Anyone familiar with Jimmy Murphy’s play The Kings of the Kilburn High Road will be aware of the generations of young Irish emigrants who moved to northwest London to eke out a living on the building sites. Alienated by the city’s vastness and a yearning for home it was a hard-grasped existence for many.
Today, the city's young Irish contingent have cheap flights and social media to ensure home is never all that far away. For the players and supporters of Kilburn Gaels the link is heightened through hurling.
On Sunday, Kilburn Gaels will play O’Donovan Rossa of Belfast in the intermediate club hurling final in Croke Park. London versus Belfast, in Dublin.
As former GAA president Seán Kelly had intended when expanding this competition a decade ago, this will be the high watermark in Kilburn’s history, a momentous culmination of graft for those who founded it from the embers of two defunct clubs in the Irish-emigrant stronghold 18 years ago.
Kilburn arrive at Jones’s Road having negotiated a competitive London championship which was completed as early as August, due to plans to begin work on the €5 million redevelopment of the county grounds at Ruislip. The expedited conclusion left Kilburn short of competitive fixtures before a quarter-final date with the Leinster champions, Kilkenny’s Mullinavat in December.
Grit and determination Epitomising the noble GAA traits of grit and determination and helped by a star turn from free-taker Stephen Lambert, Kilburn edged through.
"They would have been writing up our 'gallant losers' obituary before that game but we were confident we'd do ourselves justice," says Kilburn manager Tom Bergin.
With only six senior teams in the London championship familiarity often breeds contempt. The club didn't even make the semi-finals in London last year, perennial rivals St Gabriel's held the whip hand in recent years and prior to this Robert Emmets were the standard-bearers, capturing the All-Ireland intermediate crown in 2007.
As the London club season wound down, retaining match sharpness was a struggle over winter. Gruelling training sessions, often conducted ankle-deep in muck under floodlights in Greenford, maintained fitness levels as challenge matches were arranged against Gort and Ballyhale Shamrocks.
Tragic death Indeed, the club has forged a bond with the Galway champions in recent years following the tragic death of Cathal Forde, a Gort native, during a training session for Kilburn in 2012. Cathal played in Kilburn's only other London senior championship win in 2010, along with his brother Niall. As is common in GAA circles, success and tragedy can be interwoven, and both clubs have summoned strength and togetherness from the untimely loss.
Three Gort men line out for Kilburn on Sunday, goalkeeper Kris Finnegan, centre back Brian Regan and corner forward Keith Killilea.
“It means a huge amount to be playing here in memory of Cathal,” says Regan. “When I came to London first it was this that made me want to play with Kilburn. Niall helped me find a job and then Keith and Kris joined too. We had a huge following from Gort at the semi-final.”
Club hurling in London is a labour of love requiring thick skin, patience and a topped-up Oyster Card. In a city fraught with temptations and distractions, making the trek to Ruislip on the Central Line at the weekend requires planning, dedication and enthusiasm. The sense of community engendered through this weekly ritual is a welcome byproduct of sporting ambition.
The players have moulded an identity and team spirit which, backed up with fitness, showed as they dug deep to hold off a late onslaught from Galway’s Cappataggle in the semi-final. A feature of that game was the lively Kilburn support that will also make the trip to Dublin.
There were no wild celebrations for the players though, just quiet satisfaction as they dashed back to Shannon to catch the flight to Heathrow.
Come Sunday evening, Bergin and his entourage are intent on returning to their adopted homes; the newly-crowned Kings of the Kilburn High Road.
