Summerhill Gaelic Football Club 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 located in the village of Summerhill in

County Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The team was first founded in 1905 but later disbanded. The current club was founded in 1931, and has since won 8

Meath Senior Football Championship The Meath Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic Athletic Association club competition between the top Gaelic football clubs in Meath, Ireland. Qualification for subsequent competitions The winners of the Meath Senior Football Champio ...

s. Summerhill is one of three Meath teams to have won the

Leinster Senior Club Football Championship The Leinster Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football tournament played on a knockout basis between the senior club championship winners of the competing counties in Leinster. The current holders of the Leinster title are K ...

History

Early history

The first GAA club in Summerhill was founded in 1905, little is known about this team and is thought to have disbanded sometime around 1913 or 1914. After this, Summerhill had no local club and many players went to play for teams in nearby towns, mostly going to Bohermeen who were at that time the most prominent team in the county. With local players gone, it would take until 1931 for Summerhill to found another club. The team would go on to many Junior and Intermediate level Championships before gaining success in the Senior Football Championship in the 1970s.

1970s

1973 saw Summerhill win their first ever Feis Cup and 1974 proved to be the most memorable year in the history of the club up to that time. Summerhill had beaten Walterstown and

Slane Slane () is a village in County Meath, in Ireland. The village stands on a steep hillside on the left bank of the River Boyne at the intersection of the N2 (Dublin to Monaghan road) and the N51 (Drogheda to Navan road). As of the 2022 census ...

, and then beat Kilbride in a semi-final by 1–11 to 2–7. So, for the first time in the club's sixty-nine year history, Summerhill stepped onto

Páirc Tailteann Páirc Tailteann () is a GAA stadium in Navan, County Meath, Ireland. It is the home of the Meath Gaelic football and Hurling teams. The ground has had a capacity of between 30,000 and 33,000, but following a safety audit in 2011 the GAA reduc ...

Navan Navan ( ; , meaning "the Cave") is the county town and largest town of County Meath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is at the confluence of the River Boyne and Leinster Blackwater, Blackwater, around 50 km northwest of Dublin. At the ...

, on 13 October 1974, to play in a Meath Senior Football Championship final against Bohermeen. Summerhill won the championship and retained Feis Cup. In 1975, Summerhill set out to retain their title. They reached the final and had to compete against archrivals Navan O'Mahonys. Summerhill went on to win 0–10, 0–09. Summerhill would continue their glorious run by retaining the title in 1976 and 1977. And the club won the 1977–78

. After a controversial final in 1978, Summerhill's run was finally ended by Walterstown who won by one point. The club reached the final in 1979 and again lost this time to Navan O'Mahonys. This would prove to be a transition for the club, glory days had ended.

1980s onwards

Summerhill reached the final in 1982, again losing out to Walterstown. The club won the Feis Cup in 1985 and won the Senior Football Championship again in 1986 by defeating Seneschalstown, this win would split Navan O'Mahony's 1985 title from its four consecutive titles following 1986. Summerhill reached the Senior Football Championship final in 1988 and 1990, losing to Navan O'Mahony's on both occasions. Summerhill reached the final in 2008, where they were beaten once again by Navan O'Mahony's. Between the finals, Summerhill won three more Feis Cups in 1991, 1996 and 2006. Summerhill were in Group C of the 2010 Championship. They started off the competition with a 0–17 to 2–6 defeat of Donaghmore Ashbourne, but would later slump to two consecutive defeats against Navan O'Mahony's and Duleek/Bellewstown. Their final game on 8 August was a 1–8 to 0–10 win over Oldcastle. Summerhill finished 4th in Group C, with 4 points, subsequently failing to qualify.

Resurgence 2011–2013

Summerhill were in Group A of the 2011 Championship. They had a great start to the championship qualifiers, with a 3–14 to 0–6 win against

Trim Trim or TRIM may refer to: Cutting * Cutting or trimming small pieces off something to remove them ** Book trimming, a stage of the publishing process ** Pruning, trimming as a form of pruning often used on trees Decoration * Trim (sewing), or ...

. They won their next two games against Blackhall Gaels and Oldcastle. Summerhill lost the last two games of the qualifiers to Simonstown and Wolfe Tones, but already had 6 points, placing them second in Group A. Summerhill started off their finals on 21 August 2011, with a 2–10 to 0–12 win over Navan O'Mahony's. In the semi-finals they faced Group A winners

Wolfe Tones The Wolfe Tones are an Irish rebel music band that incorporate Irish traditional music in their songs. Formed in 1963, they take their name from Theobald Wolfe Tone, one of the leaders of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, with the double meaning of ...

, the match was played on 11 September and Summerhill had a 1–7 to 0–6 win over Wolfe Tones. This qualified them for their first final since 2008. The final was played on 2 October in

. Summerhill faced

Dunshaughlin Dunshaughlin ( or locally ) is a town in County Meath, Ireland. A commuter town for nearby Dublin, Dunshaughlin more than tripled in population (from 2,139 to 6,644 inhabitants) between the 1996 and 2022 censuses. The town is in a townland and ...

. Dunshaughlin were seen as underdogs entering the game but left Summerhill trailing for most of the second half, with Dunshaughlin playing a defensive game. Summerhill levelled with less than three minutes left. The game ended 0–10 to 0–10. The replay was played on 16 October, and Summerhill defeated Dunshaughlin 0–14 to 1–9, after extra time. This gave Summerhill their first Senior Football Championship title since 1986. After a one-year gap, Summerhill were crowned champions of Meath once again in 2013. They reached the semi-finals of the Leinster Championship that year, losing 1–14 to 1–10 against Dublin's

St Vincents GAA St Vincents is a Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club based in Marino, Dublin, Marino, on the northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The club was founded in 1931. Although the club's grounds were in Raheny for a number of years, i ...

Notable players

* Mick Lyons (captain of the Meath All-Ireland winning team on 1987) *

Mattie Kerrigan Matthew Kerrigan (born 1943) is an Irish former Gaelic footballer and manager who played for the Summerhill club and at senior level for the Meath county team. He later had several successes as an inter-county manager. Playing career Kerrigan ...

(winner of All-Ireland Medal with Meath in 1967)

Honours

(7):

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

(1): 1978 *Feis Cup (7): 1973, 1974, 1985, 1991, 1996, 2008, 2019

References

External links

*
MeathChronicle.ie - Dunshaughlin defy the tag of underdogs in tight decider
{{DEFAULTSORT:Summerhill Gfc Gaelic games clubs in County Meath