Castleisland Desmonds GAA


Castleisland Desmonds are a Gaelic Athletic Association club in Castleisland, County Kerry, Ireland. The club won its first County Championship in 1950. They won others in 1981, 1982 and 1984. They won the Munster Club Championship and All-Ireland Club Championship in 1985.

Celebrity Bainisteoir

In 2010 the club was selected to enter RTÉ's Celebrity Bainisteoir TV show. Their Celebrity Bainisteoir was Derek Burke from Crystal Swing.
In the quarter finals Castleisland played against Nuala Carey's Shannonbridge side from County Offaly. In the 2010 season of Celebrity Bainisteoir, home advantage for each game bar the final was determined by an assault course challenge, which took place at the Irish Army's training camp in The Curragh, County Kildare. Having lost the home venue decider in the Curragh, Desmonds travelled to Shannonbridge. In a closely fought encounter Castleisland were victorious, with a 2-10 to 2-06 scoreline.

In the semi-finals, having won the home venue decider in the Curragh, Desmonds hosted Breffny Morgan's Galway team, Kilconly. The home side started well, and at half time led the visitors by 1-5 to 0-4. The second half saw Desmonds consolidate their lead, and with ten minutes to go they led Kilconly 2-10 to 0-6. From there to the final whistle Kilconly battled back strongly and had reduced the deficit to just 2 points with two minutes to go. Desmonds replied with a last minute point to win the match by 3 points, with a 2-11 to 1-11 scoreline, thereby securing a place in the final. This match took place on 25 September 2010 and was featured in the episode of Celebrity Bainisteoir which aired on 17 October 2010.
In the final of Celebrity Bainisteoir, Desmonds faced Mairéad Farrell's Ballymun Kickhams from Dublin. The match took place at Parnell Park, Dublin on 29 October 2010. Early in the game the Desmonds scored the first point, and added 3 more without reply, but by half time Kickhams had fought back to lead Desmonds by 1 point at 1-3 to 0-5. In the second half Ballymun continued strong, scoring a further 2 points, but now it was Castleisland's turn to recover, and with ten minutes remaining both sides were level. Kickhams scored another point, to which Desmonds responded with a goal and began to look more dominant. Now under pressure, Kickhams missed one point-scoring opportunity, but succeeded with another to narrow the gap to a single point. As the game intensified, an incident occurred which resulted in a Desmond's player receiving a second yellow card, and being sent off with four minutes remaining. Despite this setback to the Castleisland side, Ballymun failed to capitalise, missing their best chance at scoring the vital point in injury time. Desmonds held their lead, to win the game by a single point with a final scoreline of 1-08 to 1-07. The match was featured in the episode of Celebrity Bainisteoir which aired on 31 October 2010.

Famous players