Ballinamore Seán O'Heslin's Gaelic Athletic Association is a

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

and ladies' Gaelic football club based in

Ballinamore Ballinamore (, meaning "mouth of the big ford") is a small town in County Leitrim, Ireland. Etymology , corrupted ''Bellanamore'', means "town at the mouth of the big ford", so named because it was a main crossing (ford) of the Yellow River. T ...

, County Leitrim,

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

History

The club was founded as ''Ballinamore'' in January 1889 in McGauran’s Railway Hotel. Unusually for a County Leitrim club, they have always fielded teams in both

and

. Local schoolteacher Seán O'Heslin was a driving force behind the club in its early years; he died in 1942; Sean O’Heslin Memorial Park opened in 1952 and the club was renamed ''Ballinamore Seán O'Heslin's'' in his honour in 1953. The club won twenty one

Leitrim Senior Football Championship The Leitrim Senior Football Championship is an annual football competition contested by top-tier Leitrim GAA clubs. The Leitrim County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1890. St Mary's, Kiltoghert are the title ...

s between 1913 and 2021, but have not won it since; they last reached the final in 2021 where they won . O'Heslin's also reached the final of the

Connacht Senior Club Football Championship The Connacht Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football tournament played between senior clubs in Connacht, with one qualifying from each of the five individual county championships. The winners of the Connacht football champ ...

on four occasions — 1968, 1973, 1986 and 1990 — losing each time. A ladies' Gaelic football team was founded in 2003.

Camogie Camogie ( ; ga, camógaíocht ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities. A variant of the game of hurling (which is played by men onl ...

has been occasionally played, around 1917, revived in 1945–50 and again in the late 1990s; there is at present no camogie team.

Honours

Gaelic football

(21): 1913, 1922, 1930, 1933, 1935, 1936, 1939, 1956, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1979, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1990, 2021 * Leitrim Senior Football League (12): 1967, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1988, 1989 *

Leitrim Junior Football Championship The Leitrim Junior A Football Championship is an annual football competition often contested by lower-tier or 2nd team Leitrim GAA clubs and is the counties third tier of football championship. The 2021 Junior A Champions of Leitrim were Mohil ...

(3): 1933, 1939, 1997 * Leitrim Under-21 Football Championship (7): 1972, 1979, 1987, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009 (2005–09 as ''Oughteragh Gaels'', a union with Aughnasheelin) *

Leitrim Minor Football Championship The Leitrim Minor A Football Championship is a football competition between the top-tier teams in Minor Gaelic football in County Leitrim, Ireland. The Leitrim County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Associati ...

(24): 1929, 1935, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1958 1959, 1960, 1961, 1968, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1984, 1985, 1993, 2002, 2006, 2011, 2014, 2017 (1993–2006 as ''Oughteragh Gaels'', a union with Aughnasheelin; 2014 as ''St. Felim's'', a union with Aughavas)

Ladies' football

* Leitrim Intermediate Ladies' Football Championship (1): 2014 (as ''Oughteragh Gaels'', a union with Aughnasheelin)

Hurling

Leitrim Senior Hurling Championship The Leitrim Senior Hurling Club Championship is an annual hurling competition contested by top-tier Leitrim GAA clubs. The winners of the championship qualify to the Connacht Junior Club Hurling Championship. Carrick Hurling are the title hol ...

(3): 1971, 1987, 2015 (1971 as ''St Bridget’s'', a union with Aughnasheelin) * Leitrim Minor Hurling Championship (13): 1967, 1971, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014 (1971 as ''St Bridget’s'', a union with Aughnasheelin)

References

External links

Official website
* Gaelic games clubs in County Leitrim Gaelic football clubs in County Leitrim Hurling clubs in County Leitrim Ballinamore {{Connacht-GAA-club-stub