had been brought off following a belt of a hurley to the head.

“I was brought to Dr Brody – he told me camogie was no game for ladies!”

Dolores Hanbury’s camogie career began in her teens, cycling the short distance from her home in Ringlestown to the GAA grounds. Her Hall of Fame citation said she soon became one of the most vital players in the squad, and commanded the full back position for most of her career. She earned a place on that first Meath team of 1962, and won her first senior championship medal in 1964.

“We played in gym frocks and canvas boots,” she recalls.

For many years, Dolores acted as secretary and treasurer of the club, and also as treasurer and registrar on the Co Board. She worked for over a decade, from 1962 to 1973, in Donnelly’s Butchers as a clerk. At the same time, Dinny Donnelly was secretary of the hurling club, but Dolores was de facto secretary as she assisted Dinny with the paperwork, and the opening of the Donnelly-Loughran Memorial Park in 1969.

“We had to send out cards to the girls informing them of a game,” she says. "Our biggest expense was postage and telegrams in the days before telephones. I still have receipts from the Meath Chronicle for printing cards, and advertising dinner dances in the paper. And we paid Charlie and Willie Killion for bussing us to games.”

Marriage to Peter Donohoe from Dunsany and the arrival of children in the mid-1970s saw her take a break from the game for a while, but she returned for another few years after that, and was delighted to see her daughters and now her granddaughter, Kathy Ann Nevin, involved in the club.

“Last year was a tough year, with Covid-19 and not being able to go to matches to support the team, as they were behind closed doors,” she said. “But I was very grateful for getting the chance to see the county final in 2020. It was great to win back the county title.

"It has been a tough year, especially for people of my age group, but starting this walk to fundraise for the club and the Meath Women’s Refuge got me out and about again – within my 5k!"

With traditional fundraising activities locked down, Kilmessan Camogie took on the challenge of travelling virtually around the world, a 40,000km circumference in 18 days.

This around the world challenge will be a fundraiser for Kilmessan Camogie to help to contribute to its running costs and members to compete across all levels. Ten per cent of the total raised will to the Meath Women's refuge based in Navan.

The Gofundme challenge launched on St Patrick's Day and continued to Easter Sunday, finishing with a 24 hour run/walkathon from the adult players in the club.

To donate, go to: https://www.gofundme.com/f/kilmessan-camogies-around-the-world-in-18-days