- Steelstown GAC
Infobox GAA club
club gaa = Steelstown Gaelic Football Club
irish = CLG Bhaile Stíl
crest = steelstowngac.gif
founded = 1987
province=Ulster
county = Derry
colours = Blue and Amber
grounds = Páirc Brid
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|Steelstown GAC (Irish:Bhaile Stíl) is a
Gaelic Athletic Association club based inDerry ,Northern Ireland . The club is a member of theDerry GAA and currently cater forGaelic football andLadies' Gaelic football .The club's catchment area includes
Steelstown and the GreaterShantallow area at the edge of the city. Steelstown are one of the most successful Gaelic teams in the Cityside of Derry, with most of the county's footballers coming from rural areas. Underage teams up to U-12's play in North Derry league and championships, from U-14 upwards teams compete in All-Derry competitions. The club play their home games at Páirc Brid.Gaelic football
Steelstown fields Gaelic football teams at U8, U10, U12, U14, U16, Minor, Reserve and Senior levels. They currently compete in the Derry Intermediate Championship and Division 3 of the Derry ACFL.
Well known players
*Paul O'Hea - Current Derry player. In 2007 became the first Steelstown player to play for Derry in the Championship. [cite news |first=Eamonn |last=O'Hara |title=Forrester hoping to add Steel to Derry's final fling |url= |work=
The Irish News |publisher= |date=2007-09-13 |accessdate=2008-06-05 ]Ladies's Gaelic football
The club also field Ladies' football teams at various age-groups.
History
Established in 1987, [cite web |url= http://www.steelstown.ie/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=28|title= History of Steelstown GAC|accessdate=2007-09-22 |format= |work= ] Steelstown GAC is one of the youngest clubs in the county. The founding members were mostly people from rural areas of the county who had moved to the city. They included twice All Star
Anthony McGurk fromLavey , his wife Mary, Philip and Marion Devlin fromDrumsurn and Mickey Doherty fromClaudy . The first team was an U-12 team and they were actually called Steelstown/Pennyburn, because they drew players from the two schools, and played at Templemore Sports Complex. The club gained access to the North Derry Board in 1996 and a Senior team was formed for the first time. With the recent explosion of popularity ofGaelic games in Derry City, the club has gained a lot of members since the mid 1990s and Steelstown is probably making the best upwards strides of any club in the city. In recent years Steelstown have had numerous players represent Derry at Senior, U21 and Minor level.Paul O'Hea and Marty Dunne were part of Derry's 2002
All-Ireland Minor Football Championship winning side and in 2007 O'Hea became the first Steelstown player to play for Derry in the All-Ireland Championship when he came on as a sub against Mayo in Celtic Park. 15 Steelstown players were part of the St Columb's team that won the McLarnon Cup in 2002. Stephen Cleary, Neil Forrester, Mickey McKinney all from the club were part of Derry's 2007 All-Ireland Minor Championship runners-up team.In 2003 the club's new home pitch was opened on the Ballyarnet Road. A new £600,000 development of club rooms and changing facilities was completed at Páirc Brid, and was opened in March 2007 [cite web |url=http://archive.nics.gov.uk/sd/070309d-sd.htm|title=Steelstown Clubhouse Ready for Throw In|accessdate=2008-09-19|format= |work=] by then GAA president, Sean Kelly. The facilities have helped continue the growth of the club at all age levels. In 2005 Steelstown lost out to Glen Thirds in the final of the
Derry Junior Football Championship , however the Seniors achieved promotion to Intermediate Football. Around this time the club also started a ladies' team.Honours
Minor
*Tommy O'Neill Cup (Derry Minor 'A' Football Championship) 1
**2005*North Derry Minor 'A' Football Championship: 1
**2005U-16
*North Derry U-16 Football Championship: 1
**2005*North Derry U-16 'B' Football Championship: 1
**2003U-14
*North Derry U-14 Football Championship: 1
**2003Note: The above lists may be incomplete. Please add any other honours you know of.
ee also
*
Derry Intermediate Football Championship
*List of Gaelic Athletic Association clubs in DerryExternal links
* [http://www.steelstown.ie Steelstown GAC Website]
* [http://www.derrygaa.ie Official Derry GAA website]
* [http://www.clubgaa.ie/derry/index.htm Derry Club GAA]References
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