Watty Graham’s GAC, Glen – Wikipedia

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Derry-based Gaelic games club

Watty Graham’s Gaelic Athletic Club, Glen (Irish: An Ghleann), is a Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club based outside Maghera in the south of County Londonderry in Northern Ireland. Players are drawn from Maghera and some surrounding townlands. The club competes in Gaelic football, ladies’ Gaelic football and camogie.

The club is named after Watty (Walter) Graham, who was a resident of Maghera in the 18th century. He was an educated Presbyterian who became an Elder of his church. Frustrated at the many restrictions on his liberty, he joined the United Irishmen. At the time of the 1798 rebellion he was captured and subsequently hanged in Maghera.[1]

Camogie[edit]

Glen fields Camogie teams at U12, U14, U16, Minor and Senior levels. The senior team competes in the Credit Union Derry Premier League.

Glen Ladies’ football club was formed in 1995.[2] The club has won the Derry Senior Ladies’ Football Championship 11 times and currently have won nine in a row.

Watty Graham Park[edit]

The club’s home ground is Watty Graham Park. It was opened in 1982 by then GAA President Paddy Buggy.[3] The first game was an over-35s game, which was followed by an inter-county match between Derry and Armagh.[3]Celtic Park in Derry City is officially recognised as Derry’s main county ground,[4] but Watty Graham Park has hosted a number of National League and Dr McKenna Cup games. Watty Graham Park currently has a capacity of six thousand.[3]

History[edit]

The Watty Graham club evolved from the Pearse’s club formed around 1933, when Fr Anthony Doherty, amongst others, arranged a South Derry league. The club reached the 1944 South Derry final and a few of their players represented Derry.[5]

After the folding of the Pearse’s club, Watty Graham’s GAC, Glen, was officially formed in 1948. In the early 1950s, it competed in a number of South Derry Finals and in 1953 they defeated St John’s, Mullan (a townland of Ballinderry), to win the South Derry Junior Championship. They won the same title six years later defeating The Loup in the final. 1959 also saw their first all county success defeating Faughanvale in the final.

In 1964, they won the South Derry Junior and Derry Junior Football Championship by beating Littlebridge (part of the modern day Ógra Colmcille club) and Sarfield’s respectively.[5] The side repeated this feat in 1966 by beating The Loup in the South Derry Junior final before going on to win the Derry Junior final. The 1970s proved a barren decade for Watty Graham’s and they have little apart from a McGlinchey Cup success in 1974 to show for it.[5] Glen opened a new social club in Maghera in April 1976.

The club won its first Derry Intermediate Football Championship in 1980. They overcame Drumsurn in the final by 0–06 to 0–03. Glen won a second Intermediate Championship in 1983 defeating Drum in the final.[5]

In 1985, Watty Graham’s won the All-Ireland Óg Sport title. They competed in county, provincial and All Ireland phases to come out winners. Two years later they won the Derry Minor Football Championship with a success over Ballinascreen. The same year Glen won the Larkin Cup and also the Senior Division 1 League. The side added another Larkin Cup in 1995. Glen won their fourth and fifth Junior Championship in 2004 and 2005, the competitions this time won by the Glen Thirds team. This same Thirds team went on to win three in a row by winning the Thirds Championship in 2006.

After a prolonged period of dominance in underage football, Glen won their fourth successive Ulster Minor Championship on 1 January 2015.

Glen’s current manager is Malachy O’Rourke. In 2021, they won their first Derry Senior Football Championship; in 2022, they won the county championship again, and then added the Ulster Senior Football Championship after wins over Errigal Ciarán (Tyrone), Erin’s Own, Cargin (Antrim), and Kilcoo (Down).[6][7]

Senior[edit]

Under 21[edit]

  • South Derry Under-21 Football Championship: 1
  • Derry Under-21 Football Championship: 3
  • Ulster Under-21 Football Championship: 3
    • 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17

Minor[edit]

Under 16[edit]

  • Derry Under-16 Football Championship:2
  • Derry Under-16 Football League:1
  • South Derry Under-16 Football Championship: 1
  • South Derry Under-16 ‘B’ Football Championship: 1
  • South Derry Under-16 ‘B’ Football League: 2

Under-15[edit]

  • All-Ireland Óg Sport: 1
  • Ulster Óg Sport: 3
  • Derry Óg Sport: 4

Under-14[edit]

  • Ulster Féile na nÓg: 1
  • Derry Féile na nÓg: 3
  • Derry Under-14 Football Championship: 4
  • Derry Under-14 Football League: 4
  • South Derry Under-14 Football Championship: 1
  • South Derry Under-14 ‘B’ Football Championship: 2
  • South Derry Under-14 ‘B’ Football League: 1

Under-13[edit]

  • Derry Under-13 Football Championship: 3
  • Derry Football Championship: 13
    • 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012, 2016
  • Derry Football League: ?
  • Ulster Intermediate Football Championship: 2
  • All Ireland Intermediate Sevens: 1
  • Powerscreen Sevens: 1
  • Antrim 7-a-side Shield: 1
  • Under-14 Derry Féile na nÓg: 2

Note 1: The above lists may be incomplete. Please add any other honours you know of.

Note 2: Most of the Ladies’ honours are only updated as far as 2002. Please add any other honours you know of.

Notable players[edit]

Managers[edit]

  • Malachy O’Rouke
  • Ryan Porter
  • Johnny Bradley

External links[edit]

References[edit]