Erin's Own GAC Lavey ( ga, Leamhaigh CLG) 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 the

Catholic parish In the Catholic Church, a parish ( la, parochia) is a stable community of the faithful within a particular church, whose pastoral care has been entrusted to a parish priest (Latin: ''parochus''), under the authority of the diocesan bishop. It is t ...

of Lavey,

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. B ...

, Northern Ireland. The club is a member of the

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 caters for

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 ...

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 ...

and

ladies' Gaelic football Ladies' Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach na mBan) is a women's team sport. It is the women's equivalent of Gaelic football. Ladies' football is organised by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association. Two teams of 15 players kick or hand-pass a ...

. The club's biggest success came when it won the 1991

All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football tournament which began in season 1970–71. It is the top-tier competition for the senior football clubs of Ireland and London. The current champions are Kilcoo of ...

. They have won the

Ulster Senior Club Football Championship The Ulster Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition played between the top clubs in Ulster GAA. The trophy awarded to the winners is the Seamus McFerran Cup ( ga, Corn Shéamuis Mhic Fearáin). The winners and t ...

twice and have won the

Derry Senior Football Championship The Derry Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by the top sixteen Derry GAA clubs. The winners receive the John McLaughlin Cup and qualify to represent Derry in the Ulster Senior Club Football Champi ...

on eight occasions. The club has won the

Derry Senior Hurling Championship The Derry Senior Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition contested by top-tier Derry GAA clubs. The Derry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1887. Slaughtneil are the title holders (2022) de ...

19 times. Lavey won Club of the Year at the 1990 Ulster GAA Writers' Association Awards. Underage teams up to U-12s play in south Derry GAA league and championships, and teams from U-14 upwards compete in All-Derry competitions.

2019 Championship Football

2018 Championship Football

2017 Championship Football

Hurling

Lavey is the second most successful Derry hurling club, winning 18

s. Only Kevin Lynch's have won the competition more often.

Camogie

Lavey has U10, U12, U14, U16, Minor, Reserve and Senior Camogie sides. Lavey have won one All Ireland Junior

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 ...

final, two Ulster Junior titles in a row, and three Derry championships in a row.

History

Football

In 1926, Liam O'Connor, from

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Conn ...

, settled in Lavey. He was instrumental in setting up Knockloughrim Erin's Own GAC. The team wore green and gold jerseys with white collars, like

Kerry Kerry or Kerri may refer to: * Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name) Places * Kerry, Queensland, Australia * County Kerry, Ireland ** Kerry Airport, an international airport in Count ...

. He also helped set up the Derry County Board and the Erin's Own GAC Cargin in

Toome Toome or Toomebridge () is a small village and townland on the northwest corner of Lough Neagh in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies in the civil parish of Duneane in the former barony of Toome Upper, and is in the Antrim and Newtownabbe ...

, County Antrim. O'Connor was also a talented player and played for and captained the Derry Senior side. O'Connor christened the club Erin's Own in memory of his home club in County Mayo, which bore the same title. In 1928 O'Connor emigrated to America for a few years, his departure led to the folding of Knockloughrim Erin's Own. In 1933 under the guidance of Mick Crilly and others the club were officially reorganised as Erin's Own GAC Lavey and the pitch moved to the townland of Gulladuff. Lavey's first trophy came in 1936 when they won the Dean McGlinchey Cup. Lavey thought they had won their first

in 1937, when they defeated Newbridge by a point at

Magherafelt Magherafelt (, �mˠaxəɾʲəˈfʲiːlt̪ˠə is a small town and civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 8,805 at the 2011 Census. It is the biggest town in the south of the county and is the social, econo ...

. However Lavey were stripped of the title under the Foreign Games Rule, when a Lavey player had been reported attending a soccer match. They won the next year's Derry Senior Football Championship, defeating Pearses of

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

City in the final. In 1947 Lavey schoolteacher Master John Fay originally from

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...

, managed Derry to their first ever

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

success. In 1977 after a gap of 23 years seen the side win their fourth Derry Senior Football Championship, beating

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 ...

in the final. They also won the Senior League, Derry Reserve Football Championship and Reserve League that year. The current grounds were opened in 1979. The late 1980s and early 1990s were a glory period for the club. They won the Derry Senior Football Championship four times in six years (1988, 1990, 1992 and 1993). They also won the

in 1990 and 1992. The club biggest success came on 17 March 1991 when they were crowned All-Ireland Senior Club Football Champions.

Hurling

Between 1934 and 1935 hurling was introduced to Lavey. Fr. James McLaughlin helped launch a hurling club in Lavey by the name of Shamrocks GAC, who until the amalgamation in 1941, were officially independent from the football club. They originally wore green jerseys with a white shamrock on the breast. Because there were few hurling teams in the area, Shamrocks originally competed in the South West Antrim League with teams like Cargin, Creggan and Randalstown. Shamrocks won Lavey's first

in 1940. The team was helped by a few playing members they had from "traditional hurling counties" such as

Tipperary Tipperary is the name of: Places *County Tipperary, a county in Ireland **North Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Nenagh **South Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Clonmel *Tipperary (town), County Tipperary's na ...

and

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

. 1944 was a special year for the club when they completed the "Football and hurling Double". They won the

beating Mitchel's of Derry City in the final, and also won the Derry Hurling Championship after defeating Sarfield's (also of Derry City). In 1983, Lavey played in the Antrim Minor Hurling League, and won it. They also collected the Derry Minor Hurling Championship in 1983, 1984 and 1985. These Minor successes laid the foundations for Lavey 1985

success. It was the club's first Senior Championship success in 23 years and they would go on to win 11 of the next 17 Senior Championships after that year up until 2002. The club have reached five

Ulster Senior Club Hurling Championship The Ulster Senior Club Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the AIB Ulster GAA Hurling Senior Club Championship) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association and contested b ...

finals, but have been beaten narrowly on each occasion.

