What's the Story - GAA Club names

pavb2

Just reading on the other thread about Palatines and thought there are some wonderful names and histories associated with GAA clubs Erin go Bragh, James Stevens, Shelmaliers etc etc

Has anyone ever written a book on these?

Or post your club name & reason for the name

nice_guy80

Tulsk Lord Edwards. Now there's a stately name.

Copper_pipe

Dromcollogher/Broadford

One parish 1 small town (Dromcollogher) and a village (Broaddord

Mr_Roger_Bongos

An Chorra Chríochach Ath Mac Con Carraige - Father Rocks - Cookstown, Co.Tyrone.

The year 1889 marks a significant point in the history of Gaelic games in Cookstown and Tyrone. It was then that the first ever GAA club in the town was established. Cookstown Owen Roe's as they were subsequently called were the pioneer club in county Tyrone, paving the way for the spread of Gaelic games elsewhere. Looking back from a modern perspective this was undoubtedly a momentous achievement for Cookstown Gaels. When set amongst the social and political backdrop of the time, the emergence of a GAA club in the town was even more remarkable.

Father John Rock, during his curacy in Cookstown, initiated efforts to form the Owen Roe's.

As various versions of the club came and went the town eventually produced two teams, which later joined together to form Father Rocks.

pavb2

nice_guy80 wrote: »

Tulsk Lord Edwards. Now there's a stately name.

I take it this refers to Lord Edward Fitzgerald? What is the connection?

Tom Joad

Some great names of gaa clubs - isn't their a club in Carlow called the Fighting Cocks?? - would love to know the history of that name

Wexford clubs have some great names Oulart-the-Ballagh and Buffer's Alley always stood out for me.

In Cavan some of the more memorable names of clubs are

Ballyconnell First Ulsters (think they were the first GAA club in Ulster??)
Mullahoran Dreadnoughts
Drumlane Sons of Erin

Down the road is Longford Slashers and in Monaghan their is Castleblayney Faughs and Aghabog...

Loads more out there...

comeraghs

Colligan Rockies just outside Dungarvan, Co Waterford.

Lapin

Oulart the Ballagh is the best club name in the world !

premierstone

The more colourfull ones in Tipp would include:

Gortnahoe Glengoole ( home club of Irish international soccer player Shane Long)
Skeheenarinky
Knockshegowna

ft9

Fenians in Kilkenny, although I imagine that to be a popular one throughout the country.

Ballyhale Shamrocks.

CD-R 80

Buffers Alley!

Tipperary Stonethrower

Tom Joad wrote: »

Some great names of gaa clubs - isn't their a club in Carlow called the Fighting Cocks?? - would love to know the history of that name

Wexford clubs have some great names Oulart-the-Ballagh and Buffer's Alley always stood out for me.

In Cavan some of the more memorable names of clubs are

Ballyconnell First Ulsters (think they were the first GAA club in Ulster??)
Mullahoran Dreadnoughts
Drumlane Sons of Erin

Down the road is Longford Slashers and in Monaghan their is Castleblayney Faughs and Aghabog...

Loads more out there...

The Fighting Cocks is acutally the name of a place. It's on the main road, the N80, from Bunclody to Carlow just a few miles from Ballon near the M9. By the way the club have just reached the Intermediate Football Final. I assume the name comes from the fact that a lot of cock fights took place there in the old day.

tomasdubh

When I was growing up I always thought that Longford Slashers were so named because they were a bad hurling club. Does anyone know where the name actually came from?

ciarang85

My favourite gaa club name would be An Ghaeltacht

Man-O-War in north county Dublin is a good one:D

Tom Joad

tomasdubh wrote: »

When I was growing up I always thought that Longford Slashers were so named because they were a bad hurling club. Does anyone know where the name actually came from?

ha ha!! Not sure where the name comes from but there was quite a few clubs with Slashers in their name. Cavan town used to have a team called Cavan Slashers (now called Cavan Gaels)

Davin Stand

The name Slashers for a GAA Club (Longford, Cavan and elsewhere) is named after Myles O'Reilly, The Slasher, who was killed by Britiish Forces at the Bridge of Finea in the 1640's. There is a memorial in his honour in the village of Finea on the Cavan/Westmeath border.

n32

To name but a few:

Dreadnoughts ( Louth )
Faythe Harriers ( Wexford )
Wild Geese ( Dublin )
Innisfails ( Dublin )
Cashel King Cormacs ( Tipp )
Ballina Stephenites ( Mayo )
Laochra Loch Laoi ( Antrim )

ciarang85

Good Counsel (Dublin)

eyescreamcone

Where did Nemo Rangers come from?
Nothing to do with a colourful fish or a submarine owner I presume?

