St Joseph's GFC (Donegal)
| Naomh Iósaef | |||||||||
| Founded: | 1963 | ||||||||
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| County: | Donegal | ||||||||
| Grounds: | Fr Tierney Park, Ballyshannon | ||||||||
| Coordinates: | 54°29′52″N 8°11′29″W / 54.497863°N 8.191321°W | ||||||||
| Playing kits | |||||||||
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| Senior Club Championships | |||||||||
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St Joseph's Gaelic Football Club was a Gaelic football club in County Donegal, Ireland.[1][2]
History
The club was formed in 1963 from the merger of Aodh Ruadh, based in Ballyshannon, and Réalt na Mara, based in Bundoran.[3][4]
Brian McEniff explained in 2013 that St Joseph's was formed when the clubs in the two towns "were doing rather poorly. In spite of the great rivalry, they came together. The bonding factor was the De La Salle College in the upper part of our parish... All of the boys — except myself, I went to a boarding school in Monaghan — were from De La Salle. It was a natural transition".[5]
St Joseph's won an unofficial Ulster Senior Club Football Championship against St John's in Irvinestown in 1966,[5] reached the first official final in 1968[5] and won the official tournament in 1975; they remained the only Donegal club to do so until 2018 when Gaoth Dobhair won Ulster.
The clubs separated in 1977.
Notable players
- Alan Kane — 1972 and 1974 Ulster SFC winning player
- Brian McEniff — 1992 All-Ireland SFC winning manager
- Pauric McShea — 1972 and 1974 Ulster SFC winning player
Honours
- Ulster Senior Club Football Championship: 1975[5]
- Donegal Senior Football Championship: 1965,[5] 1968,[5] 1970,[5] 1971,[5] 1973,[5] 1974,[5] 1975,[5] 1976[5]
- Donegal Senior Football League: 4
- Gold Flake Cup: 1
References
- ^ Duggan, Keith (2 December 2011). House of Pain: Through the Rooms of Mayo Football. Random House. ISBN 9781780574066 – via Google Books.
- ^ McRory, Séamus (27 November 2017). All-Ireland Dream. Wolfhound Press. ISBN 9780863279362 – via Google Books.
- ^ "St. Joseph's remembered - Donegal Democrat". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
- ^ Hughes, John. "Aodh Ruadh CLG, Ballyshannon // History // One Hundred Years". www.aodhruadh.org.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Heaney, Paddy (25 November 2013). "The life of Brian". The Irish News. Retrieved 25 November 2013.