Club History A GAA club was first established in Killybegs in 1924. However, it fell aside for a few years and in the 30's, a playing field known as 'Maguires Field' was obtained in Island. Funds were raised by holding ceílis in the local school. The GAA in the area really took off and a special parish cup was established - "The St. Catherine's Cup". Football fell away again after the war and players played with neighbouring clubs. In 1952 Killybegs won the Dr. Maguire Cup - their first county title in its short history. But shortly after this great achievement, the team broke up again with many players lining out with Kilcar and Dunkineely. When a meeting was held to bring the club back together, land was acquired at Fintra and in 1967, Fintra G.A.A. Park was opened with a match between Donegal and Mayo. The 70's saw a lot of effort put into youth development in the club and it certainly paid off as the record shows - In almost 10 years, the club won 17 underage titles, 2 Ulster Club Minor titles, 2 County Shields and 1 Intermediate County title. During this period, Killybegs completed an unbelievable run of 16 wins out of 16 underage finals - a feat I don't think has been repeated anywhere. A few of the young players had the talent to go on to play for their county - winning more underage medals including an All-Ireland U-21 medal - and some went on to win a coveted All Ireland Senior Championship medal in 1992. Fintra Park was renovated in 1988 , and christened McDevitt Park and a inter county game between Donegal and Leitrim was played in front of a fantastic crowd after a U-16 curtain raiser. At the moment, new ground has been obtained and is currently in the development stage - but with the current success and interest in the GAA in Killybegs, the final grounds should be on a level with the best in the county. The current underage teams in the town seem to be on a same par as the teams of the early eighties with some of the coaches believing that they have more talented players now than those who've gone before - indeed current form suggests that they might not be far wrong. And with the last of the great players over the past two decades hanging up their county and club boots, it is up to these future stars to put Killybegs club back up where it belongs. In the last decade C.L.G. Na Cealla Beaga purchased new land and created its new development overlooking fintra bay. The development cost in the region of €1.1 million it has one full size sand based pitch and 1 training sand based pitch. The new clubrooms has 4 dressing rooms, first aid room, referees changing room, kitchen and meeting room on floor level with plans in place for the upstairs for a gym and meeting rooms and club office. The development was opened by The President of the G.A.A. Mr Christy Cooney, on the 15th May 2010 and named after Eamonn Byrne, Eamonn was a wicklow native who moved to Killybegs and joined the local G.A.A. club where he excelled on and off the field, Eamonn died tragically during a game in Ballyshannon in 1988. At a meeting in March 2010 the members of the club decided to name the club in Eamonn's Memory. The Eamonn Byrne Memorial park is now the Home of Killybegs G.A.A. On the day Killybegs played Tir Chonaill gaels (London) for the duffy cup and Leitrim took on Donegal with Killybegs player Shane (Baker) Boyle captain of the Donegal team, he was joined on the Donegal panel by Paul McGinley of Killybegs. The current manager of the senior team (Peter McGinley) has brought this team to the 2010 Donegal senior football championship final, where we hope to add another honour to our list.