Football titles

Senior

: 1 **1991 *

: 2 **1990, 1992 *

: 9 **1938, 1943, 1944, 1954, 1977, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993 *Derry Senior Football League: 4 **1954, 1969, 1977, 1978 *South Derry Senior Football Championship: 4 **1938, 1943, 1944, 1947 *Derry Football League Division 2: 1 **1967 *McGlinchey Cup: ? **1936

Reserves

*Derry Reserve Football Championship: 1 **1977 *Derry Reserve Football League: 2 **1977, 1978

Minor

*Derry Minor Football Championship: 5 **1975, 1983, 1984, 2019, 2020 *Derry Minor 'B' Football Championship: ? **2008, more? *South Derry Minor 'B' Football League: 1 **2006

Under-16

*Derry Under-16 A Football Championship: 2 **1969, 2017 *South Derry Under-16 Football Championship: 3 **1969, 1980, 1990 * Derry Under-16 B Football Championship:1 **2011

Under-14

*Derry 'B' Féile na nÓg: 1 **2007 *South Derry Under-14 Football Championship: 1 **1978 *South Derry 'B' Under-14 Football Championship: 1 **2001 2009 *Derry Under-14 'B' Football League: 1 **2006 *Derry Under-14 'A' Féile na nÓg:1 **2015

Hurling titles

Senior

: 18 **1940, 1944, 1946, 1948, 1962, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2010

Minor

*Ulster Minor Club Hurling Championship: 2 **1996, 2006 *Derry Minor Hurling Championship: 9 **1983, 1984, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1996, 2005, 2019 *Antrim Minor Hurling League: 2 **1983, 1989

Under-16

* Derry Under-16 Hurling Championship: 8 ** 1981, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2005,2020

Under-14

*Derry 'A' Féile na nGael:1 **1996, 2003 *Derry 'B' Féile na nGael: 2 **2004, 2007,2009

Camogie titles

*Derry Intermediate Camogie Championship: 1 ** 2020 (won by Lavey Reserves) ** 2019 (won by Lavey Reserves) ** 2006 (won by Lavey Reserves) * Derry Senior Camogie Championship: 6 ** 1995, 1999, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009 * Ulster Junior Camogie Championship: 2 ** 2008, 2009 *

All-Ireland Junior Club Camogie Championship The All-Ireland Junior Club Camogie Championship is a 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 ...

: 1 ** 2009

Notable footballers

* Henry Downey – captain of Derry's 1993 All-Ireland winning team. All Star winner and

Texaco Footballer of the Year The Texaco Footballer of the Year was a Gaelic football award, created in 1958, that honoured the achievements of a footballer of outstanding excellence. The award was part of the Texaco Sportstars Awards, in which Irish sportspeople from all f ...

for 1993. * Séamus Downey – member of Derry's 1993 All-Ireland winning team. *

Johnny McGurk John McGurk (born 3 November 1965) is a former dual player of Gaelic games who played Gaelic football at senior level for the Derry county team in the 1980s and 1990s. He was part of Derry's 1993 All-Ireland Championship winning side and also ...

– All Star winner and member of Derry's 1993 All-Ireland winning team. *

Anthony McGurk Anthony 'Tony' McGurk is a former Gaelic footballer who played for the Derry county team in the 1970s and 1980s. He won three Ulster Championships with the side (1970, 1975 and 1976). McGurk played club football with Erin's Own GAC Lavey, wh ...

– two-time All Star winner. *

Kevin McCloy Kevin McCloy (born 26 October 1978) is a dual player of Gaelic games who plays Gaelic football for the Derry county team, with whom he has won a National League title. He also won an All Star for his performances in the 2007 All-Ireland Senior ...

– All Star winner. * Jack Convery – Derry footballer who represented

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 the Railway Cup on two occasions. * Colm Mulholland – member of Derry All-Ireland runners-up 1958 *

Tommy Doherty Thomas Edward Doherty (born 17 March 1979 in Bristol) is a Northern Ireland former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He made nine appearances for the Northern Ireland national team. Club career Doherty started his career at B ...

– member of Derry All-Ireland runners-up 1958

Hurlers

* Ollie Collins – former Derry hurler.

External links

Erin's Own GAC website

References

{{Authority control Gaelic Athletic Association clubs established in 1933 Gaelic games clubs in County Londonderry Gaelic football clubs in County Londonderry Hurling clubs in County Londonderry

2019 Championship Football

2018 Championship Football

2017 Championship Football

Hurling

Camogie

History

Football

Hurling

Football titles

Senior

Reserves

Minor

Under-16

Under-14

Hurling titles

Senior

Minor

Under-16

Under-14

Camogie titles

Notable footballers

Hurlers

See also

External links

References