Antrim GAA

The Antrim County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association () or Antrim GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The county board is also responsible for the Antrim county teams.

The county hurling team contested All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship (SHC) finals on two occasions: 1943 and 1989. The county football team contested All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) finals on two occasions: 1911 and 1912.

As of 2024, there were 51 clubs affiliated to Antrim GAA.

Hurling

Clubs

Clubs contest the Antrim Senior Hurling Championship.

Antrim's first All-Star, Ciaran Barr, helped Belfast club Rossa to reach the 1989 club hurling final against Buffer's Alley. Dunloy were back in the All-Ireland club final in 1995, when they lost in a replay, 1996 and 2003 when they were heavily beaten.

*All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championships: 2
**1983, 2012 (Loughgiel Shamrocks)
* All-Ireland Junior Club Hurling Championships:
**2014 Kickhams Creggan
* All-Ireland Intermediate Club Hurling Championships:
**2015 O Donovan Rossa Belfast

County team

Antrim is the only Ulster county to appear in an All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship (SHC) final, the first of which was in 1943 losing to Cork and the second was in 1989 losing to Tipperary. In 1943 Antrim defeated both Galway (by 7-0 to 6-2) and Kilkenny (by 3-3 to 1-6) in the old Corrigan Park, but disappointed in the All-Ireland against Cork. Two years previously, Antrim had been graded Junior a year before, and had been beaten by Down in the Ulster final. It was only competing in the Senior Championship because the Junior grade was abolished. Antrim hurlers featured strongly in Ulster Railway cup final appearances in 1945, 1993 and 1995. In hurling, the progression that began with Loughgiel's success at club hurling level in 1983 (with players like 15-stone goalkeeper Niall Patterson) culminated in an All-Ireland final appearance in 1989.

Football

Clubs

Clubs contest the Antrim Senior Football Championship.

* All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship
**2010 (Naomh Gall, Beal Feirste)

County team

The county team was the first in the province of Ulster to appear in an All-Ireland final, in 1911 and repeated the feat again in 1912, losing on both occasions.

The county team has won the Ulster Senior Football Championship on ten occasions: 1900, 1901, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1946 and 1951.

A drawn Ulster SFC semi-final with Derry in 2000 was one of the highlights of Antrim's football at inter-county level, alongside winning the 2008 Tommy Murphy Cup, beating Wicklow in the final and gaining revenge for losing the 2007 final to the same opponents. Antrim reached the 2009 Ulster SFC final, the first Antrim team to do so for 31 years. The team lost to the 2008 All-Ireland SFC winner Tyrone.

Ladies Gaelic Games

Camogie and Ladies Gaelic Football are administratively separate from the GAA, although they maintain a close working relationship.

Camogie

O'Donovan Rossa won the All-Ireland senior club championship in 2008. Antrim are the 2010 All-Ireland junior champions.2010 junior final replay Antrim 2–10 Waterford 0–12 report i
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Under Camogie's National Development Plan 2010-2015, "Our Game, Our Passion", five new camogie clubs were to be established in the county by 2015.

Antrim won the All-Ireland SCC six times and was a ten-time runner-up, all before the end of the 1970s (when a decline set in), helped by having many games played locally at Corrigan Park. Camogie arrived in 1908 with the foundation of Banba club, but the movement joined by clubs such as Crowley's, Mitchel's and Ardoyne was short-lived. A 1927 revival was more successful, and in 1934 there were three adult leagues in Belfast, southwest and north Antrim. Antrim won three-in-a-row in the 1940s, with four of their semi-finals and two of the finals being played at Corrigan Park, as well as taking advantage of a dispute that removed its main rival Dublin and the arrival of a Dublin coach, Charlie MacMahon, and Antrim was described as the "home of camogie."

Players from the Belfast league clubs such as Deirdre, St Malachy's and St Theresa’s and Glens villages such as Dunloy and Loughgiel Shamrocks to win all but a handful of the Ulster camogie championships played. A semi-final win in the 1950s ended Dublin's 19-in-a-row bid. Sue Cashman, Marie O'Gorman, Celia Quinn and Madge Rainey captained Antrim to All-Ireland titles, while Mairéad McAtamney was named on the team of the century. Rosina MacManus, Nancy Murray and Lily Spence were presidents of the Camogie Association.

Antrim has the following achievements in camogie.

* All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championships: 6
**(click on year for team line-outs) 1945, 1946, 1947, 1956, 1967, 1979"All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship: Roll of Honour"
RTÉ, 9 May 2008.
* All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie Championship: 3
**2001
**2003
**2021
* All-Ireland Junior Camogie Championships: 2
**1997, 2010

Ladies' football

Antrim was one of the last counties in Ireland to organise Ladies' Gaelic Football. The county board was established in 1995 and the county entered competitions the following year. Antrim compete in the All-Ireland Junior Ladies' Football Championship, which they have won on three occasions, most recently in 2022.

Antrim has the following achievements in ladies' football.

* All-Ireland Junior Ladies' Football Championships: 3
**2009, 2012, 2022
* Ladies' National Football League Division 4: 1
**2023
*Ulster Intermediate Championship: 1
**2023

Rounders

Despite being included in the original GAA charter in 1884, there had been no initiatives to revive the sport until 1958 when Erin's Own organised games under the Official Guide.

Currently Wolfe Tones GAC is the only Antrim based club playing Rounders at a competitive level, in the All-Ireland Junior Mixed Championship.''As Antrim’s sole representatives in the GAA Rounders All Ireland Championship'' - https://belfastmedia.com/gaelic-games-wolfe-tone-s-open-all-ireland-rounders-campaign-with-win

References

External links

Official Antrim GAA site

Antrim
on Hoganstand.com

National and provincial titles won by Antrim teams

Club championship winners

{{GAA bodies

Gaelic games governing bodies in Northern Ireland
Gaelic games governing bodies in Ulster
Sport in County Antrim
1885 establishments in Ireland