Founded: 1956 Nickname: The Pearses Grounds: Pearse Park | County: Derry Colours: Red and White Football Camogie | |
Pádraig Pearse's GAC Kilrea (Irish: CLG Pádraig Mhic Piarais Cill Ria) is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in Kilrea, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The club is a member of the Derry GAA and currently caters for both Gaelic football and Camogie. The club is named after Irish patriot Pádraig Pearse.
Contents
Underage teams up to U-12's play in South Derry league and championships, from U-14 upwards teams compete in All-Derry competitions.
Gaelic football
Kilrea fields Gaelic football teams at U8, U10, U12, U14, U16, Minor, Reserve and Senior levels.
Notable Players
Camogie
The club also has U8, U10, U12, U14, U16 and Senior Camogie teams.
History
The first Kilrea Gaelic football club was established on the 15 November 1943. The club was named O'Cahan's Kilrea and played in blue and gold jerseys. Many of the inaugural Minor team of 1946 went on to help Kilrea win the Junior Championship in 1951. In the early 1950s the club changed its name to the Kevin Barry's, named after the patriot Kevin Barry and played in black and amber colours. Its nickname was "the B's".
Soon after, in 1956, the current club, Pádraig Pearse's GAC Kilrea, was formed, and chose to play in red and white jerseys. The club won Junior League and South Derry Championships before moving to compete in Senior football in 1958.
In 1966 the Pearses won the inaugural Under 16 Championship. Part of that team was Martin O'Neill, who would later go onto play professional soccer and manage Glasgow Celtic and Aston Villa. Members of this team went on to win the County Minor title in 1970. The club won the 1971 Derry Junior Football Championship and won the Derry Intermediate Championship four years later.
By 1979 Kilrea's fortunes were waning, and it went into decline at all age levels for some 15 years. Recently the club has been successful at all under-age levels, but this has not transferred itself to the Senior stage, evidenced by the fact that the Derry Senior Football Championship still eludes the club.
Pearse Park
Work was commenced on Pearse Park in late 1977 and opened two years later. A second training pitch which was completed in 2001. Club development is currently preparing for the construction of a new pavilion including four new changing rooms to complement this second pitch. Coleraine Borough Council volunteered some money to help with this development, but recently the Democratic Unionist Party have started petitions to try and stop this investment, like they have done with many GAA developments, including fellow Derry clubs Doire Trasna and Sean Dolans.
Senior
Senior champo, 2020
U21
Minor
U-16
U-15
U-14
Camogie
Note: The above lists may be incomplete. Please add any other honours you know of.