Our Club had the honour of hosting Hartford U-16 Gaelic Football Club from the state of Connecticut USA at our pitch over the weekend of the 8th and 9th of July 2011.We played each other in a very competitive but enjoyable game of football on Saturday evening with the home team winning by three points.
The game was followed by a barbecue, refreshments and disco in a marquee at the pitch. The evening turned out to be a great success enjoyed by all and particularly our visitors We would like to thanks all who contributed to this success, our local business people on their sponsorship. Martin and Betty Fleming for the preparing of the food, and to our host families who made the children feel very welcome.
We hope they enjoyed the rest of their trip as they left on the Sunday morning heading for Dublin to visit croke park and to watch the Leinster final and from there to Cork where they were being hosted by Ballincollig GAA Club.
We thank Stephen Miskell, John O'Brien,Johnny Murphy ,Jim Droney and Dick Edmonds from the Hartford youth football programme for the Successful organization of the trip and for selecting Killererin as a host Club.

History of Hartford GAA

As far back as the early 1900's Hartford (Connecticut) and the surrounding towns were playing competitive football.World war two impeded the progress of Gaelic football in America, emigration from Ireland being halted. In 1947 American shores were opened again to emigrants. Irishmen were anxious to retain ties with their country joined together to play their national sport. In 1950's and 1960's several of the Hartford players made up the new York selected team.This was a great honor for the greater Hartford Irish community.
Emigration halted again in the late 1960's and thus the tide turned. A major program was launched to introduce american youth to Gaelic football. The program prevailed and the club enjoyed a national championship win and many state championships throughout the 1970's and 1980's. However in the 1990's Gaelic football once again died out in Hartford.
Hartford Senior Gaelic Football was resurrected in 2007.Two years later Stephen Miskell (a native of Killererin GAA)and Johnny Murphy created the youth football program.The program has grown from 34 players to over 60 players in just two years. Hartford have just recently established a U-10 hurling program.
They hope to keep the GAA tradition alive and thriving in Hartford. Their U-16 team travelled to Ireland in 2011 and stayed with clubs in Galway. Cork ,Clare and Kerry.