Fermanagh GAA

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The Fermanagh County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (Irish: Cummann Luthchleas Gael Coiste Fear Manach) or Fermanagh GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic Games in County Fermanagh. The county board is also responsible for the Fermanagh inter-county football, hurling, camogie and ladies football teams.

Contents

1 History
2

2.1 Honours

3
4 External links

History

Fermanagh have the smallest GAA playing population in Ireland. Despite this they have a strong GAA tradition in the county which went largely unrewarded until the remarkable achievement of the 2004 team in reaching the All Ireland semi-final and forcing the match to a replay. Fragments of a poem from 1806 describe a football match between Louth and Fermanagh at Inniskeen, Co Monaghan.

Fermanagh are a beneficiary of the change to the GAA championship in the 2000s. In 2003 they beat Donegal in the Ulster championship, then Meath and Mayo in the All Ireland qualifiers to reach the semi-final. They went to a replayed semi-final in 2004, beating Meath, Cork and Donegal before losing to Mayo.
Poor pitches, opposition from the "never on Sunday" puritanism of the Unionist opponents of the GAA, and the smallest population of the thirty-two counties have conspired to keep Fermanagh away from the big-time. Under-age competitions have been organised with 13-a-side and even 11-a-side teams because of the lack of numbers. Yet, under manager Martin McHugh, they managed a hat-trick of success in 1997 in the B Championship, McKenna Cup and Division 4 of the National League.
Peter McGinnity was the outstanding player of the under-21 team which reached two All Ireland finals and defeated Derry and Tyrone to reach the 1982 Ulster final. Fermanagh beat Down the following year, but their only championship successes since then were in 1991 and 1992 against Antrim.
One of Ulster's great footballers, Armagh-born Jim McCullough, played for Fermanagh in the mid-1930s and helped them reach the 1935 Ulster final and 1936 National League final. Earlier still Fermanagh beat Cavan in the 1914 Ulster semi-final and were nominated by the Ulster Council to play against Wexford in the All-Ireland semi-final. Because the train schedules did not allow them to get back for Sunday night, and the Great Northern Railway Company refused to run a special train because they were opposed to sport on Sunday, Fermanagh had to abdicate the responsibility to Monaghan, who later beat them in the Ulster final anyway.

Honours

All-Ireland Junior Football Championships: 1
* 1959

External links

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