Sunday, October 18 1987 was a wonderful day for the people of Athenry parish and while there have been many great days since then, winning the club's first ever County Senior Hurling Final was that bit extra special. What a moment it was for Mattie Gannon when he was presented with the County Cup - the first Athenry captain to have this great honour.
The victory also proved to be the final piece of the jigsaw for P. J. Molloy. P. J. had won prac­tically every honour in the game, but he craved a county senior medal with his beloved Athenry. And what a way to win it! To say he was Athenry's talisman in 1987 would be an understatement. Throughout the Championship P. J. was simply an inspiration. 
The celebration of this great victory holds many fond mem­ories - the elation of the sup­porters in Duggan Park, the euphoria in the Athenry dress­ing room, the long noisy caval­cade on the road from Balli­nasloe and the victory dinner in the Green Briar are some that come to mind.
But the most memorable of all was the scene that greeted the newly crowned County Champions n arrival in Athenry. The Square was thronged with the happiest crowd imaginable. The music of Rodney's Glory had the feet tapping (there was no room for dancing) and Paddy Gardner sang 'The Green Fields of Erin'. The speeches and formalities ended with a rousing rendition of 'The Fields of Athenry'.
In 1987 Athenry also won their first County Under-21 title and for good measure made it a remarkable treble by also winning the County Minor Title. On Friday, 9th November at the Raheen Woods Hotel, Athenry players management and supporters celebrated the silver jubilee of that memo­rable day which turned out to be the start of a quarter of a century of glorious hurling suc­cess for the club.

As sublime a first half perfoormance as any Galway team ever produced at Croke Park laid the foundations for the shock of the hurling Summer as the men of 2012 really came of age with a sensational 2-21 to 2-11 victory over Kilkenny to claim an historic first Lein­ster senior title.
Few, even within their own county, gave Anthony Cunningham's charges a prayer against a side going for their 14th provincial title in 15 years - and few could have dreamed up the blistering performance which saw the Tribesmen lead by 2-12 to 0-4 at halftime.
No complaints but lots of regrets as Galway’s dreams of a first title success in 24 years were emphatically shat­tered by a rampant Kilkenny side that exacted sweet revenge for their Lein­ster Final defeat in the replayed All-Ire­land Hurling Final at Croke Park.
Losing 3-22 to 3-11, it all unravelled so cruelly for the spirited young Tribesmen, who had twice tested the reigning cham­pions' mettle during the Summer, over a key five minute period of the second half, during which a disallowed goal, a near miss, and a sending off effectively put paid to Galway's chances.
Despite coming from behind to level the drawn game, 2-13 to 0-19, Galway would have been disappointed not to have taken the win first day out, having all but dominated large tracts of the opening half.
No complaints but lots of regrets as Galway’s dreams of a first All-Ireland Hurling success in 24 years were emphatically shat­tered by a rampant Kilkenny side that exacted sweet revenge for their Lein­ster Final defeat in the replayed All-Ire­land Final at Croke Park.
Losing 3-22 to 3-11, it all unravelled so cruelly for the spirited young Tribesmen, who had twice tested the reigning cham­pions' mettle during the Summer, over a key five minute period of the second half, during which a disallowed goal, a near miss, and a sending off effectively put paid to Galway's chances. Despite coming from behind to level the drawn game, 2-13 to 0-19, Galway would have been disappointed not to have taken the win first day out, having all but dominated large tracts of the opening half.