Club History

A brief history of Skellig Rangers GAA Club

Skellig Rangers G.A.A Club was founded in 1895 by Michael Devane and H.P. Lannen.These two men would also go on  to be officers in the first divisional board to be set up in the G.A.A when they were founder members of the South Kerry G.A.A divisional board in 1903.
It was then known as Portmagee G.A.A club and adopted the present Skellig Rangers name in the 1930s.Portmagee played in three County Senior Championships 1896,1897 and 1917.From 1918 to the early thirties many townlands in the Portmagee area had their own teams .
 
 
The late 20s and early 30s saw four teams in Portmagee with the political climate at the the time causing this fragmentation of the G.A.A. in the area.These teams almagmated to be known as Skellig Rangers and won their first divisional  championship on the field of play in 1936.
 
Skellig Rangers Senior Team 1936
 
Skellig Rangers club again won the South Kerry championship of  1946 of which the final was played in 1947.
 
 Skellig Rangers Senior team 1946
It was to be 1968 that the Rangers came out as the best in South Kerry again when they defeated St Marys. 
Skellig Rangers Senior team 1968
 
The Senior team also  won the County Novice B Final in the year 1997 The club were also  South Kerry League Champions in 1980,2004 and 2005.The Rangers won out again in the South Kerry Senior Championship in 2006 and in 2009 they added the County, Munster and All-Ireland Junior club Championship.
 
 
Skellig Rangers did not have their own permanent home for many years and since the mid 1970s the club has seen massive efforts in the financing and development of playing facilities with the first game being played on their new pitch in 1981.The club did not stop there and developed new dressing rooms in the late 1980s.The next stage of development came in the mid 1990s when the Rangers totally redeveloped their playing pitch and also the erection of a new stand with dressing rooms underneath.This stage of development culminated in the official opening of Pairc Chill Imeallach in May 1999 with the  Kerry Senior team playing Laois in a challenge.
 
Being the club they are the members did not rest there and a major development of dressing rooms,state of the art gym and meeting rooms was initiated and this was completed early 2008 and also the Rangers  playing pitch has top class lightning to facilitate training in the winter time.It is a great feat for a small club to have these facilities and the standard of the club’s grounds were instrumental in Skellig Rangers being able to play their 2009 Munster Junior Championship semi-final at home.
An extract from the Match programme of the All-Ireland Junior Club Final of 2009
 
''The occasion to day of being in a All Ireland is an marvelous feeling for any club.This day is about everyone in the club who have kept this great club going through good times and bad.Emigration has always hurt small rural clubs and Skellig Rangers were no different when in 40s 50s and 60s when  many players left for faraway shores.In those times to keep clubs going was nothing short of a miracle and with money hard to come by funds were not easily raised.Today is about all the club members who organized dances in the local hall,organized bingo,set up tops of the town shows,gave loans to the club,run the weekly lotto,sponsers  and gave up their time in doing all these fundraising ideas over the years.It is also about all the mentors who have given their time for the development of underage in the Rangers club.Also a big thank you to our players and Mentors of todays Senior team who have given the club so many great memories in the last year.''



In January 2012, Skellig Rangers Junior team won the South Kerry Junior Championship against St.Mary's on a scoreline of 2-9 to 0-7, played in Valentia. Below is a picture of the victorious team and management.


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