Irish Fine Gall Dominant sport Hurling | Colours Purple and white NHL Division 3A | |
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Nickname(s) The Ravens
The Northsiders Ground(s) Lawless Memorial Park, Swords | ||
The Fingal hurling team (Irish: Foireann Iománaíochta Fhine Ghaill) is an inter-county hurling team fielded by the Dublin County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) since 2008 that represents the Fingal region of north County Dublin. The team currently competes in the Kehoe Cup, Division 3A of the National Hurling League and the Nicky Rackard Cup. Fingal are currently managed by Mick Kennedy of the Fingallians club.
Contents
The Fingal team is made up of players from Dublin clubs within the Fingal region. While players from Fingal are eligible to play for the Dublin county team, players from outside of Fingal are not eligible to play for the Fingal county team. The Fingal catchment area stretches from Blanchardstown to Balbriggan and contains a total of 16 clubs; these include Castleknock, Erin go Bragh, Fingallians, Naomh Barróg, Naomh Mearnóg, O'Dwyers, Setanta, Skerries Harps, St Brigids, St Finians (N), St Maurs, St Pats Donabate, St Peregrines, St Sylvesters, Trinity Gaels and Wild Geese.
History
In 2007, the GAA announced that hurling teams from Fingal and "South Down" (i.e. excluding the Ards peninsula) would compete at inter-county level in parallel to the main Dublin and Down hurling teams, to encourage hurling in these areas where the game had not been strong. In 2008, Fingal entered the Kehoe Cup which is a pre-season tournament for second and third-tier inter-county and third-level hurling teams. Fingal won their debut match against IT Tallaght by 3–12 to 1–11 to qualify for the quarter-final stages. Their next match was drawn against Carlow whom they lost to by 1–13 to 1–10. Later that year, both Fingal and South Down were entered into the Nicky Rackard Cup, which is a competition for the third-tier hurling teams of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. Fingal qualified for the semi-finals after finishing top of their group and beating Leitrim in the quarter-finals by 1–19 to 0–12. However, Fingal lost the semi-final to Sligo by 1–16 to 0–11, who later went on to win the competition.
Fingal claimed their first piece of silverware in 2012 when they won the Kehoe Cup Shield, beating Armagh in the final by 4–11 to 1–14. They topped off the year by winning division 3A of the National Hurling League after Monaghan refused to play in the final.
Sponsorship
In April 2012, the Dublin County Board announced a new partnership with Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) which would provide the Fingal team with a sponsor for the first time in its 5-year history. The DAA had previously supported local GAA clubs in the Fingal area including St Margarets, Naomh Mearnóg and St Sylvesters.
Players
Senior panel as of 23 March 2013.