O'Donovan Rossa GAC () is a

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

club based in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

. The club is a member of the

Antrim GAA The Antrim County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association () or Antrim GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The county board is also responsible for t ...

and currently fields teams in

Hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

Camogie Camogie ( ; ) 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 "hurling" (which is played by men only), it is organised ...

and

Handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

. The club is named after Irish patriot and revolutionary

Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa (; 4 September 1831 (baptised) – 29 June 1915)Con O'Callaghan Reenascreena Community Online (dead link archived at archive.org, 29 September 2014) was an Irish Fenian leader who was one of the leading members of t ...

and one of the club founders was

Joe McKelvey Joseph McKelvey (17 June 1898 – 8 December 1922) was an Irish Republican Army officer who was executed during the Irish Civil War without trial or court martial. He participated in the Anti-Treaty IRA's repudiation of the authority of the D ...

History

O'Donovan Rossa GAC was founded in 1916 at Bunkers Hill, now the site of Kennedy's old bakery in Beechmount Avenue on the Falls Road. At foundation, the membership was confined to

Irish Volunteers The Irish Volunteers (), also known as the Irish Volunteer Force or the Irish Volunteer Army, was a paramilitary organisation established in 1913 by nationalists and republicans in Ireland. It was ostensibly formed in response to the format ...

and amongst the first members were Sean Osbourne,

, Sean Hackett from Tipperary, with Sean O’Sullivan as the first chairman. Soon the young club was making its presence felt, winning the Hurling Championship in 1918, 1919 and 1921, while the footballers collected the Football Championship in 1920 and 1921, completing the double in 1921. For a number of subsequent years County Championships eluded the club, but in 1938 they had a narrow victory over Dunloy at Corrigan Park by 2 points to 1 point. At the start of the 1940s Rossa welcomed most of the St Mary's C.B.S. team as members of the club. These players made their contribution to renewed success, winning many Senior Football and Hurling Championships in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1988, the club won an All Ireland Semi Final against

Patrickswell GAA Patrickswell GAA is a Gaelic Athletic Association club in Patrickswell, County Limerick, Ireland. The club is primarily concerned with the game of hurling, but has also fielded teams in Gaelic football. History Located in the village of Patr ...

. In an epic game played in Limerick, Rossa emerged as one point winners against a Patrickswell side that included greats like

Gary Kirby Gary Kirby (born 12 January 1967 in Patrickswell, County Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland) is an Irish hurling Manager (Gaelic games), manager and former player. He was named in a list of the "125 greatest stars of the GAA" in 2009, in whi ...

and

Ciarán Carey Ciarán Carey (born 16 January 1970) is an Irish former player, hurling manager and selector. Primarily playing at the centre-back position, Carey's club career was with Patrickswell and at inter-county level with Limerick. He was a key memb ...

. The team eventually lost in the All Ireland Final at

Croke Park Croke Park (, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and headquarters of the Gaelic At ...

to a

Buffers Alley Buffers Alley is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in the villages of Kilmuckridge and Monamolin in County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The club fields teams in hurling, Intermediate hurling, Gaelic football and camogie. It co ...

side led by

Tony Doran Anthony Doran (born April 1946) is an Irish retired hurler who played as a full-forward for the Wexford senior team. Doran won an All-Ireland title both for his county and club. Born in Boolavogue, County Wexford, Doran first arrived on the i ...

Notable players

Ciaran Barr Ciaran Barr (born 1964 in Belfast, County Antrim) is a former Irish sportsperson. He played hurling with his local club O'Donovan Rossa and with the Antrim senior inter-county team from 1984 until 1994. He won an All Star award in 1988. Play ...

- former hurling player * Jane Adams - camogie player *

Joe Boyle Joseph Whiteside Boyle (6 November 1867 – 14 April 1923), better known as Klondike Joe Boyle, was a Canadian adventurer who became a businessman and entrepreneur in the United Kingdom. In the First World War he came to see service assisting t ...

- former hurling player * Thomas Morgan - current hurling player * Carl McAuley - current hurling player

Honours

O'Donovan Rossa won the

Antrim Senior Hurling Championship The Antrim Senior Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Bathshack.com Antrim Senior Hurling Championship and abbreviated to the Antrim SHC) is an annual club hurling competition organised by the Antrim GAA, Antrim County B ...

in 1918, 1919, 1921, 1946, 1949, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1972, 1976, 1977, 1988 and 2004. The club also won the

Antrim Senior Football Championship The Antrim Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic Athletic Association competition between the top Gaelic football clubs in Antrim GAA. The winners of the championship represent Antrim in the Ulster Senior Club Football Championship ...

in 1920, 1921, 1927, 1930, 1944, 1946, 1947, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1973, 1989 and 1991.

Honours

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 ...

(4) ** 1972, 1977, 1988, 2004 *

(15) ** 1918, 1919, 1921, 1946, 1949, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1972, 1976, 1977, 1988, 2004 *

(16) ** 1920, 1921, 1927, 1930, 1944, 1946, 1947, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1973, 1989,1991 *

All-Ireland Intermediate Club Hurling Championship The GAA Hurling All-Ireland Intermediate Club Championship, known simply as the All-Ireland Club Championship, is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the second highes ...

(1) ** 2015 *

Ulster Intermediate Club Hurling Championship The Ulster Intermediate Club Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the AIB Ulster GAA Hurling Intermediate Club Championship) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Ulster GAA, Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Asso ...

(1) ** 2014 *

Antrim Intermediate Hurling Championship The Antrim Intermediate Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition, organised by Antrim GAA. The championship forms the second-tier of Hurling in Antrim. It is contested by the eleven clubs ranked 9–19 in the Antrim championship sy ...

(1) ** 2014 *

All-Ireland Senior Club Camogie Championship The All-Ireland Club Camogie Championship is a competition for club teams in the Irish women’s field sport of camogie. It is contested by the senior club champions of the leading counties and organised by An Cumann Camógaíochta. Trophy The t ...

(1) **

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

* Ulster Senior Club Camogie Championship (5) ** 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012 *

Antrim Senior Camogie Championship The Antrim Camogie Championship is the senior Camogie competition featuring clubs affiliated to the Antrim GAA The Antrim County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association () or Antrim GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, ...

(10) ** 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013

References

External links

O'Donovan Rossa GAC websiteOfficial Antrim GAA Website
{{Antrim GAA clubs Gaelic games clubs in County Antrim Hurling clubs in County Antrim Sports clubs and teams in Belfast