Scór na nÓg
Killoe’s participation in Scór na nÓg dates back to the early 1970’s to the foundation of the competition where the record shows the parishes’ first involvement in Scór. In 1971 Marie Reilly from Glannagh became the trail blazer collecting the parish’s first County title in Music. It was not until 1983 that the club eventually won another County title by virtue of a talented Set Dancing group consisting of Mairead Donohoe, Karen Browne, Fidelma Rowley, Martina Brady, Elizabeth Duggan, Eleanor, Mary and Teresa Hagan with Killoe also winning the overall ‘Club of the Year’. The following year the same Set Dancing group retained their County title with the Hagan siblings Gerard, Teresa and Eleanor also successful in the Instrumental Music category and breaking the mould by reaching the clubs first Leinster Final decider – a feat they would repeat again in 1985.
In 1990 the club achieved a double success of County titles with Deidre Kenny winning the Solo Singing and the team of John Devaney, Brid Doherty and Aiden Doherty winning the Question Time. The following year a team of John Devaney, Aiden Doherty and Michael Browne retained the Question Time County title. 1992/93 was to prove a landmark period for Killoe with the tremendous success of their Novelty Act ‘Heaven’s Just A Sin Away‘ a political satire written by Mickey Kenny and Mick Fleming. The cast of John Devaney, Aiden Doherty, Lisa Kelly, Liam Brady, Paul Devaney, Mark McGoldrick, Kieran Browne and Laura Doherty swept County honours along the way to an historic Leinster title win in the Olympia Theatre in January ’93 – a first for Longford in this category. The group advanced to the club’s first All-Ireland final but were beaten on a memorable night in the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin. Later that year the Question Time team of Aiden Doherty, Ian Browne and Shane Hughes won a third County title in four years.
In 1995 another political satire ‘Aeroflop‘ won County honours in the Novelty Act category and were narrowly defeated in the Leinster final. The cast consisted of Ian Browne, Lisa Kelly, Kevin Molloghan, Aoife Doherty, Shane Hughes, Laura Doherty, Liam Brady and Claire Hughes. Three years later ‘The Last Judgement‘ with a cast of Shane Doherty, Damien Walsh, Fiona Kenny, Natasha Bankowski, Patrick Doherty, James Hughes, Sean & Joe McCormack claimed County honours in the Novelty Act and narrowly lost out on a Leinster title after impressing judges with their energetic performance. Further success in the Novelty Act category followed with county titles in 2000 and 2001 with ‘Reeling in The Years – Scenes from A Second Millennium‘ which lost out in the Leinster final the second time round on a count back.
The focus of Killoe’s success in Scór then shifted to the music categories with the Ballad Group winning the county title in 2002 under the tutelage of Grainne Fox, the first of a remarkable four-in-a-row that would take them all the way to the All-Ireland finals. The 2002 group consisted of Doireann Fox, Aoife Fox, Niamh Devaney, Nora McGoey and Aisling Bennett while Emily Hughes and Alison Kenny joined the group the following year. In 2004 (with Sinead McCormack as its newest member) they reached the Leinster final again in Ballinakill, Co Laois and this time they were successful claiming the parish’s second provincial title. They were unlucky not to claim All-Ireland honours in Athlone losing out to Caltra from Galway despite receiving the highest score. The group did retain the County title in 2005 and reached the provincial final once again bringing to a close a remarkable period for this talented group of singers. The Question Time team of Kevin McDermott, Denis McGoldrick and Ronan McGoldrick were also successful in 2004 winning the County title. In 2008, Fergal O’Donnell won the County title in the Recitation and reached the Leinster Final while the Instrumental Group reached the Leinster Final in 2015/16.
The 2017/18 season would see County titles for Balled Group, Solo Singing and Question Time teams with the Balled Group capturing the Leinster title and advancing, along with the Question Time team, to the All-Ireland Final in Sligo. The 2018/19 season saw County titles for both Question Time and Solo Singing, with Anna Moorehead advancing to the Leinster final. In the 2021/22 season, the club won County titles in Question Time, Ballad Group and Recitation, with the Question Time, Ballad Group and Recitation all advancing to the Leinster final. The Question Time team of Gerard Keogh, Ryan Keogh, Tommy Tully and Conor Doherty won the Leinster final and advanced to the All-Ireland final that year.
The 2022/23 season saw County title wins for Question Time, Ballad Group, Solo-Singer and Novelty Act teams, and Killoe won the Club of the Year award too. The Question Time team of Ryan Keogh, Gerard Keogh, Conor Doherty & Tommy Tully made it through to the Leinster Final, as did the Ballad Group team of Rebecca Moorehead, Abbey White, Aimee Dolan, Robyn Dunne and Alex Lee, along with the Novelty Act team of Orlaith Craig, Aimee Dolan, Adam McCarthy, Madison Canty, Rachel Lee, Elaine Casey, Cian Gilna & Aoife Lee. The Question Time team of Ryan Keogh, Gerard Keogh, Conor Doherty, Tommy Tully and their mentor Aron Fitzpatrick made it through to the All-Ireland final and on Saturday 6th May 2023 they won the All-Ireland title, the first for the Killoe club and only the second club from Longford to ever win the All-Ireland title for Question Time at Scór na nÓg.
