Club Identity
Summary
The GAA in Killoe dates back to 1889 and the formation of the first club in the Parish called Killoe Erins Hope. ‘Erins Hope’ was the name of a Fenian gun-running ship that traveled from the USA in 1867 with the aim of assisting a rebellion. The club name quickly changed to Killoe Erins Pride (reasons unknown) and the club participated in the inaugural Longford Senior Football Championship in 1890. A second club was formed in the parish in 1890 called Killoe McMahons, with both clubs participated in the unfinished 1891 Longford Senior Football Championship. The McMahons club is no longer referenced after 1892 while the Killoe Erins Pride name can be found in published accounts of challenge matches up to 1896.
Most clubs, including those in Killoe parish, vanished during the Parnellite Split of the 1890's. A revival of GAA activity in Co. Longford begins in the early years of the 20th century and in late 1903 we see the re-emergence of tne GAA in Killoe, with the club now bearing the name Killoe Young Emmets. The new name first appeared in late 1903 and the timing suggests a link to the 100th anniversary of the death of Robert Emmet which was commemorated across Ireland in September and October 1903, just prior to the first reference to the club name in published records in December 1903. Other short-lived and local teams came and went in Killoe parish in the early 1900's, including Soran O'Connell's Sons (1905), Rhyne Hardy Rovers (1905) and Killoe Young Erins Pride (1905), but none of those ever competed in official competition.
The Killoe Young Emmets club is also referred to by the Irish version of Emmet Óg since the late 1950's (strictly speaking the Irish translation of Killoe Young Emmets is 'Na hEiméid Óga Cill Eo'). This use of an Irish version of the name began around 1958 when club notes in the local newspapers started to appear with the club name in Irish, reputedly the result of an Irish language initiative by a County Board official. This expanded to club names appearing 'As Gaeilge' in fixtures too by the end of the 1950's and into the 1960's. The Irish version stuck for a couple of clubs in particular, including Killoe, who started to be referred to more regularly in print in the 1960's as Emmet Óg even after most other clubs had reverted back to their original naming convention in published records. For Killoe, this somewhat confusing dual-naming convention has continued to this day.
All records prior to the early 1960's exclusively referred to the club as Killoe Young Emmets, while Emmet Óg was used interchangeably with Killoe Young Emmets in the 1960's and 1970's, with a mixture of Emmet Óg or Killoe Young Emmets used during the 1980's and 1990's, and Killoe Emmet Óg used as a variation of the club name from the 2000's.
The underage section of the GAA club is called Killoe Óg while the Ladies Club is called Killoe.
Club Crest
The modern Killoe GAA crest was introduced in 2012 and replaced the previous crest design which had been in use since 1991. The crest was commissioned and gifted to the club by the Devaney family and designed in conjunction with Laird Designs. It first appeared on jerseys in August 2012 and is now used on all club merchandise.
The Killoe name derives from the Irish Cill Eo meaning Church of the Yew Tree. The yew tree (Eo in Irish) in abstract form is central to the crest design, set in front of the cross, reflecting the church (Cill in Irish) and the spiritual heritage of the community. The name of the parish in Irish 'Cill Eo', is set above the Irish form of the county, 'An Longfort'. The GAA in Killoe can be traced back to 1889 and the foundation of the first club in the parish, and this historic note is reflected within the design.
The GAA insignia appears at the base of the crest for Killoe Young Emmets and Killoe Óg purposes, while the LGFA insignia appears at the base of the crest for Killoe Ladies. The colours of white and green that dominate the crest are those worn by all Killoe teams. For branding purposes (i.e. jerseys, training gear, flags, letterhead, online), the Mono and Outline variants of the crest can also be used. Text such as ‘Emmet Óg’ or ‘Killoe Óg’ or ‘Killoe Ladies’ can be displayed beneath the crest in Brushtip-C font (Example).
