Drumsurn GAC

St. Matthew's GAC Drumsurn

CLG Naomh Maitiú Droim Soirn
Founded:	1958
County:	Derry
Club colours:	Red and White
Coordinates:	54°59′18.38″N 6°51′54.23″W / 54.9884389°N 6.8650639°W / 54.9884389; -6.8650639Coordinates: 54°59′18.38″N 6°51′54.23″W / 54.9884389°N 6.8650639°W / 54.9884389; -6.8650639
Playing kits
Standard colours

St. Matthew's GAC Drumsurn (Irish: CLG Naomh Maitiú Droim Soirn) is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in Drumsurn, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The club is a member of the Derry GAA and currently cater for Gaelic football and Camogie.

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

Gaelic football

Drumsurn fields Gaelic football teams at U8, U10, U12, U14 and Senior levels. They currently compete in the Derry Intermediate Championship and Division 4 of the Derry ACFL. The U16 and Minor teams are amalgamated with Drum and play as St. Patrick's.^[1]

Well known players

• Joe Irwin - Former Derry footballer. Member of Derry's 1987 Ulster Senior Football Championship winning team. Captained Derry in 1984.^[2] Won Railway Cup medals in 1983 and 1984. Won Drumsurn Senior Player of the Year in 1999, aged 40. Also played for Swatragh for a while.
• Richard Ferris - Member of Derry's 1993 All-Ireland winning Squad member
• Eunan Rafferty - Former Derry footballer.
• John Eddie Mullan - Former Derry player. While he played most of his club football for Dungiven, he started out his career with Drumsurn, playing for the club in 1940-1942.^[3]

History

Glenullin won the 1927 North Derry Championship, but were disqualified from the All-County Championship final after their final with Ballinderry was abandined due to fighting.^[4] A team from Drumsurn took their place in the re-played final, but were beaten by Ballinderry in the decider. There were a few stop-starts over the next 13 years before Drumsurn ceased to function as a club in 1940, after players moved to other clubs since Drumsurn didn't enter the 1940 championship. In 1947 John Eddie Mullan from Drumsurn won a National Football League medal with Derry.^[5]

Interest in Gaelic football in North Derry was once again very high after Derry reached the 1958 All-Ireland Senior Championship final. The current club was founded that year and played in red jerseys, with white collars and a green shamrock on the breast. Their first Senior match came was a victory over Glenullin in the 1959 Neal Carlin Cup. 1960 saw Drumsurn win the North Derry Junior Championship for the first time. They went onto play the Derry City Champions Faughanavale in the All-County Junior Championship semi-final at Celtic Park, but were defeated. The club also won the following year's North Derry Junior Championship.

In 1965 Drumsurn's Seán Moore won an All-Ireland medals with Derry Minors. During this time the club also purchased their current playing field. In 1966 St. Matthews's won the Mahon Cup and Neal Carlin Cup with vicorys over Ardmore and Glenullin respectively.

St. Matthew's best ever performance in the Derry Senior Football Championship came in 1968 when they reached the semi-final stage. Joe Chivers from the club was part of the 1968 Derry All-Ireland U21 Football Championship winning team. The club added another Neal Carlin Cup success in 1979. In 1980 the club won Division 2 of the league^[2] and were narrowly defeated in the Derry Intermediate Football Championship final by Glen. That year the club were awarded an Allied Irish Bank Club of the Year award.^[4]

Joe Irwin, who had returned to the club from Swatragh in 1978, established himself on the Derry side in the 1980s and captained Derry in 1984 and won Railway Cup medals with Ulster in 1983 and 1984. Drumsurn's greatest success came in 1991 went they won the Derry Intermediate Football Championship. Drumsurn's Ciarán Mullan was part of Derry's 2002 All-Ireland Minor Championship winning team.^[6] He has since played for Derry Seniors.

Facilities

Drumsurn moved to their current location in 1962, before this they played on EC O'Connor's field.^[2] A new hall was opened in 1988 and a new training pitch opened in 2004.^[2]

Honours

Senior

• Derry Intermediate Football Championship: 1
  • 1991

• Neal Carlin Cup 3?
  • 1966, 1979, 2003

Reserves

• Derry Junior Reserve Football Championship: ?
  • 2003

Minor

• North Derry Minor 'B' Football League: 1
  • 2004

• Carlin/Duffy Cup ?
  • 2004, 2005

U-16

• North Derry U-16 Football League: 1
  • 1985
• Derry U-16 'B Football championships:1
  • 2008

U-14

• North Derry U-14 'B' Football Championship: 1
  • 2006

Note: The above lists may be incomplete. Please add any other honours you know of.

See also

• Derry Intermediate Football Championship
• List of Gaelic Athletic Association clubs in Derry

External links

• St. Matthew's GAC website
• Official Derry GAA website
• Derry Club GAA

References

1. ^ "Underage football". Archived from the original on 2009-07-28. http://web.archive.org/web/20090728132452/http://geocities.com/naomhcolmandroim/. Retrieved 2007-09-22. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d} "Bluffer's guide to... St Matthews, Drumsurn". Gaelic Life. 2008-06-13. 
3. ^ Young, Connla (30 December 2008). "Tributes paid to John Eddie Mullan". County Derry Post: p. 8. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "The History of St. Matthew's Drumsurn by Liam Begley & Aidan Refferty". http://www.drumsurngac.com/history/history.php. Retrieved 2007-09-15. 
5. ^ "Club history article for The Sunday Journal by Seamus Mullan". http://www.drumsurngac.com/news-midulster/news2004/13-1-June2004.php. Retrieved 2007-09-15. 
6. ^ "St. Matthew's Drumsurn Historical Data". http://www.drumsurngac.com/history/historicdata.php. Retrieved 2007-09-15.