Kilconnell

• Name — Kilconnell • Native Name — Cill Chonaill • Native Name Lang — ga • Type — Village • Pushpin Map — Ireland • Pushpin Label Position — right • Pushpin Caption — Location in Ireland • Subdivision Type — Country • Subdivision Name — Ireland • Subdivision Type1 — Province • Subdivision Name1 — Connacht • Subdivision Type3 — County • Subdivision Name3 — County Galway • Unit Pref — Metric • Population Density Km2 — auto • Time Zone1 — WET • Utc Offset1 — +0 • Time Zone1 Dst — IST (WEST) • Utc Offset1 Dst — -1 • Elevation M — 83 • Custom Label Sec1 — Irish Grid Reference Kilconnell is a small rural village in County Galway, Ireland. It is 12 km east of Ballinasloe, on the R348 road.

The village gives its name to the barony of Kilconnell, formerly held by the Lords de Freyne. The village is in a civil parish of the same name. The area was once part of the kingdom of the Soghain of Connacht before being conquered by the Uí Maine. The area around Kilconnell was the stronghold of the O'Kellys, lords of Uí Maine and the Donnellan clans. Evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes a number of ringfort, holy well and standing stone sites in the surrounding townlands of Abbeyfield, Ballinderry, Ballyglass, Corraneena, Glebe and Ellagh. A wayside cross, located at a crossroads in the village within Corraneena townland, was originally erected in 1682. A nearby lake, Lough Acalla, has a crannog site in its centre and is now a rainbow trout fishery. Kilconnell is in the Catholic parish of Aughrim and Kilconnell. The last known prosecution of a priest under the Popery Acts was the trial in 1822 of Fr John O'Connor, parish priest of Aughrim and Kilconnell, at the Galway Summer Assizes. He was acquitted. Nearby Aughrim was the site of a decisive battle of the Williamite wars, the Battle of Aughrim, in 1691. Hundreds of the O'Kellys died in the battle. Kilconnell village was the birthplace of Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) Johnny Callanan (1910–1982). His nephew Joe Callanan (b.1949) was also a TD for Galway East.

• Illustration — Kilconnell Abbey in 1900 Kilconnell Abbey is a Franciscan friary, founded in 1414, by William O'Kelly, Lord of Uí Maine. The remains of the abbey are maintained by the Office of Public Works. The abbey is the burial place for the O'Kelly sept, whose family crest can be seen on some of the headstones. In the 1580s and 1590s, Charles Calthorpe, the Attorney General for Ireland, held the abbey on a 21-year lease. The Papal Nuncio Archbishop Giovanni Rinuccini stayed in the abbey on 20 June 1648 on his way back from the Confederation at Kilkenny. The abbey is believed to have been uninhabited since about 1785.

The local Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) team is called St. Gabriels. In 1979, the club won a Galway football title. Since then, they have won the Junior B championship and Junior A league. They won "underage club of the year" in 2011. St Gabriels Ladies GAA football club plays Gaelic football and represents the parishes of Kilconnell, Aughrim, Kilreekil and Cappataggle. St Gabriels Ladies GAA Football Club plays its home games in Aughrim and it trains also in Kilconnell at the St Gabriel's sports complex.