Glen GAC

Infobox GAA club
club gaa = Watty Graham's GAC Glen
irish = An Ghleann
crest = Glen.jpg
county = Derry
province = Ulster
colours = Green, White and Yellow
founded = 1948
nickname = "Wattys"
grounds = Watty Graham Park

f1=-|f2=-|f3=-
h1=|h2=|h3=
l1=?|l2=?|l3=6
c1=?|c2=?|c3=?
pattern_la=_yellowshoulders
pattern_b=__yellowhorizontal
pattern_ra=_yellowshoulders
leftarm=008000
body=008000
rightarm=008000
shorts=ffffff
socks=008000
kit1=Football

kit2 =Ladies
pattern_la2=
pattern_b2=_yellowhorizontal
pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=0000FF
body2=0000FF
rightarm2=0000FF
shorts2=0000FF
socks2=0000FF
|

Watty Graham's GAC Glen ( _ga. An Ghleann) is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in Maghera, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The team draws players from Maghera and some surrounding townlands. They currently cater for Gaelic football, Ladies' Gaelic football and Camogie.

Underage teams up to U-12's play in South Derry league and championships, from U-14 upwards teams compete in All-Derry competitions.

Gaelic football

Glen fields Gaelic football teams at U8, U10, U12, U14, U16, Minor, Reserve, Thirds and Senior levels. The Senior team competes in the Derry Senior Football Championship and Division 2 of the Derry ACFL.

Well known players

*Enda Gormley - Two-time All Star winning Derry GAA|Derry footballer. Part of Derry's 1993 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship winning side.
*Damien McCusker - Part of Derry's 1993 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship winning side.
*Fergal McCusker - Part of Derry's 1993 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship winning side.
*Mickey Moran - Former Derry footballer and manager. Has also managed Sligo, Donegal and Mayo, Jordanstown university and various club sides. Currently Leitrim manager.
*Séamus Lagan - Former Derry footballer. Won All-Ireland Minor and All-Ireland U-21 Championships. Also won Hogan Cup with St Columb's College, Derry.

Camogie

Glen fields Camogie teams at U12, U14, U16, Minor and Senior levels. The senior team competes in the Credit Union Derry Premier League.

Ladies' football

Glen Ladies football club was formed in 1995. [cite web |url=http://www.geocities.com/glenladies/history.html|title = A brief history of Glen Ladies' Gaelic football team|accessdate=2007-09-08|format= |work= ] The club have won the Derry Senior Ladies' Football Championship 11 times and currently have won nine in a row.

History

The Watty Graham club evolved from what was called the Pearse's club whose origins go back as early as 1933, when Fr Anthony Doherty among others arranged a South Derry league. The club reached the 1944 South Derry final and a few of their players represented Derry.cite web |url= http://www.wattygrahamsgac.com/history/index.html|title= A history of the Watty Graham Club by Eamonn Higgins|accessdate=2007-09-07|format= |work= ]

After the folding of the Pearse's club, Watty Graham's GAC Glen was officially formed in 1948. In the early 1950s they competed in a number of South Derry Finals and in 1953 they defeated St. John's Mullan (a townland of Ballinderry) to win the South Derry Junior Championship. They won the same title six years later defeating The Loup in the final.

In 1964 they won the South Derry Junior and Derry Junior Football Championship by beating Littlebridge (part of the modern day Ógra Colmcille club) and Sarfield's respectively. The side repeated this feat in 1966 by beating The Loup in the South Derry Junior final before going on to win the Derry Junior final. The 1970s proved a barren decade for Watty Graham's and they have little apart from a McGlinchey Cup success in 1974 to show for it. Glen opened a new social club in Maghera in April 1976.

The club won their first Derry Intermediate Football Championship in 1980. They overcame Drumsurn in the final by 0-06 to 0-03. 13 June 1982 saw the opening of Watty Graham Park. GAA President Paddy Buggy opened the pitch and it was blessed local priest Fr McMenamin. Watty Graham Park's first game was an over 35s game, it was followed afterwards by a game between Derry and Armagh. Glen won a second Intermediate Championship in 1983 defeating Drum in the final.

In 1985 Watty Graham's won the All-Ireland Óg Sport title. They competed in county, provincial and All Ireland phases to come out winners. Two years later they won the Derry Minor Football Championship with a success over Ballinascreen. The same year Glen won the Larkin Cup and also the Senior Division 1 League. The side added another Larkin Cup in 1995. Glen won their fourth and fifth Junior Championship in 2004 and 2005, the competitions this time won by the Glen Thirds team.

Honours

enior

*Derry Senior Football League: 1
**1987

*Derry Intermediate Football Championship: 2
**1980, 1983

*Derry Intermediate Football League: 1
**2004

*Derry Junior Football Championship: 5
**1959, 1964, 1966, 2004 (won by Glen Thirds team), 2005 (won by Glen Thirds team)

*South Derry Junior Football Championship: 4
**1953, 1959, 1964, 1966

*Derry Thirds Football Championship: ?
**2006

*Larkin Cup 2
**1987, 2005

*McGlinchey Cup 1
**1974

Minor

*Derry Minor Football Championship: 1
**1987

U-16

*South Derry U-16 Football Championship: 1
**1984

*South Derry U-16 'B' Football Championship: 1
**2002, 2005

*South Derry U-16 'B' Football League: 2
**2004, 2006

U-15

*All-Ireland Óg Sport: 1
**1985

*Ulster Óg Sport: 1?
**1985?

*Derry Óg Sport: 1?
**1985

U-14

*Derry Féile na nÓg: 2
**1994, 2008

*Derry U-14 Football Championship: 1
**1984

*South Derry U-14 'B' Football Championship: 1
**1998, 2004

*South Derry U-14 'B' Football League: 1
**1998

Ladies' Gaelic football

*Derry Football Championship: 11
**1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007

*Derry Football League: ?
**1999, 2000, 2001

*Ulster Intermediate Football Championship: 2
**2003, 2007

*All Ireland Intermediate Sevens: 1
**2007

*Powerscreen Sevens: 1
**2000
*Antrim 7-a-side Shield: 1
**2002

Note 1: The above lists may be incomplete. Please add any other honours you know of.
Note 2: Most of the Ladiess' honours are only updated as far as 2002. Please add any other honours you know of.

ee also

*Derry Senior Football Championship
*List of Gaelic Athletic Association clubs

External links

* [http://www.wattygrahamsgac.com Watty Grahams GACs website]
* [http://www.geocities.com/glenladies/ Glen Ladies' Gaelic football website]
* [http://www.derrygaa.ie Official Derry GAA Website]
* [http://www.clubgaa.ie/derry/index.htm Derry Club GAA]

References