Former Galway United hero proud of sons thriving on hurling field
RONAN Killeen isn't sure where the hurling pedigree of his three sons comes from, but he laughs that it certainly isn't from their mother and father.
Tiernan has been a standout player at midfield for Galway this season, while young brother, Cullen, is also on the Galway panel. They, along with older brother, Caimin, were integral members of the Loughrea squad that made it back-to-back senior county titles in 2024 and 2025, and all three represented Galway at underage level over the years."I never held a hurl in my life," Ronan says when asked where the three lads got their love of hurling from.
"Lillian played a bit of camogie, so maybe that's where it comes from, but it was more their involvement through their schools and the club, that's where it really started and was nurtured," he says.Lillian is Ronan's wife and the mother of Caimin (25), Tiernan (23), and Cullen (20), and Ronan describes her as "the driving force" behind Loughrea GAA club, of which she is chairperson.
He was a bit of a driving force himself in his own sporting career: he was a talented footballer (the association kind), and made 252 appearances for Galway United in 12 seasons at the club.That appearance figure has him 11th on the all-time appearance list for United, and he also holds a club record that is unlikely to ever be broken: a one-club man, the fact he never played for any other League of Ireland club means he has the most appearances for the club of any player who has not played for anyone else.
"Yeah, I'm proud of that one. I loved my time at United, living in Loughrea and being the taxi service for the lads heading to training over the years means I don't get in to as many matches as I would like. I am a season ticket holder, and myself and the lads have got in for a few games and I enjoy those nights when you bump into people you mightn't have seen in a while."He joined Galway United ahead of the 1986/87 season, with his final game coming on the last day of the 1998/99 season, his only appearance of that campaign after picking up a serious knee injury.
"I missed the 1990/91 season, and typical, that's the year the lads won the FAI Cup [beating Shamrock Rovers 1-0 in May 1991]."I was on a scholarship that year, but I played in every other season and we won the First Division title [1993] and the League Cup [1997].
"There is a gang of us from that time that we call the First Friday Group, we meet up at lunchtime on the first Friday of every month. There is no pressure on lads, you might make it one month and not make it the next, but it is a great way to stay in touch," he says.
He was born in Newry, the eldest child of Roddy and Deirdre, but with tensions rising in Northern Ireland, the family soon moved to Limerick were he played up to U-10 level with Wembley Rovers, before Roddy – an engineer – got a transfer to Galway County Council. Ronan joined Corrib Shamrocks when the family moved to Galway, before joining Galway United at the age of 18.
He has three younger siblings – Eoin, Orla and Conor – and he and Conor were part of the United squad that won the League Cup in the 1996/97 season.
It was a win that was full of mixed emotions for the brothers: their grandfather had died, and his funeral was on the day of the second leg of the cup final in Cork, but their grandmother insisted on the two lads heading to the game.
"We had won the first leg 3-1 in Galway a week before Christmas and the second leg was in Cork on New Year's Day. Our grandfather died, and the removal was on New Year's Eve. Myself and Conor went to that but our grandmother insisted we skip the funeral and go on to Cork for the final and to make sure we won it for granddad, so it was quite emotional for us," he says.
I ask him are his three lads impressed with their auld fella's career?
"They are more focused on the fact I only scored 12 goals in my career and knock great craic out of telling me that amounts to the hardly impressive tally of just a goal a season," he laughs.
His United career came to an end in 1999, and not in the way he would have liked. The final game of the campaign was away to Drogheda United with the United squad staying in the Louth town for an end-of-season celebration, a celebration Ronan missed due to a visit to A&E.
"I had done my ACL so I missed the entire season, but got back for the final game up in Drogheda. I went up for a header and took an elbow to the face that split my eye, so I ended up in A&E – I took that as a sign to call a day on it!" he says.
Having settled in Newcastle in Galway City when the Killeen family moved from Limerick, before later relocating to Knocknacarra, Ronan and his wife Lillian moved to her native Loughrea in 2002, where the hurling culture seeped into the bones of his three lads.
"They played a bit of everything, but once they took to hurling, everything else was dropped. They played a bit of football and rugby – Caimin did a bit with the Connacht Rugby development squad – but hurling was what they loved.
"They went to St Brendan's National School and got the bug there, Frank Burke was the principal there, a man steeped in Galway GAA. It continued on when they all went to St Raphael's College, Franny Forde teaches there, and of course the club as well, so they have been around incredible people who have all helped shape and develop them as players and as people."
As for Sunday, there is a quiet confidence that Galway can carry the day.
"There was a big performance in them and they gave that against Cork, but there was room for improvement too, and they know that. It was important to follow-up a big win at Croke Park over Dublin with another big display against Cork. There is nothing like winning in Croke Park and backing it up with another win, and hopefully they can back it up with another win again on Sunday."