Michael Davitt's GAC Swatragh () 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 village of

Swatragh Swatragh () is a village and townland in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Swatragh is on the main A29 road north of Maghera, and is situated within Mid-Ulster District. The population was 438 in the 2011 Census. The village has three chur ...

, 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 ...

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 is named after republican patriot and revolutionary

Michael Davitt Michael Davitt (25 March 1846 – 30 May 1906) was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican activist for a variety of causes, especially Home Rule (Ireland), Home Rule and land reform. Following an eviction when he was four years old, Davitt's ...

. Swatragh fields Gaelic football and hurling teams at U8, U10, U12, U14, U16,

Minor Minor may refer to: Common meanings * Minor (law), a person not under the age of certain legal activities. * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Mathematics * Minor (graph theory), a relation of one graph to an ...

, Reserve, Thirds and

Senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

levels. There are also camogie teams across similar age groups.

History

In 1946 John McCormack proposed the idea of forming a Gaelic football club in Swatragh. Other founder members included Patsy Collins, Jim McMullan, John Eddie Friel and James McGurk. They choose to name the club after Michael Davitt, because he had given

Irish Land League The Irish National Land League ( Irish: ''Conradh na Talún''), also known as the Land League, was an Irish political organisation of the late 19th century which organised tenant farmers in their resistance to exactions of landowners. Its prima ...

speeches in Swatragh in the late 19th century. It also marked 100 years since Davitt's birth. The club colours were initially red and white, but in 1949 the present green and white colours were adopted. The club's first major success came in 1952 when it won the South Derry Junior Football Championship and the South Derry Junior Football League. Swatragh regained the South Derry Junior Championship in 1955 and went on to win that year's

Derry Junior Football Championship The Derry Junior Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Premier Electrics Derry Junior Football Championship) is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by lower-tier Derry clubs. The competition receives coverage in ...

. Davitt's added a further Derry Junior Championship in 1961. In 1972 Swatragh won its first

Derry Intermediate Football Championship The Derry Intermediate Football Championship (currently also known for sponsorship reasons as the ''M&L Contracts Derry Intermediate Football Championship'') is an annual competition between the mid-tier Gaelic football clubs affiliated to De ...

and won it again seven years later. In 1988 the club won the Derry Minor Football Championship. In 1993 the club reached 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 ...

final for the only time in their history, but were defeated by

Lavey GAC Erin's Own GAC Lavey () is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in the Catholic parish of Lavey, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The club is a member of the Derry GAA and currently caters for Gaelic football, hurling, camogie and ...

on St Stephen's Day (the fixture was moved back by a few months due to the senior county team winning the

1993 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The 1993 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 107th staging of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county Gaelic football tournament. The championship began on 16 May 1993 an ...

). Hurling began in the club in 1976, under the stewardship of Patsy Quigg. Since then, the club has, at one stage or another, collected every underage title available. They have appeared in three

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 ...

finals. They lost out to Kevin Lynch's of Dungiven in 2008 and to Robert Emmet's Slaughtneil in 2015 but secured the club's only (male) Senior title to date when they defeated St Mary's Banagher in the 2012 decider in Celtic Park.

Honours

Football

Senior

: 3 **1972, 1979, 2012 *

: 2 **1955, 1961 *South Derry Junior Football Championship: 1 **1952, 1955 *South Derry Junior Football League: 1 **1952 *Graham Cup Champions: 1 **2007 *McGlinchey Cup Champions: 1 **2009

Minor

* Derry Minor Football Championship: 1 ** 1988 * South Derry Minor League and Championship Winners: 1 ** 1996

Hurling

Senior

: 1 ** 2012 * Derry Intermediate Hurling Championship: 5 ** 1997, 1998, 2018, 2020, 2024 * Oireachtas Cup: 3 ** 2006, 2007, 2009 *Derry Senior Hurling League: 2 ** 2008, 2011 *Ulster Hurling League Division 2: 1 ** 2008

Minor

* Ulster Senior Club Camogie Championship 5 **1983, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2000 *Derry Minor Hurling Championship: 1 **2004

Camogie

*U-14 All Ireland Féile champions 2008, Ulster Féile champions 2008

Well known players

Anthony Tohill Anthony Tohill (born 2 August 1971) is an Irish former Gaelic footballer who played for the Derry county team in the 1990s and early 2000s. He is a former chief executive of the Mid Ulster District Council. Early life and family Tohill was b ...

– member of Derry's 1993 All-Ireland winning team. Four-time

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 ...

winner. *

Ruairí Convery Ruairí Convery (born 5 January 1984) is a hurler from Northern Ireland who played as a right wing-forward at senior level for the Derry county team. Convery joined the panel during the 2003 National League and immediately became a regular ...

– Derry hurler and former Derry footballer. Was part of the Derry

side that won the 2002 Ulster Minor Championship and All-Ireland Minor Championship.

References

External links

Swatragh GAC
{{Derry clubs Gaelic games clubs in County Londonderry Gaelic football clubs in County Londonderry Hurling clubs in County Londonderry

History

Honours

Football

Senior

Minor

Hurling

Senior

Minor

Camogie

Well known players

See also

References

External links