Committee Infomation

Club contact: secretary.ballymanus.wicklow@gaa.ie

• Ballymanus GAA was founded in 1886, just 2 years after the foundation of the GAA.
• The famed United Irishman 1798 leader Billy Byrne of Ballymanus lived in the townland, so the club is affectionately known as the Billies.
• We have one adult senior team (intermediate), with our juveniles playing with neighbours Knockananna to field a team at u7’s; u9’s. We also have a number of representatives playing with Michael Dwyers.
• Our roll of honour consist of six Championships, winning Junior A in 1929 & 1980; and Intermediate in 1932, 1938, 1986 and 1994. We have contested a number of finals since, the most recent in 2005; 2007; 2014; 2015, losing out by a single score on three such occasions.
• Our pitch, Billy Byrne Park, was opened in 1996 by the late Uachtaran Jack Boothman
• Amongst our ranks we have a double Olympian – Paul Kenny, who had success at the Special Olympics in both Greece in 2011 and Brussels in 2015.
• Two of our club members, Caitriona Flynn & Aine Byrne (Moyne) were part of the Wicklow All-Ireland winning side, with Aine captaining Waterford IT to successive titles in 2017 & 2018.
• The club were part of the original Celebrity Bainisteoir TV Show, managed by Baz Ashmawy (TV personality) and Wicklow star Kevin O’Brien. Unfortunately we were beaten by 2pts in the opening round by eventual competition winners Maryland from Westmeath.
• The club has a long and proud history of success in the Scor competition across different competitions – Question Time; Recitation; Music etc. Recently our team represented Wicklow in the Senior Table Quiz in Sligo.

Billy Byrne of Ballymanus
Billy Byrne, born in 1775, was the youngest son of Garrett Byrne of Ballymanus, Co. Wicklow.

This Catholic family was one of the last to retain it’s vast lands in the County and Garrett Snr. or ‘Old Garrett’ was well respected by many of the Protestant gentry. Garrett Jnr., Billy’s eldest brother, was heavily involved in the creation of the United Irishmen’s movement in Co. Wicklow, and by May 1798, there were 14,000 men sworn with Garrett Jnr., theoretically acting as Adjutant-General.

Billy Byrne was a handsome, powerfully build man, with a charm and zest for life and was favoured by Coates of Clone as a suitor for his daughter, where he resided for some time. He enrolled in the Wicklow Yeoman Cavalry, but after six months, refused to take an oath that he never was and never would be a United Irishman. He was expelled from that Corps and subsequently fled in a famous chase through Killacloran, Aughrim, Cappagh to Ballymanus, where he eluded his pursuers by hiding in a gravel pit.

The Ballymanus division led by Billy Byrne was at the forefront of most of the important battles in Co. Wexford. At the battle of Arklow on June 9th, they charged the enemy lines time and time again in the mouth of heavy musket and cannon fire, in spite of heavy losses. He led a group of Wicklowmen at Vinegar Hill on June 21st, and after the defeat he went into hiding. In spite of having been given an amnesty, Billy Byrne was arrested in Francis Street
Dublin on March 14th 1799 and sent to Wicklow Gaol to await courtmartial for murder and other capital offences.

The ensuing sham trial of Billy Byrne of Ballymanus was one of the greatest acts of injustice by the British Establishment against an Irishman. The old enemies of the Byrne family wanted to make an example of him.
The informers, Biddy Dolan (Croppy Biddy) of Carnew, Thomas Dowse, Matthew Davis, and several others were carefully trained by Captain King of Rathdrum, to swear away the life of Billy Byrne.

He was found guilty of being a rebel leader. His sentence could have been commuted, but his
influential enemies were too powerful and he was hanged at Gallows Hill near Wicklow town on
21st Sept. 1799.