Newbridge GAC

Seán O'Leary's GAC Newbridge

CLG Seán Ó Laoghaire Droichead Nua
Founded:	1925
County:	Derry
Nickname:	The Bridge, O'Leary's
Club colours:	Green and White
Grounds:	Sean O'Leary Park
Coordinates:	54°45′41.79″N 6°30′25.00″W / 54.7616083°N 6.50694°W / 54.7616083; -6.50694Coordinates: 54°45′41.79″N 6°30′25.00″W / 54.7616083°N 6.50694°W / 54.7616083; -6.50694
Playing kits
Standard colours
Senior Club Championships
All Ireland Ulster champions Derry champions Football : - - 10

Seán O'Leary's GAC Newbridge (Irish: CLG Seán Ó Laoghaire Droichead Nua) is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in Newbridge, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The club is a member of the Derry GAA and currently cater for Gaelic football and Camogie. They have won the Derry Senior Football Championship on ten occasions. Only Bellaghy have won it more often.

Sides up to U-12's play in South Derry league and championships, from U-14 upwards teams compete in All-Derry competitions.

Gaelic football

Newbridge fields Gaelic football teams at U8, U10, U12, U14, U16, Minor, Reserve and Senior levels. In addition to winning the Derry Senior Championship ten times, the club have won the Derry Intermediate Football Championship twice. They currently compete in the Derry Senior Championship and Division 2 of the Derry ACFL.

Well known players

• Roddy Gribben - Former Derry player and manager.
• Damian Barton - Member of Derry's 1993 All-Ireland winning team.
• Dermot Dougan
• Henry Diamond
• John Murphy - Won National Football League with Derry in 1947.
• Owen Gribben
• HF Gribben
• John Murphy
• Tommy Doherty
• Patsy McLarnon - Former Newbridge and Derry player

Camogie

The club also has Camogie teams across various age-groups.

History

Gaelic games had been played on the western shores of Lough Neagh for decades before the founding of the club. Seán O'Leary's GAC Newbridge was officially established in 1925 and covered the Newbridge and Ballymaguigan areas. Both areas are part of Ardtrea North parish. The American Army built Toome airfield during World War II. This effectively split the parish in two, making it very difficult for the Ballymaguigan-based players to travel to the pitch and a separate club; St. Trea's GFC was set up in Ballymaguigan in 1944.^[1]

Newbridge first won the Derry Senior Football Championship in 1937 and added further Senior Championship successes in 1940, 1945 and 1948. Success carried into the 1950s and the club won the Championship again in 1950 and 1955. With the emergence of the extremely successful Bellaghy side of the late 1950s and early 1960s, it was 1966 before Newbridge added another Senior Championship, and won the competition again in 1967 and 1970.

O'Leary's won their most recent Senior Championship in 1989 and in recent years have slipped down to Intermediate level. They won the Derry Intermediate Football Championship in 2002 and most recently in 2007. They have recently Won the Div 3 League and will be competing at Senior level again in 2009

Website

The club launched its website in June 2009 with the aim of keeping the local community and exiles up-to-date date with the activities around the club. www.newbridgegac.com

Honours

Senior

• Derry Senior Football Championship: 10
  • 1937, 1940, 1945, 1948, 1950, 1955, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1989

• Derry Intermediate Football Championship: 2
  • 2002, 2007

Reserve

• Derry Senior Reserve Football Championship: 2
  • 1987,1988

• Derry Intermediate Reserve Football Championship: 1
  • 1999

U-16

• South Derry U-16 'B' Football Championship: 2
  • 1997, 2006

U-14

• Derry U-14 Football Championship:
  • 1979,
• Derry U-14 "A" All county Football championship: 2
  • 1973, 2007

• Derry Under14 League
  • 2001

Note: The above lists may be incomplete. Please add any other honours you know of.

External links

• Official Derry GAA website
• Derry Club GAA

References

1. ^ "Club History St. Trea's Gaelic Football Club (Est. 1944)". Archived from the original on 2007-07-04. http://web.archive.org/web/20070704055419/http://www.ballymaguigan.com/history.html. Retrieved 2007-09-03.