Crest

Our Club Crest

By a Junior Member.

We put on our club jerseys every time we have a match - but did you ever notice that the GAA logo and the club crest are on the front. Do you know what is on the crest? Or where the things that are on it came from? I did some checking.

Croke Family Crest

This is the crest of the Croke Family. Archbishop Croke of Cashel was one of the first patrons of the GAA when it was founded in 1984, and Croke Park is named afer him.

The Top Half

About 1920 Croke Park United, which became The Crokes Hurling Club, was set up, around the Drumcondra area of Dublin. In 1966 Crokes Hurling Club joined with Kilmacud GAA club, which had been set up in 1959, to form what is now Kilmacud Crokes.

Our version of the Croke family crest has been updated. The symbol on the left, which looks like a spear-head with wings, is a type of lily, a fleur-de-lys.

The open red hand is a symbol of Ulster and comes to us from the club Benburbs, which was from around the Roebuck area. Benburbs joined up with 'Crokes in the early 70's.

The lily on the crest has a holy meanings. For example, due to its shape, it is sometimes used like St. Patrick used the shamrock. The sleeved arm is a symbol of devotion, and our gold sleeve looks like it could belong to an archbishop alright! Another meaning of the sleeved arm is 'victory in tournament', going back to when knights took part in tournaments. So this is a good symbol for us in our tournaments - football, hurling and camogie.

The Bottom Half

The reason Benburbs had the red hand is that Eoin Rua O'Neill, Earl of Tir Eoghan, beat the English as the Battle of Benburb in 1646.

I was told that the building with the red roof is now the scout den, near the junction of the Upper and Lower Kilmacud Road, and guess what is in the window of the den? A big fleur-de-lys. It is very like the crest of Scoil Lorcan Naofa, where I go to school. The school crest is the old St. Laurence's church, but instead of a chimney the school has a round tower.