Tom Joad

Davin Stand wrote: »

The name Slashers for a GAA Club (Longford, Cavan and elsewhere) is named after Myles O'Reilly, The Slasher, who was killed by Britiish Forces at the Bridge of Finea in the 1640's. There is a memorial in his honour in the village of Finea on the Cavan/Westmeath border.

I never knew that and I only live a few miles from the Bridge of Finea :eek: The Bridge of Finea is mentioned in the song Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff but this is new to me...must actually stop there the next time i'm passing

68Murph68

eyescreamcone wrote: »

Where did Nemo Rangers come from?
Nothing to do with a colourful fish or a submarine owner I presume?

Actually they got a cease and desist letter from Walt Disney a few years back

There is a club in Laois called The Rock which I like.

Some of the newer clubs aboard have great/mental names.

Éire We Go
Suzhou Eire Og
Steve Irwin All Stars

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gaelic_games_clubs_outside_Ireland

I think the worst names are the saints name clubs - St Patricks, St Marys etc
Dull, boring, nothing unique

theoneeyedman

Most clubs in Roscommon take on a saints name, usually one related in some way to the area. I've seen this in other counties but not to the same extent as roscommon.....maybe we are just holier than the rest of the country.

nice_guy80

theoneeyedman wrote: »

Most clubs in Roscommon take on a saints name, usually one related in some way to the area. I've seen this in other counties but not to the same extent as roscommon.....maybe we are just holier than the rest of the country.

most clubs in Roscommon have no saint names

Boyle
Pearses
Fuerty
Athleague
Four Roads
Tremane
Ros Gaels
Strokestown
Elphin
Tulsk
Glaveys
Shannon Gaels
Oran
Kilbride
Kilglass
Clann na nGael
Western Gaels
Eire Og
Creggs
Ballinameen
Kilmore

Youssef Chippo

The Heath (Laois)
Railyard (Kilkenny)
Nurney (Kildare)

DazMarz

My hometown club is Baile Uí gCearnaigh, but the Irish translation that is on maps/road-signs, etc. is Baile an Chinnéidigh.

I know the story of the Irish translation for the town (which is 'The Town Of Kennedy') but I'm not sure what the meaning of the CLG name is...

nice_guy80

DazMarz wrote: »

My hometown club is Baile Uí gCearnaigh, but the Irish translation that is on maps/road-signs, etc. is Baile an Chinnéidigh.

I know the story of the Irish translation for the town (which is 'The Town Of Kennedy') but I'm not sure what the meaning of the CLG name is...

Town/Village of Kearney

Stevecw

I can't be arsed going back thru whole thread...but I reckon Fighting Cocks got a mention at some stage.

Well they beat EO's 2nd team and won Carlow intermediate champ place for 2013. So yep finally us in Carlow have the Fighting Cocks as part of the SFC!!!

tippspur

Commercials (clonmel)

randd1

In Kilkenny we have:

John Lockes (Callan)
Blacks & Whites (Skeoughvosteen)
Railyard
Emeralds (Urlingford)
Barrow Rangers (Paulstown)
Erins Own (Castlecomer)
Young Irelands (Gowran)
Fenians (Johnstown)
O'Loughlin Gaels (Kilkenny City)
James Stephens (Kilkenny City)
Dicksboro (Kilkenny City)
St. Pats (Ballyraggett)
St. Lachtains (Freshford)
St. Martins (Muckalee)

The rest of the clubs have their placename in them.

