Trillick St Macartan's 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 the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

Trillick Trillick () is a small village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 2,439 people in the 2011 census. Trillick is in the civil parish of Kilskeery and the barony of Omagh East. It is located within both the Roman Catholic ...

in western

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

, Northern Ireland. It competes at Senior level in

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

competitions (earlier clubs in the area having played at times in

Fermanagh GAA The Fermanagh County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) () or Fermanagh GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland and is responsible for the administration of Gaelic games in County Fermanagh, Ireland. The county fo ...

competitions). The club plays

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 ...

ladies' Gaelic football Ladies' Gaelic football () is an Irish team sport for women. 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 round ball toward ...

and

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 ...

History

A branch of the

Gaelic League (; historically known in English as the Gaelic League) is a social and cultural organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as its first president, when it eme ...

was formed in Trillick on 29 December 1901, and the League pioneered the playing of Gaelic games in 1902. At a Gaelic League

Feis A () or () is a traditional Gaelic arts and culture festival. The plural forms are () and (). The term is commonly used referring to Irish dance competitions and, in Ireland, to immersive teaching courses, specialising in traditional musi ...

in Trillick on 15 August 1903, parish teams from Trillick, Golan, Moorfield and Liffer played the first competitive football games in Trillick. By December 1903, a parish football and hurling club, named 'Lisdoo Young Ireland', had been formed, Lisdoo being one of only five teams taking part in the first Tyrone senior football championship in November 1904.Trillick St McCartan's club website
/ref> In 1906, the 'Trillick Red Hands' football team was formed. In 1907, this club reached the final of the first cup competition in Tyrone, the McAnespie Cup, presented by Trillick-born James McAnespie. The Red Hands, Glassmullagh St Colmcille's and Coa hurling teams, and Trillick and Knocknagor camogie teams, all from the Trillick parish, played at a Gaelic League Feis in Trillick on 15 August 1907. In 1909 there were three clubs in the parish: the Red Hands (which disbanded in 1910), Golan and Bundoran Junction Éire Ógs; however until 1914, matches were only played on Feis days. The 'Trillick MacDonagh's' team functioned in 1914–18 and 1923–28, but many prominent players were lost in "

The Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

". The Gaelic League flourished up to 1920, Trillick parish priest Fr Matt Maguire being President of Dáil Uladh. Following the establishment of the West Tyrone Board on 29 October 1931, the Trillick St Macartan's Club was formed in 1932, continuing to this day. It was named for

Mac Cairthinn of Clogher Saint Mac Cairthinn, also Macartan, McCartan (died 506), is recognized as the first presiding Bishop of Clogher from 454 to his death. One of the earliest Christian saints in Ireland, he is known as Saint Patrick's Traynor (surname), "Threin Fhi ...

(died AD 506), the first

Bishop of Clogher The Bishop of Clogher (, ) is an episcopal title which takes its name after the village of Clogher in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Following the Reformation, there are now parallel apostolic successions: one of the Church of Ireland and ...

. The Ulster Council ruled in 1933 that the Tyrone County Board had jurisdiction over the club, rejecting the claim of Fermanagh. Trillick won the GAA's Centenary Year Club of Year Award in 1984.

Gaelic football

In 1937 Trillick won its first senior championship, being League winners in 1937, 1938 and 1939. Beaten by the eventual champions in 1938, Trillick were awaiting the 1939 final when the Tyrone County Board declared that year's championship void. Trillick's Paddy Donnelly captained Tyrone's first ever cup-winning team, the Dr Lagan Cup winners, on 8 November 1942. Trillick U-16's were Tyrone champions in 1965, being beaten finalists in 1964 and 1968, the U-18's being County champions in 1968 and 1969. Trillick won the

Tyrone Senior Football Championship The Tyrone Senior Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the ''Connollys of Moy'' ''Tyrone Senior Football Championship'') is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by top-tier Tyrone GAA clubs. The Tyrone County Boar ...

