O'Hanrahans are 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 ...

club from

Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2016 census, it had a combined urban and rural population of 24,272. The River Barrow flows through the town and forms the historic bounda ...

County Carlow County Carlow ( ; ga, Contae Cheatharlach) is a county located in the South-East Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Carlow is the second smallest and the third least populous of Ireland's 32 traditional counties. Carlow Cou ...

. They are one of the most successful clubs in the history of

Carlow GAA The Carlow County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Luthchleas Gael Coiste Ceatharlach) or Carlow GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Carlow and the C ...

. They have won the

Carlow Senior Football Championship The Carlow Senior Football Championship (currently also known for sponsorship reasons as the ''Michael Lyng Motors Carlow SFC''), is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by top-tier Carlow GAA clubs. The Carlow County Board of the ...

18 times and the

Leinster Senior Club Football Championship The Leinster Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football tournament played on a knockout basis between the senior club championship winners of the competing counties in Leinster. The current holders of the Leinster title are Ba ...

once.

History

The club was established in 1919 and named after

Michael O'Hanrahan Michael O'Hanrahan ( ga, Mícheál Ó hAnnracháin; 16 January 1877 – 4 May 1916) was an Irish rebel who was executed for his active role in the 1916 Easter Rising. Background He was born as Michael Hanrahan in New Ross, County Wexford, Irela ...

. Though born in Wexford, O'Hanrahan was educated by the Christian Brothers in Carlow and attended what is now St Patrick's College in Carlow town. He was executed in Kilmainham Gaol for his part in the

Easter Rising The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the a ...

. They play their home games on the Dublin Road in Carlow town, in grounds directly east of

Dr. Cullen Park Dr Cullen Park, known for sponsorship reasons as Netwatch Cullen Park, is a GAA stadium in Carlow, County Carlow, Ireland. It is the home of the Carlow Gaelic football and hurling teams. It has a capacity of 21,000. History The ground's establ ...

. While encountering periods of success during the 1920s, 30s, 40s and 50s, by far their greatest period of sustained success came in the period 1997-2003, under the management of Laois man Mick Dempsey. Dempsey later went on the become part of Brian Cody's highly successful management set-up with the Kilkenny hurling team. In 1997 they won the Intermediate Championship. In 1998 they came close to beating their fierce rivals Eire Og in the Senior Championship semi-final. Eire Og subsequently went on to win their 5th Leinster Club Championship in 7 years. 1999 saw the Blues win their first county championship in 38 years, the first of three-in-a-row, and four in five years. The following year they progressed through the Leinster club championship all the way to the final, where they defeated heavy favourites Na Fianna in Portlaosie. The following February they pushed

Nemo Rangers Nemo Rangers Hurling & Football Club is a Cork-based Gaelic Athletic Association club on the southside of Cork city, Ireland. The club was founded in 1922 and is involved in Gaelic football, hurling, Ladies football and Camogie. History Nemo R ...

close in Clonmel in the All Ireland semi-final. After winning the county championship in 2003 (their fourth in five years) their fortunes took a slide, and they have not returned to the county final since 2005. The Leinster winning team was something of a golden generation for The Blues, with as many as 13 of the team playing on the same county-winning Minor team in 1996. It included some all-time greats of Carlow football, including John Brennan, Andrew Corden and Mark Carpenter. Other great players from previous generations have been honoured, including when Carlow GAA announced its football XV of the 20th Century: the full-forward line was made up entirely of O'Hanrahans players - Jimma Rea (part of Carlow's 1944 Leinster Championship winning team), Ned Doogue and Eamonn Long.

Honours

s: (18) 1890, 1903, 1927, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1937, 1942, 1945, 1951, 1954, 1958, 1961, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 *

: (1) 2000 O'Hanrahans have also won four u21 Football Championships, 21 Minor Football Championships, three Intermediate Football Championships, and three Junior A Football Championships.

References

External links

Official site
Gaelic games clubs in County Carlow {{Leinster-GAA-club-stub