Saint Matthew's Gaelic Athletic Club ( ga, CLG Naomh Maitiú Droim Soirn) is a

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...

club based in

Drumsurn Drumsurn () is a small village and townland in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is southeast of Limavady and northeast of Dungiven. It lies in the Roe Valley, at the foot of Donald's Hill and at the edge of the Sperrins. Drumsurn ha ...

, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The club is affiliated to

Derry GAA The Derry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Coiste Chontae Dhoire) or Derry GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland. It is responsible for Gaelic games in County Londonderry ...

and currently competes in

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 ...

and

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 ...

. Underage teams up to U-12s play in North Derry league and championships, from U-14 upwards teams compete in All-Derry competitions. Drumsurn fields Gaelic football teams at U-8, U-10, U-12, U-14 and

Senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

levels. They currently compete in the Derry Intermediate Championship and Division 1B of the Derry Senior ACFL. The U-16 and

Minor Minor may refer to: * Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities. ** A person who has not reached the age of majority * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Music theory *Minor chord ** Barb ...

teams are amalgamated with

Drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

and play as St Patrick's.

History

Glenullin won the 1927 North Derry Championship, but were disqualified from the All-County Championship final after their final with

Ballinderry Ballinderry () is a small civil and ecclesiastical parish on both sides of the County Londonderry / County Tyrone border in Northern Ireland. It is a rural parish of about 350 houses and lies on the western shores of Lough Neagh. The parish c ...

was abandoned due to fighting. 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 did not enter the 1940 championship. In 1947 John Eddie Mullan from Drumsurn won a

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

medal with Derry. 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 A shamrock is a young sprig, used as a symbol of Ireland. Saint Patrick, Ireland's patron saint, is said to have used it as a metaphor for the Christian Holy Trinity. The name ''shamrock'' comes from Irish (), which is the diminutive of ...

on the breast. Their first Senior match came was a victory over

Glenullin Glenullin was previously a rural area but has now expanded to become a small village in a valley between the villages of Garvagh, Swatragh and Dungiven, and lies in the borough of Coleraine, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The nearest c ...

in the 1959 Neal Carlin Cup. 1960 saw Drumsurn win the North Derry Junior Championship for the first time. They went on to play the Derry City Champions Faughanavale in the All-County Junior Championship semi-final at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is also ...

, 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 victories 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 and were narrowly defeated in the

Derry Intermediate Football Championship The Derry Intermediate Football Championship (currently also known for sponsorship reasons as the ''M&L Contracts Derry Intermediate Football Championship'') is an annual competition between the mid-tier Gaelic football clubs affiliated to Der ...

final by

Glen A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrower ...

. That year the club were awarded an Allied Irish Bank Club of the Year award. Joe Irwin, who had returned to the club from Swatragh in 1978, established himself on the Derry side in the 1980s and won

Railway Cup The GAA Interprovincial Championship ( ga, An Corn Idir-Chúigeach) or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster ...

medals with

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

in 1983 and 1984, captaining Derry in 1984. Drumsurn's greatest success came in 1991 went they won the

against St Martins Desertmartin. Drumsurn's Ciarán Mullan was a pillar of the 2002 Derry minor team which won the All-Ireland Minor Championship; notably scoring 1 goal and 5 points in a remarkable 'man of the match' performance in the semi-final against longford. He continues to be one of the most influential members of the club's senior team and is one of the most feared forwards in the intermediate league.

Football titles

(1) **1991 Derry Division 2 league (2) 2021, 1989 *Neal Carlin Cup (3?) **1966, 1979, 2003 *Dr Kerlin Cup **1992 *Derry Junior Reserve Football Championship (1?) **2003 *North Derry Minor 'B' Football League (1 **2004 *Carlin/Duffy Cup (2?) **2004, 2005 *North Derry Under-16 Football League (1) **1985 *Derry Under-16 'B Football Championship (1) **2008 *North Derry Under-14 'B' Football Championship (1) **2006 Note: The above lists may be incomplete. Please add any other honours you know of.

Notable players

*Joe Irwin – Former Derry footballer. Member of Derry's 1987

Ulster Senior Football Championship The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county competition for Gaelic football teams in the province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in early May. The final is usu ...

winning team. Captained Derry in 1984. Won

medals in 1983 and 1984. *Richard Ferris – Member of Derry's 1993 All-Ireland winning squad, featuring in the first two matches in the Ulster Championship. *Ciarán Mullan, Derry Minor and Senior player *

John Eddie Mullan John Eddie Mullan (27 April 1923 – 14 December 2008) was a Gaelic footballer who played for the Derry county team in the 1940s and 1950s. He was part of the first Derry side to win the National Football League and also won two Dr McKenna ...

– Former Derry player. While he played most of his club football for

Dungiven Dungiven () is a small town, townland and civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is near the main A6 Belfast to Derry road, which bypasses the town. It lies where the rivers Roe, Owenreagh and Owenbeg meet at the foot of the B ...

, he started out his career with Drumsurn, playing for the club in 1940–1942. *Eunan Rafferty – Former Derry footballer. *Cahir Mullan - O2 Guru

Facilities

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

External links

St. Matthew's GAC website

References