"This was more like a contest between 42 dangerous and ferocious wire-haired lunatics than any competition"

This was the first recorded game of the newly formed Crosserlough football team against Killinkere. History doesn't record the winners of the game, but what is already evident is a passion and love of the game that was to be instilled into generations from then until the present day, and no doubt will continue into the future.
It's thought that football came to the area via Ardkill in the late 1880s. Those early years are perhaps most infamously remembered for free-for-alls and altercations. There were no formal leagues and championships at this time and local teams instead played 'friendlies' with neighbouring parishes. However, these friendlies were anything but amicable. In one instance, Ardkill beat Cavan Gaels. The angry Gaels, refusing to admit defeat, demanded a replay at the same venue (Acheson's field). Their request may have been granted but no referee would take control of the game! And it wasn't only referees who feared those games; parents and priests in the parish strongly objected to a tournament taking place between Ardkill, Lacken, and Mullaghoran and the hostilities were postponed indefinitely.