As the 21st century began it was amazing to think that there had never been a G.A.A club in Ranelagh despite the large amount of people who would have lived there throughout the years. In the beginning of 2003 it was decided mainly through the influence of Liam O’ Hagan. In order to do this it was decided to advertise mainly from the local pub Smiths in order to gauge an interest as initial meetings were held. People from who were living in the area saw the notices and after a couple of meetings the number of potential players was into double figures. By the end of March the club Ranelagh Gaels was founded.
The initial trainings took place in Bushy Park on Tuesdays and Thursday nights as numbers steadily increased and by early summer Ranelagh Gaels would play its first game a 2-8 to 1-8 defeat to Park Rangers. The competitiveness of the performance gave hope for the future. All and all that summer Ranelagh played about 10 challenge games with the first victory occurring against St Annes, an evening most remembered for a thunder and lightning storm during the middle of the game.
2004
In 2004 it was the first competitive season for the club, playing in the Sheridan Cup, Division 10 in the league and the Junior C championship with contrasting fortunes. In the championship after going 5 points up in the first 5 mins against Lucan Sarsfields we got beaten by 11 points. In the league we were inconsistent in the league which meant we just missed out on the playoffs. However in the Sheridan Cup we very nearly ended up winning a trophy in our first season by getting to the semi finals. However against a very strong Naomh Barrog side we lost by 5 points after leading with 10 minutes to go.
The following season has been the Gaels most disappointing season as it we were not close to winning any silverware. The only noticeable success was winning our first championship game against Rosmini Gaels. However St Brigids beat us in the 2nd round quiet easily in the end.
2006
However in 2006 we had a lot stronger season with an amazing championship run. After beating Wild Geese and Scoil Ui Chonail in the first couple of rounds. We played two epic games against Ballinteer St Johns, the first game Ranlagh were the better team yet the found themselves needing a last minute equaliser to force a replay. This will go down as the most amazing game in the history of the Gaels with Ballinteer St Johns utterly dominant but hitting a sucesssion of amazing wides. Yet they still led by 4 points with 2 minutes to go. However Ranelagh Gaels scored an amazing 1-2 to steal the game at the death.
The semi final against lucan sarsfield also went to a replay but in the first game ranelagh again were 7 points down at half-time but an inspirational 2nd half display brought ranelagh Gaels back into it levelling with a last minute sideline kick to finish 2-8 each. The replay Ranelagh won by 0-9 by 1-3 in a hard fought display most notable for a strong defensive performance. However the final did not go well as on a wet October day the Gaels got well beaten by strong St Vincents outfit. Also that year Ranelagh were very close to promotion losing out on automatic promotion to st marys saggart and suffering more heartache in losing the promotion playoff final to Kilmacud.
2007
However 2007 was the most successful in the history of Ranelagh Gaels with the first trophy in the history of the Gaels with success in the O’ Brion cup final against Kilmacud Crokes. After beating lucan sarsfield in the semi finals by 9 points with a great defensive performance. In the final ranelagh Gaels played some of the best football in their history with a 4 point win in the final by 1.14 to 2.7. Leading by 7 points at the break into the breeze, kilmacud only managed two late goals to put a gloss on the scoreline.
In the championship once again, ranelagh gaels were beaten by the eventual champions St Judes after a replay. Its was probably a missed opportunity for the Gaels as Judes went on to win the Championship that season.
