London GAA

London GAA
Irish: Londain
Province: Britain
Nickname(s): The Exiles
County colours:          
Ground(s): Emerald GAA Grounds,
Ruislip,
Oxley Park, Watford
Dominant sport: Dual county
Competitions
NFL: Division 4
NHL: Division 2A
Football Championship: Sam Maguire Cup
Hurling Championship: Liam McCarthy Cup
Ladies' Gaelic football: Brendan Martin Cup
Camogie: Máire Ní Chinnéide Cup
Standard kit
Regular kit

The London County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) (Irish: Cumann Lúthchleas Gael, Coiste Londain) or London GAA is one of the county boards outside Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in London. The county board is also responsible for the London inter-county teams.

London compete in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship on an annual basis, the only English based team to do so. They play in the Connacht provincial championship.

In hurling, London have competed in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, but for the 2015 season will play in the Christy Ring Cup, having been relegated during the preliminary group stage of the Leinster Championship in the 2014 season.

Overview

London played in three hurling and five football All Ireland finals in the early 1900s when the All-Ireland and All-Britain champions were paired in the final. London won the hurling All-Ireland in 1901, defeating Cork by 1-5 to 0-4. The experiment was abandoned after 1908. Tim Doody, a native of Tournafulla Co Limerick, played in both All Ireland Finals, with London, on the same day in 1901, a record unlikely to be broken anytime soon. The early London teams of that era drew strongly on immigrants from the Cork area in particular. Sam Maguire, who captained many of the teams, came from Dunmanway. The GAA later named the All-Ireland Football Championship's trophy in his honour.

London played the first ever recorded composite rules shinty–hurling match with London Camanachd in 1896.[1]

Gaelic football

History

London entered the National Football League in 1993 and were initially fairly successful with 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses in their first campaign and the renewed effort coincided with a drive to establish the games in schools. London now fields its second team in the British Junior football and hurling Championships. Their first football team have competed in the Connacht Senior Football Championship since 1975, but in the first 37 years of competing could only manage one win: a 0-9 to 0-6 defeat of Leitrim in 1977.

After going down by 9-19 to 1-10 against Roscommon in 1980 they staged matches at home in Ruislip and came close to victory against Leitrim in 1987, Sligo in 1988 and Roscommon in 2005. Among their footballers was Brian Grealish, whose brother Tony played association football for the Republic of Ireland. Due to the Foot in Mouth crisis in England, London withdrew from the 2001 Connacht Senior Football Championship; their first round championship fixture against Mayo was cancelled until the 2006 fixture between the teams. In June 2011, London were defeated in extra-time against Mayo in the Connacht Championship, London entered the first qualifying round and defeated Fermanagh by 0-15 to 0-9 in Ruislip in the first round of the qualifiers, recording their first championship win for 34 years. London were drawn against Waterford for their second qualifying round match.

In 2013, the GAA banned London from travelling to Ireland for warm-up games, as a result of a GAA rule put in place to prevent teams travelling abroad for training camps in the run up to the championship, putting them at a disadvantage to other counties.[2] On 26 May 2013, London defeated Sligo by a scoreline of 1-12 to 0-14 to gain their first victory in the Connacht Championship since 1977. Lorcan Mulvey scored the vital London goal.[3][4][5] The day after they defeated Sligo was a bank holiday in England so the players rested.[6] London held Leitrim in the Connacht semi-final then won the replay. After these three games they headed for the Connacht final - their first appearance at that level - but lost to Mayo. They arrived in Ireland for the final on a specially charted jet.[7] Thus they entered Round 4 of the Qualifiers for the All-Ireland Series - also their first time to feature there. They drew Cavan, their first Championship meeting with them and the game was set for Croke Park, another historic occasion for London.[8][9] Cavan won by a score of 1-17 to 1-08 to proceed to the All-Ireland quarter-finals.[10] Lorcan Mulvey was later nominated for an All Star, but was not selected.[11]

Honours

Current football squad

No. Player Position Club
1 Adrian Faherty Goalkeeper Neasden Gaels
2 Philip Butler Right Corner Back Tir Chonaill Gaels
3 Stephen Curran Full Back St Kiernan's
4 Donnacha McCarthy Left Corner Back Kingdom Kerry Gaels
5 Seamus Hannon Right Half Back Fulham Irish
6 Tony Gaughan Centre Back Neasden Gaels
7 Michael Walsh Left Half Back Fulham Irish
8 Mark Gottsche Midfield Tir Chonaill Gaels
9 Martin Carrol Midfield Parnells
10 Greg Crowley Right Half Forward Parnells
11 Damien Dunleavy Centre Forward Neasden Gaels
12 Cathal O'Neill Left Half Forward Tir Chonaill Gaels
13 Eoin O'Neill Right Corner Forward Tir Chonaill Gaels
14 Paul Geraghty Full Forward Neasden Gaels
15 Joe Feeney Left Corner Forward Tir Chonaill Gaels
No. Player Position Club
16 Evan Byrne Substitiute Parnells
17 Aaron Bradley Substitiute Tir Chonaill Gaels
18 Lloyd Colfer Substitiute Kingdom Kerry Gaels
19 Brian Collins Substitiute Fulham Irish
20 Sean Hickey Substitiute Round Towers
21 Éanna McCartney Substitiute Parnells
22 Barry Mitchell Substitiute Tir Chonaill Gaels
23 Marcus Miskelly Substitiute Cú Chulainn's
24 Adrian Moyles Substitiute St Kiernan's
25 Shane Mulligan Substitiute Fulham Irish
26 Lorcan Mulvey Substitiute Fulham Irish

