Oisín Gaelic Athletic Club ( ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Oisín) is a

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include t ...

sports club in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

which plays Gaelic football at senior and junior level, as well as having a growing under-age structure. Oisín is a member club of the

Lancashire GAA The Lancashire County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Coiste Lancasír), or Lancashire GAA, is one of the county boards outside Ireland and is responsible for the running of Gaelic games in the No ...

County Board, the

British GAA The British Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association ( ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael na Breataine) or Britain GAA is the only provincial council of the Gaelic Athletic Association outside the island of Ireland (however, the Headquarters of Uls ...

Provincial Council and the GAA as a whole. They play in the Lancashire Senior and Junior Championships, Lancashire Senior League, Pennine League, Wolfe Tone League and when qualifying the All Britain Intermediate and All Ireland Junior Championships.

History

The club was formed in 1904 from the Craobh Oisín Gaelic League Club which was at that time based in Gaythorn, Manchester. The Gaelic League club was involved in promoting music, song, and dance at that time. The formation of a Gaelic football club was an extension to the promotion of all Irish cultural activities in the city. The club had its home at 7 Cheapside, Manchester, until 1953/1954, when the Gaelic League club ceased to exist and the Oisín GAA club had no official headquarters. This situation was addressed in 1992 when they joined forces with Old Bedians Rugby and Soccer clubs, and a modern clubhouse and playing facilities were built. In 2004 the club celebrated its centenary year and published a book on its history, entitled "An Scéal". A copy of the book is on display in the GAA Museum in Croke Park.

Under-age

In 1994 Oisín GAA was a major force in Great British Gaelic football. The senior team won the All Britain Intermediate Championship for the club. A large proportion of that team were home grown players. The Oisín club re-established its underage teams in 2006 and now competes at U-10, U-12 and U-14 levels. In 2008 both the U-10s and the U-12s won the Lancashire League.

Honours

Not surprisingly for a club over one hundred years old, a precise list of the club's major successes is not available. The first major recorded success was in 1949 when the Senior team won the League. *All Britain Championship (1) **1994 *All Britain Canon Stritch Cup (1) **2001 *Lancashire Senior Championship (16) **1951, 1953, 1957, 1959, 1969, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1994, 2002, 2006, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 *Lancashire Senior League (8) **1949, 1951, 1969, 1986, 1994, 1995, 2001, 2014, 2019 *Lancashire Junior Championship (7) **1990, 1991, 1994, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019 *Lancashire Junior League (7) **1982, 1987, 1991, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2003 *Wolfe Tone League (6) **1982, 1987, 1993, 2001, 2004, 2008

Notable players

Oisín have had many talented individuals who have passed through the club over the years. Eddie Hogan won a Leinster Senior medal with

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 8,634 making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. The town lies on the R445, some west of Dublin – near enough for it to have become, despite being a regional ce ...

in 1956 and Pádraig Johnson won a Leinster Minor medal with

Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in h ...

in 1962. As well as representing

at minor level Johnson was also President of the GAA in Britain between 1994 and 1996, the only Oisín member to have held that position. Peter Quinn of

Fermanagh Historically, Fermanagh ( ga, Fir Manach), as opposed to the modern County Fermanagh, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Fermanagh. ''Fir Manach'' originally referred to a distinct kin group of a ...

returned to

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 ...

and later became

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

of the GAA in 1991, whilst Canon Moss O'Connell went on to the pinnacle of the sport with Senior All-Ireland success with his native

Kerry Kerry or Kerri may refer to: * Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name) Places * Kerry, Queensland, Australia * County Kerry, Ireland ** Kerry Airport, an international airport in Count ...

. Other regular intercounty players of the past include Fr Emmett Fullen RIP ( Derry), Eamon Boland (

Roscommon Roscommon (; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60, N61 and N63 roads. The name Roscommon is derived from Coman mac Faelchon who buil ...

), Bob Harrison (

), Kevin McNamee ( Meath) and P.J.McGowan ( Donegal).

Liam Liam is a short form of the Irish name Uilliam or the old Germanic name William. Etymology The original name was a merging of two Old German elements: ''willa'' ("will" or "resolution"); and ''helma'' ("helmet"). The juxtaposition of these ele ...

and

Noel Gallagher Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the chief songwriter, lead guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis until their split in 2009. After leaving Oasis, he formed ...

of Oasis played Gaelic football at underage level with Oisín CLG.

Facilities

Old Bedians
Whilst Croke Park has only recently opened its doors to soccer and rugby, Oisín has been working with their sporting counterparts for well over a decade. It began back in 1921 when the Old Bedian Society was established. It consisted of "Old Boys" from St Bedes College, Whalley Range who provided teams in both rugby and soccer. In 1965 Old Bedians purchased the land and clubhouse in Millgate Lane from Granada TV. Old Bedians rebuilt
In April 1991 the clubhouse was destroyed when a stolen car was abandoned and set alight next to it. Several months of dispute with insurers over valuation finally ended in success and the Committee set about rebuilding the clubhouse. A decision was made to take on board another sport and Oisín GAA accepted the offer. Development moved quickly and land which had previously been unused and other land which was purchased was assigned to Oisín to develop into two playing fields. The final development is a modern clubhouse with changing rooms for eight teams, shower and referee facilities, a function room for up to 120 people and a small members bar. Facilities, Oisín CLG website - http://www.oisinclg.com/facilities (Copyleft 2009)

References

External links

Oisín CLG Official WebsiteLancashire GAA County Board Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:CLG Oisin Gaelic football clubs in Britain Sport in Manchester