The best nick-names I've heard in Kilkenny that you hear occasionally at games are the Shockeroo's for Carrickshock, the Halestorm for Ballyhale and Mullinavegas for Mullinavat (because of the really bright light halfway up the street).

antoobrien

68Murph68 wrote: »

I think the worst names are the saints name clubs - St Patricks, St Marys etc
Dull, boring, nothing unique

It's often a compromise where clubs cover more than one parish e.g. since Athenry covers parts of several parishes its actual name is St Marys Athenry (but nobody calls it that).

I just hope nobody else gets amalgamated with Tynagh-Abbey-Duniry - a 4 barrelled name will be too much.

granturismo

Fighting Cocks, Carlow.

nice_guy80

antoobrien wrote: »

It's often a compromise where clubs cover more than one parish e.g. since Athenry covers parts of several parishes its actual name is St Marys Athenry (but nobody calls it that).

I just hope nobody else gets amalgamated with Tynagh-Abbey-Duniry - a 4 barrelled name will be too much.

Castletown-Finea-Coole-Whitehall GAA club in Westmeath.

theoneeyedman

nice_guy80 wrote: »

most clubs in Roscommon have no saint names

Boyle
Pearses
Fuerty
Athleague
Four Roads
Tremane
Ros Gaels
Strokestown
Elphin
Tulsk
Glaveys
Shannon Gaels
Oran
Kilbride
Kilglass
Clann na nGael
Western Gaels
Eire Og
Creggs
Ballinameen
Kilmore

I stand corrected ....well sort of..... I didn't realise there were as many, but a lot of what you mentioned are hurling clubs that hadn't come to mind.

Also, Ballinameen is officially known as St Attracta's.

rpurfield

is it eastern harps or gaels in sligo??i know theyre in the east of the county but you could take it up as founded by a bunch of lads from the pale that got lost i could be wrong here but there was a club called flathouse in meath years ago, think they folded after some major row at a match, ref attacked and all that!!

come down the grades in meath to minor amalgmations and theres some mad names obviously named after border rivers, streams or whatever

DazMarz

DazMarz wrote: »

My hometown club is Baile Uí gCearnaigh, but the Irish translation that is on maps/road-signs, etc. is Baile an Chinnéidigh.

I know the story of the Irish translation for the town (which is 'The Town Of Kennedy') but I'm not sure what the meaning of the CLG name is...

nice_guy80 wrote: »

Town/Village of Kearney

Cheers. I'm also a bit curious as to why the GAA club uses a different Irish translation for its name than the town itself uses. In English, the club is simply "Newtown GAA", not "Newtownmountkennedy GAA" (probably for convenience's sake).

Might look into it a bit more!

Davin Stand

I would say that in most cases the GAA cl;ubs have the correct Irish version of names of towns and villages as these clubs were founded before some Civil Servants started their "traslation" of Irish place names from English to Irish.

ciarriaithuaidh

Gneevguilla (phoenetic:Geneev-gwilla)would probably be the most "exotic" club name in Kerry. Most are just named after the parrishes they are in. Knocknagoshel (Cnoc na h-Eaglaise) is another unique name I suppose.

Some of the names of the clubs in Kerry would give me pause for thought when you learn of the history of the people.
Kerins O'Rahillys for example, named after Charlie Kerins who shot a Garda detective dead during WW2. Hmmm.

Austin Stack (after whom a famous GAA club AND the county grounds in Tralee are named) doesn't exactly inspire awe in me either the more I read about him to be honest, he seemed like a total yes-man of Cathal Brugha's.

Thats my Tralee-bashing done for the day anyway. (dusts hands..walks away)!

CD-R 80

ciarang85 wrote: »

Good Counsel (Dublin)

Thats my club

The Parish Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Mourne Road Drimnagh,opened 9th April 1943 and situated just three miles fromO Connell bridge.

Club were founded in 1954 I think and used the Parish name.

Hon' the Counsel

nice_guy80

I'm always interested in the names of amalgamated teams in the GAA and where they pull the name from. Sometimes with names that have no relevance to the area.

Eg Cuchullains must be the most overused combo team name ever.

NIMAN

What about Kevin Lynch hurling club in Dungiven, Co. Derry, named after a dead paramilitary.

