Tommy Larkin's Gaelic Athletic Club 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 located in the Ballinakill and

Woodford Woodford may refer to: Places Australia *Woodford, New South Wales *Woodford, Queensland, a town in the Moreton Bay Region *Woodford, Victoria Canada * Woodford, Ontario England *Woodford, Cornwall * Woodford, Gloucestershire *Woodford, Greate ...

areas of

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

which competes in the

Galway Senior Hurling Championship The Galway Senior Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Brooks Galway Senior Hurling Championship) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Galway County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1887 for th ...

History

Tommy Larkin's Gaelic Athletic Club was founded in 1968 with the amalgamation of both the Woodford and Ballinakill GAA clubs. Soon after amalgamation adult hurling flourished with the senior team winning the county title in 1971. However despite the efforts of many tireless workers the club struggled to compete in the late seventies and eighties due in the most part to emigration. In 1990 the club was relegated to the intermediate ranks, this prompted a renewed commitment to coaching at underage level. Since the nineties the club has been one of the strongest at underage level in the county with several titles at Under 12, Under 14, and Under 16, including two Féile titles.

Name

The club is named after two local men, both named Thomas Larkin, who played separate yet significant roles in local history. * Tom Larkin of Gurteeny, Woodford. In 1886, during a week-long eviction at a premise known as Saunder's Fort in Woodford, Tom stood up to an RIC constable who was roughly treating a young girl and struck him. Tom was subsequently arrested and imprisoned in the overcrowded Kilkenny Gaol where he died of reported neglect in 1887 aged 23. * Fr. Tom Larkin of Ballinakill. Thought of locally as one of the most devoted lovers of all that was Irish: games, music and dancing. He fostered hurling in Ballinakill and in all East Galway when he was Chairman. Fr. Larkin played a leading part in G.A.A affairs in County Galway in the 1920s and 1930s and it was he who coached the great Tynagh teams which won ten County Galway senior championships and supplied the backbone of the Galway team which won the All-Ireland of 1923. He was also the founder of the Ballinakill Céilí Band. He died in 1949 aged 58.

Crest

The club's current crest was designed by Albert Daniels, Drimkeary in 2004.

Achievements

Connacht Senior Club Hurling Championship The Connacht Senior Club Hurling Championship was an annual hurling tournament played between the senior hurling clubs in Connacht contested from 1970 until 2007 when it was discontinued due to a lack of meaningful opposition for the Galway cham ...

(1): 1971 *

Galway Senior Club Hurling Championship The Galway Senior Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Brooks Galway Senior Hurling Championship) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Galway County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1887 for th ...

(1): 1971 *

Connacht Intermediate Club Hurling Championship The Connacht Intermediate Club Hurling Championship is an annual club competition in Connacht. Prior to 2008, county champions competed in the senior grade, but since then the senior champions from Mayo and Roscommon compete at intermediate lev ...

Winners 2005, 2007

Notable people

* Jason Flynn *

Cyril Farrell Cyril Farrell (born 1 August 1950) is an Irish former hurling manager, selector, trainer and coach. He was the manager of the senior Galway county team on three separate occasions, during which time he became the county's longest-serving mana ...

External links

Tommy Larkin's GAA site

References

Gaelic games clubs in County Galway Hurling clubs in County Galway {{Connacht-GAA-club-stub