again in 1974 (when they reached the

Ulster Senior Club Football Championship The Ulster Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football tournament organised by Ulster GAA. It is played between the Senior championship winners from each of the nine counties of Ulster. The competition was first held in 1968 an ...

final) and have won five subsequent titles. Relegated to the Intermediate ranks in 2007, Trillick won the Intermediate Football Championship in 2008 defeating Moy in the final in Carrickmore. They progressed to the

Ulster Intermediate Club Football Championship The Ulster Intermediate Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition organised by Ulster GAA. It is played between the Intermediate championship winners from each of the nine counties of Ulster. The competition has a straig ...

, and became the first team from the parish to win a Provincial title defeating Greenlough of

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

. Upon promotion to Senior ranks in 2015 they then went on to win the Senior Championship the same year, beating Killyclogher in the final on 11 October 2015 on a scoreline of 1–09 to 0–11. Trillick won another senior Championship in 2019, beating Dromore in the first round before beating Clonoe, holders Coalisland and Errigal Ciaran in the final on a score line of 0-12 to 2-4.

Honours

(0): (runners-up in 1974) *

(9): 1937, 1974, 1975, 1980, 1983, 1986, 2015, 2019, 2023 * Tyrone All-County League Division 1 (12): 1937, 1938, 1939, 1973, 1977, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 2022, 2023 *Jim Devlin Memorial Cup (League Cup) (2): 1988, 1989 *

Tyrone Intermediate Football Championship The Tyrone Intermediate Football Club Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Connollys of Moy Tyrone Intermediate Football Club Championship) is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by mid-tier Tyrone GAA clubs. Derrylau ...

(1): 2008 *

(1): 2008

Ladies' Gaelic football

The Trillick ladies' football team won the Division Two League in 1995, reached the county Championship final in 1999, and won the Tyrone and Ulster Junior Championship in 2018.

Hurling

Glassmullagh St Colmcille's Hurling Club was formed in Trillick parish in 1905, and the Coa club soon afterwards. These Trillick hurlers competed mainly in Fermanagh, there being little interest in hurling in Tyrone. The two Trillick clubs not only met one another in two Fermanagh finals: they jointly provided the entire membership of the Fermanagh team that played in the 1939 Ulster junior hurling championship.

Honours

* Fermanagh Senior Hurling Championship (3): 1936, 1945, 1946 (''Glassmullagh''); 1938, 1939 ''(Coa)'' *

Tyrone Senior Hurling Championship The Tyrone Senior Hurling Championship (Abbreviated to the Tyrone SHC) is an annual hurling competition contested by top-tier Tyrone GAA clubs. The Tyrone County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1905. Éire Óg ...

(1): 1949 (''Glassmullagh amalgamated with Dromore'')

Camogie

Trillick camogie team won the 1992 Tyrone Division Two League, but lost the county Championship final. In 1994 they won the Division Two Championship and League double.

Facilities

In 1933 the club purchased a playing field beside the village for £110, one of the first clubs in Tyrone to do so. A pavilion was erected in 1934. In 1949, Trillick Club built a hall to serve as social centre and dressing rooms. This was extended in 1977–78 and 1987. The Willie Donnelly Memorial Park, enlarged in 1970, had floodlighting installed in 1984, and a Prunty pitch and covered stand provided in 2003. New dressing rooms were built in 2000 and a training pitch adjoining St Scire's school was developed in 1998–2001.

Notable players

* Mattie Donnelly, All-Ireland Minor Football Championship medalist 2008 and Senior medalist 2021 * Niall Gormley, 2001 All-Ireland Minor medal winner and 2008

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) () is the premier inter-county competition in Gaelic football. County (Gaelic games), County teams compete against each other and the winner is declared All-Ireland Champions. Organised by the ...

medal winner

References

{{Tyrone GAA clubs Gaelic games clubs in County Tyrone Gaelic football clubs in County Tyrone