They love a good bit of controversy up North, don't they!

homerjay2005

Longford Slashers is a name i remember from my younger days, we played them in the u-14 Feile!

now thats a f*cking daycent name for a team!!

nicepoint

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Longford Slashers is a name i remember from my younger days, we played them in the u-14 Feile!

now thats a f*cking daycent name for a team!!

I remember them too, had they base in ballybunion that year?

Chrissybhoy

NIMAN wrote: »

What about Kevin Lynch hurling club in Dungiven, Co. Derry, named after a dead paramilitary.

They love a good bit of controversy up North, don't they!

Good hurler in his day seemingly captained Derry to U16 AI

NIMAN

Chrissybhoy wrote: »

Good hurler in his day seemingly captained Derry to U16 AI

He did indeed, and the reason why the club was named after him - well thats what the club and nationalists would say, whereas the Unionists would say its because he was a hunger striker.

As I say, thats NI for you!

washman3

Lorrha and Dorrha in Tipperary, combination of 2 villages of the same name.
But pronounced Lurrha and Durrha by most Tipp die-hards...:p

Kkboy

James Stephens, John Locke's, Railyard and Kilmacow are good names in Kilkenny, the latter two are names of villages the clubs are based in.

Hibbeler

I've always found the difference in club naming traditions between different counties to be quite interesting. I come from the Louth/Meath border where I feel the differences to be particularly striking.

For example my own home club like most others in Meath (Syddan) is named simply after an area. In our case the area is in the middle of where two old parishes merged. It's also the name the local church of Ireland parish.

The vast majority of clubs in Meath from what I can gather are simply the name of the area. Eg. Castletown, Slane, Rathoath, Trim etc etc. Only a handful of saint someone's and a couple that were given "names". The only ones I can think of being Wolfe Tones, Na Fianna and Gaeil Colmcille.

In contrast in Louth the majority of clubs seem to be either "named" or named after a saint. Eg. Geraldines, Dreadnoughts, O'Connells etc.

And in the cases where the club is named after the area it seems like they can't just name it after the area on its own. Eg Hunterstown Rovers, Stabannon Parnells, Cooley Kickhams etc.

I don't know why this is but I've just always found the contrast interesting

iDave

CD-R 80 wrote: »

Thats my club

The Parish Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Mourne Road Drimnagh,opened 9th April 1943 and situated just three miles fromO Connell bridge.

Club were founded in 1954 I think and used the Parish name.

Hon' the Counsel

Used to pass by the grounds on the luas everyday and wondered where the feck you got that name from.

iDave

Templeogue Synge Street must be the only club named after a street?

CrabRevolution

Hibbeler wrote: »

I've always found the difference in club naming traditions between different counties to be quite interesting. I come from the Louth/Meath border where I feel the differences to be particularly striking.

For example my own home club like most others in Meath (Syddan) is named simply after an area. In our case the area is in the middle of where two old parishes merged. It's also the name the local church of Ireland parish.

The vast majority of clubs in Meath from what I can gather are simply the name of the area. Eg. Castletown, Slane, Ratoath, Trim etc etc. Only a handful of saint someone's and a couple that were given "names". The only ones I can think of being Wolfe Tones, Na Fianna and Gaeil Colmcille.

In contrast in Louth the majority of clubs seem to be either "named" or named after a saint. Eg. Geraldines, Dreadnoughts, O'Connells etc.

And in the cases where the club is named after the area it seems like they can't just name it after the area on its own. Eg Hunterstown Rovers, Stabannon Parnells, Cooley Kickhams etc.

I don't know why this is but I've just always found the contrast interesting

True, we arent fond of "names" in Meath, and even in those instances you named, they are all amalgamations or a number of parishes put together. Clann na nGael, Blackhall Gaels are another 2, but again are amalgamations of former clubs.

Drumbaragh seem to be officially called Drumbaragh Emmets, but you only occasionaly see that. Then there's Navan O'Mahonys and Simonstown Gaels . Aside from those 3 though, ever other club is just a location or a saint.

zetecescort

whats the history behind the Sarsfields name? one in a lot of counties (Glanmire, Lucan, Newbridge, Thurles to name a few)