However, Derry is also regarded as a small dual county.[2]
According to a 2015 TUD study by Shane Mangan, Derry had slightly more than over 9,100 players.[3]
History
Within a year of the GAA's foundation in 1884, GAA clubs were established around the county in Derry, Desertmartin and Magherafelt.[4] However, the administration of Gaelic sports in the county took some time to get properly organised. A Derry county board was established in 1888 and paid affiliation fees to the GAA Central Council. By the following year, although 14 clubs were active, the then GAA President Maurice Davin told the national Congress that the county lacked enough clubs to have its own board. South Derry and North Derry regional boards were established in the 1890s. In the early decades (up to the 1930s), the Derry GAA competitions took in a number of clubs from County Donegal and Tyrone. At various times clubs in South Derry played in the Antrim GAA or Tyrone leagues. The local Catholic Church's opposition to playing games on Sundays hampered growth in the 1890s, but there was something of a revival in the 1900s, especially in hurling. The county also competed sporadically in the Ulster Football Championship from 1904. After the disruption caused by political conflict in the 1910s and early '20s, the county board was re-established briefly in 1926, and definitively in 1929, since when it has remained in existence.[4]
Structure
The GAA in the county is administered by a County Committee (or County Board) with a representative from each GAA club in the County, a Management Committee and a variable number of sub-committees.[5] The county administrative headquarters and centre of excellence are located at Owenbeg, Dungiven.[5]
Facilities and management
Derry home games are played in the county grounds at Celtic Park. Derry and Owenbeg, Dungiven.[6] Home football games are also sometimes held in Watty Graham Park, Glen or Dean McGlinchey Park, Ballinascreen, which are regarded as secondary stadia.[6] Hurling games are also held at Lavey or Fr McNally Park, Banagher.
The current senior football team manager is Rory Gallagher, while John McEvoy is the Derry senior hurling team manager. Mickey Donnelly is in charge of the under-20 football team. The minor football manager (under-17) is Martin Boyle. The management teams for the under-20 and minor hurlers includes Ryan O'Neill, Martin Birt and Kevin Kelly.
Club scene
Derry has 40 affiliated clubs; 32 of which are football, two of which are hurling and six of which are dual.[5] Many Derry GAA followers taken a keener interest in the club scene than the inter-county scene,[7] which can adversely affect attendances at Derry senior matches.
The county team won its sixth Ulster SFC in 1993 and advanced to the 1993 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final. Between appearing in the 1958 and 1993 All-Ireland SFC finals, the county team won four other Ulster SFCs: in 1970, 1975, 1976 and 1987. Since 1993 the county team has won three additional Ulster SFCs, in 1998, 2022, and 2023.[9]
Derry was a hotbed of early hurling activity, with the city's St Patrick's club winning the Ulster Senior Hurling Championship in 1902–03; county teams mainly drawn from the city won the 1906 championship by a walkover, and the contested 1909 final. However, soon afterwards football become the dominant sport in the county, and hurling activity declined, especially in the city where association football clubs were active.[12]
It was the 1970s before Derry claimed any more major hurling honours. The county won two Ulster Junior Championships in 1974 and 1975, as well as the 1975 All-Ireland Junior Championship. The county also won the Ulster Minor Championship twice during the decade in 1973/4? and 1979, before going on to win the next four at the start of the 1980s (1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983); giving the county five consecutive Ulster Minor titles. Derry also won another Ulster Junior (1984) and All-Ireland Junior Championship (1982), with Rory Stevenson still holding a record of his own, as the youngest person ever to play in a Final in Croke Park, that year (1982), playing for Kevin Lynch's Hurling Club Under 14 All-Ireland Féile na nGael winning team.[citation needed]
The 1990s started with Derry claiming back-to-back Ulster Minor titles in 1990 and 1991. The Under 21 side won two more Ulster Under 21 Championships in 1993 and 1997. Derry won the All-Ireland 'B' Senior Hurling Championship in 1996 and the Ulster Intermediate Championship the following year.[citation needed]
In 2000 Derry won its first Ulster Senior Hurling Championship in 92 years, and successfully defended it the following year. The county also won the Ulster Minor Championship in 2001. The Seniors won the Nicky Rackard Cup in 2006. Derry Under 21s claimed back-to-back Ulster Under 21 titles in 2007 and 2008.[13]
Camogie
Derry Camogie operates as a sister body of Derry GAA, but along with ladies' football, handball and the GAA county board, the Derry camogie clubs are working towards greater integration among the Gaelic games units in the county.[14]
History
As early as 1934, there were ten Derry camogie clubs.[15] Derry drew with Antrim in the Maguire Cup in 1954, and built on this progress to beat Antrim in that year's Ulster Senior Camogie Championship final by 5–02 to 2-02 - the county's first Ulster Senior Camogie Championship title.[15] They went on to defeat Mayo and London en route to the All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship final.[15] However they were beaten by an impressive Dublin side, who had not lost a competitive match since 1947, on a scoreline of 10–04 to 4-02.[15] Theresa Halferty, Carrie Rankin, Patsy McCloskey and Pat O'Brien from this team were chosen on the Ulster team for the inaugural Gael Linn Cup inter-provincial series, but the county's appearance in the 1954 All-Ireland decider did little to further the game in Derry.[15] The county won the Ulster championship and contested the All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship final in 1954. They had previously defeated Antrim in the first round of the 1948 championship, but then surprisingly lost to Down.
Derry won further Ulster Senior Camogie Championships in 1989, 1990, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2006.[21] The county have also won Ulster Junior Camogie Championships 1960, 1967, 1969, 1978, 1986, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006 and 2007.[22] The minor camogie side have won the Ulster Minor Championship on nine occasions (1990, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003).[23]
Under Camogie's National Development Plan 2010–2015, "Our Game, Our Passion",[25] five new camogie clubs were to be established in the county by 2015.[26]
^O'Kane, Cahair (10 August 2021). "Kicking Out: At what point do we question urban investment?". The Irish News. It's a while back now but TUD lecturer Shane Mangan released figures in 2015 that showed the number of registered players in each county. Derry, with just over 9,100 registered players at the time, was third in the list.
^ abScott, Ronan (13 February 2009). "'Screen to win back hearts of Derry fans". Gaelic Life. p. 3.
^Scott, Ronan (10 October 2008). "Mind the gap...". Gaelic Life. p. 12.
^ ab"Derry CCC confirm club fixtures for 2022". 29 March 2022. For example, if a player plays hurling on a Wednesday it is unfair to ask him to train with a football team on a Thursday in preparation for a Saturday football fixture. Historically, this is why most football league fixtures have remained on Sundays in our county.
^"Final goal for camogie". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. 29 March 2010. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