Squad as per London vs Galway in the Connacht Championship quarter-final on 25 May 2014.

Management history

The following is a table of London's senior inter county football managers since 1990.

Years Name County
1990 Tom Roche Kerry
1991 Paddy Corscadden
John McPartland		 Longford
Down
1992 Seamus Carr Donegal
1993-1994 PJ McGinley Donegal
1995-1998 Pat Griffin Kerry
1999-2000 Tommy McDermott Donegal
2001 Tom Roche Kerry
2002 Iggy Donnelly
Pat Griffin
Dermot O'Brien		 Tyrone
Kerry
Laois
2002-2003 Chris Lloyd Longford
2004 John McPartland Down
2005-2010 Noel Dunning Westmeath
2011- Paul Coggins Roscommon

Hurling

History

London have a strong hurling tradition, and besides their All-Ireland win in 1901 they have also won three B All-Irelands in the last twenty years, and claim consistently good results in the National Hurling League. As a mid-table Division 2 side, London are actually placed above half the counties of Ireland, in strong contrast to their role as "whipping boys" in football. The Exiles also won the inaugural Nicky Rackard Cup in 2005, defeating Louth's hurlers by 15 points in the final. London will compete in the 2013 Senior All Ireland Championship facing Carlow in their opening match. In the 1973 All-Ireland hurling championship a London team that included six Galwaymen beat Galway by 4-7 to 3-5 in the All-Ireland quarter-final at Ballinasloe. Galwaymen Frank Canning and Lennie Burke scored three of the goals against their old county!

London won the 2012 Christy Ring Cup which allowed them to compete in the 2013 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. They made their Leinster Senior Hurling Championship debut against Carlow on 18 May 2013 in the 2014 Championship.[12] The team finished bottom of the preliminary group after being beaten by Westmeath in the final game of the round robin stage, and were relegated back to the Christy Ring Cup for the 2015 season.

London's hurlers are currently managed by Éamonn Phelan.[13]

Honours

Ladies' Gaelic football

History

Ladies Football in London has mirrored the growth seen in Ireland, where it is the fastest growing ladies game. In London Parnells are senior champions and Fulham Irish are Junior champions for 2010. Many clubs now have ladies' teams. Senior teams are Parnells, Kerry Kingdom Gaels, Fr Murphys, Holloway Gaels and Taras. Junior teams in London 2010 are Fulham Irish, Clonbony,Taras (Junior), Claddagh Gaels (Luton) and Dulwich Harps. In 2011, St Anthonys (Reading) joined the Junior ranks.

Honours

Clubs

See also

References

  1. ↑ www.bbc.co.uk
  2. ↑ "Exiles hampered by rules as Sligo call to London - Connacht SFC quarter-final preview: London v Sligo". RTÉ Sport. 24 April 2013. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
  3. ↑ "London shock Sligo to secure first Connacht SFC victory since 1977". The Score. 26 May 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
  4. ↑ "London dump Sligo out of Connacht". RTÉ Sport. 26 May 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
  5. ↑ "London end 36-year wait for Connacht championship glory". The Irish Times. 26 May 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
  6. ↑ Foley, Cliona (28 May 2013). "It's boom time for rising Exiles". Irish Independent. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  7. ↑ "The London team land in Ireland". Hogan Stand. 20 July 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  8. ↑ "Cavan and London set for Croker date". Hogan Stand. 22 July 2013. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  9. ↑ "Qualifier R4 to determine quarter-finalists". Hogan Stand. 24 July 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  10. ↑ "London 1-08 Cavan 1-17". RTÉ Sport. 27 July 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
  11. ↑ Browne, PJ (4 October 2013). "Dublin And Mayo Dominate The GAA/GPA Football All-Star Nominations". Balls.ie. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  12. ↑ "Leinster SHC: Doyle hat-trick sinks London". Hogan Stand. 18 May 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  13. ↑ "Phelan left frustrated". Hogan Stand. 20 June 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2013.

External links

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