St Mary's Banagher 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 the

Feeny Feeny () is a village and townland in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is between Dungiven and Claudy. In the 2021 Census it had a population of 776. Feeny lies just inside the boundary of the Sperrins Area of Outstanding Natural Beaut ...

Park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

area of

County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry (), is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, count ...

, Northern Ireland. The club is a member of the

Derry GAA The Derry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) () or Derry GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland. It is responsible for Gaelic games in County Londonderry in Northern Ireland (the GAA refers to the county as ...

. Banagher is a dual club and currently caters for

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

. The club motto is the Irish ''Ni neart go misneach'', which translates as "No strength like courage". Underage teams up to U-12s play in North Derry league and championships, from U-14 upwards teams compete in All-Derry competitions. The club was formed in 1965, when St Mary's Park and St Joseph's Banagher amalgamated. The club have won the

Derry Senior Hurling Championship The Derry Senior Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition contested by top-tier Derry GAA clubs. The Derry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1887. Slaughtneil are the title holders, defeating ...

on three occasions and have been runners up three times in the

Derry Senior Football Championship The Derry Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by the top sixteen Derry GAA clubs. The winners receive the John McLaughlin Cup and qualify to represent Derry in the Ulster Senior Club Football Champio ...

History

Up until 1965, St Mary's Park and St Joseph's Banagher were the two teams in the area. Fr. McNally went about reviving Gaelic football in the area by creating a new team to cover both Feeny and Park. The name was chosen as a compromise between the two old clubs and the maroon and white colours were chosen in recognition of the

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

team who were All-Ireland Champions at the time. The stag depicted on the crest represents the legend that Saint Muireach O'Heaney (a local Saint) followed a stag to the site where he founded his church, the present day ruins of Banagher Old Church. The mythical beast to the right is a "peiste", which St Muireach is said to have banished into a deep pool in Banagher Glen known as "Lig na Peiste" (pit of the serpent). The mountains at the top of the crest are the

Sperrins The Sperrins or Sperrin Mountains () are a mountain range in Northern Ireland. The range stretches from Strabane and Mullaghcarn in the west, to Slieve Gallion and the Glenshane Pass in the east, in the counties of Tyrone and Londonderry. Th ...

, which surround Banagher. The current manager for football is Eamon Lynch.

Players

Seán Marty Lockhart Seán Marty Lockhart (born Seán Martin Lockhart; 22 August 1976) is an Irish people, Irish dual player of Gaelic games who plays Gaelic football for the Derry county football team, Derry county team. He has won an Ulster Senior Football Champi ...

–

All Star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

-winning

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 ...

footballer *Darragh McCloskey – Derry hurler *Brian Óg McGilligan – Derry hurler * Mark Lynch – Former Derry football captain

Gaelic football titles

Senior

*Derry Intermediate Football League: 4 **1970, 1972, 1996, 2002 *Dr Kerlin Cup 9 **1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1987, 1995, 1996, 2016

U-21

*North Derry U-21 Football Championship: 1 **2006

Minor

*Derry Minor Football Championship: 3 **1952, 1969, 1976 *North Derry Minor Football Championship: 3 **1968, 1970, 1998 *North Derry Minor Football League: 1 **2002 *Carlin/Duffy Cup 2 **2002, 2008

Hurling titles

Senior

: 3 **1978, 1980, 2005 *Derry Senior Hurling League: 2 **1999, 2001 *Derry Intermediate Hurling Championship: 4 **1989, 1991, 1994, 2021 *

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 **2021

Under-21

* Derry Under-21 Hurling Championship:1 ** 2007

Minor

*Derry Minor Hurling Championship: 6 **1977, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2002, 2003

References

External links

St Mary's GAC website
{{Derry clubs Gaelic games clubs in County Londonderry Gaelic football clubs in County Londonderry Hurling clubs in County Londonderry

History

Players

Gaelic football titles

Senior

U-21

Minor

Hurling titles

Senior

Under-21

Minor

See also

References

External links