In this week’s ‘My Club’ feature, Dublin senior footballer Michael Fitzsimons tells us all about Cuala GAA club.

By John Harrington

If Dublin Bay is the mouth of the capital, imagine Cuala GAA club’s sprawling catchment area as the pouting lower lip.

They are one of the so-called ‘super-clubs’ of south Dublin that have benefited from the explosion in popularity of Gaelic Games in the county in the last 20 years.

Currently, they estimate they draw their support from almost 1,000 households and have 1,600 active members, which easily makes them one of the biggest clubs in the country.

And as they have grown in size, their success on the field has also increased to scale.

Last year Cuala were in 16 finals, winning 12 of them, including the Senior Hurling double of League and Championship, Senior B Football Championship, Senior Camogie Championship, and Minor ‘A’ Hurling and Football Championships.

They are strongly represented on both the Dublin senior hurling and football panels.

David Treacy, Cian O’Callaghan, Colm Cronin, Darragh O’Connell, and Paul and Mark Schutte are all prominent inter-county hurlers, while Michael Fitzsimons was joined in the Dublin football panel this year by Con O’Callaghan and Conor Mullally.

Cuala’s rapid growth in recent years is all the more remarkable because they are rooted in south Dublin soil much more usually associated with rugby.

But there has always been a GAA presence in the area going back to Cuala Hurling Club which was founded in 1918, and through what the club’s website describes as “a variety of mergers, ‘rests’, and ‘ressurections’ involving Naomh Mhuire Camogie Club (Sallynoggin, 1948), St Begnet’s GAA Club (Dalkey 1959, renamed Dalkey Mitchell’s in 1962), Roger Casements (Dalkey 1966) and Cuala Boys (Dun Laoghaire, 1962).”

Along the way there were occasional minor triumphs, but the club first tasted real success when they won three Dublin Senior Hurling Championships in 1989, ’91, and ’94 when they were inspired by the three Holden brothers PJ, Mick, and Vinnie.

The seeds for the club’s most recent blossoming were planted by the establishment of a brilliant run underage academy which was spearheaded by former Dublin goalkeeper Damien Byrne, along with Denis Monaghan and Colmán Ó Drisceoil.

Every Saturday, they coach around 300 youngsters at their Hyde Road pitches. So successful has the club been in terms of engaging with the local population, that they are in danger of outgrowing their facilities.

They have pitches at Hyde Road, Meadowvale, Shanganagh, and Thomastown, but all are County Council owned. Their problem is that in such a relatively affluent and built up area of the city, there is very little green-space.

In 2014 the club's members raised an estimated €1.1Million and the ambitious plan was to purchase a portion of Blackrock College RFC's Stradbrook grounds, but the deal fell through.

It remains to be seen what their next step will be, but regardless of where they play their matches, further on-field success seems a certainty in the coming years for such a well-run club.

At underage level they compete equally in both codes, but as a senior club Cuala are still more associated with hurling than football. Last year's Senior County Championship success reinforced that perception.

Don’t be surprised though if they also make a big splash in the Dublin Senior Football Championship in the coming years.

For more information on Cuala, log onto the club’s official website - http://www.cualagaa.ie/

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Can you remember the first time you walked through the gates of Cuala?

A: I went down and was in the nursery at a young enough age and until around the age seven. Then I went away and played soccer for a bit and got dragged by when I was 13 or 14 by a friend in my class, Ciaran McAdam. He got me back, I stuck with it, and made friends for life. There was a bit more of a bond there than you would have gotten in some of the soccer clubs.

Q: Did you take soccer quite seriously from the age of seven to 13?

A: Ah no, not too seriously. I played with Cabinteely who are now in the First Division. I enjoyed the soccer, but I really got the bug for playing Gaelic and hurling. Our two mentors when I went back were just very charismatic – Mikey Sheanon and John Bailey, who’s a politician from the area. We were going for early morning sessions and runs before that sort of thing got famous. Just doing all sorts that created a great bond amongst that group of lads.

There’s around 10 to 15 lads who are still playing from that age-group. We stuck together, and it’s because we trained so hard together and went on trips away. They put a huge amount of effort into it, and it was just something I hadn’t experienced with the soccer in terms of going away to places as a team. We would got to Offaly or Wexford to play hurling, or up to Cavan to play in football tournaments.

We’d stay a night and get a National League game in. It was just class. There was a great mix of lads from the different parts of the club’s catchment area. Lads from Sallynoggin, Blackrock, and Dalkey. Just a great mix of lads going to all different schools. It just really broadened by circle of friends and circle of interests, so that was very good.

Q: For people who may not know, can you explain just how big Cuala’s catchment area is.

A: It’s huge. We would draw lads as far down as Shankill and Bray and as far up as Glenageary and Sandycove.

Q: With such a large catchment area, and with strong competition from rugby and soccer in that part of Dublin, how easy has it been for the club to form a presence in the community? Have you seen that develop a lot in recent years?

A: Yeah, there has been huge work done. When I went down first it was the first year of the nursery, and after that they set up an Academy. They have gotten so many parents involved from around the area that it’s just huge now. I can’t remember the stats, but in terms of the numbers at underage we’re one of the biggest clubs in Ireland.

In terms of creating an identity, there has been an awful lot of work done in the schools around the area. One thing that stands out when you’re going around with trophies and stuff like that is the great work the Games Promotion Officers are doing in the schools. I think the other sports are a bit behind us in that regard.

You’re helping the teachers out, getting the kids out playing GAA, they enjoy it and then join the club. Damien Byrne set up the Academy and along with Denis Monaghan sat down and came up with a strategy to get people into the club and really coach the kids in a good manner. You can really notice the difference, because all of our underage teams are just producing kids who are smarter on the ball and more committed because that’s how they’ve been brought up.

It’s a proper community club and it’s really well run. But we don’t own any of our pitches (they’re owned by the Dublin County Council), so that’s why there was an initiative to get to Stradbrook, because we wanted to own our own pitches. (Fitzsimons is referring to the proposed ground-sharing deal with Blackrock RFC at Stradbrook Road that collapsed)

Q: Does the club need a home like that?

A: I think it would be nice, because we still have to train in Bray and stuff like that. So if we had our own facilities like that we’d be able to save a lot of money.
But it (the current set-up) might keep people closer to the club. Every time we play in Dalkey we get a great crowd. But when we play in Shankill we don’t get as good a crowd because it’s a little bit more away from the actual hub.

Q: You went to Johnstown Boys National School. Was there much of a GAA presence there?

A: It felt like there was at the time. They have not been as strong in recent years, but it was the main sport when I was there.

Q: Then you went to Secondary School in CBC Monkstown which is a famous rugby nursery. Did you play much rugby?

A: I played for the ‘B’ and ‘C’ teams, nothing major. I was probably a bit too light and I wasn’t that good!

Q: Any Gaelic Football there?

A: There was a private schools tournament set up towards the end of my time there. So we played the likes of Castleknock College and someone from Cuala came up to help out. But it wasn’t big at all in the school. You might play two or three games a year and that would be about it. And on a rugby pitch as well.

Q: Did you have much success at underage level in Cuala with that group of guys you grew up with?

A: I’m not sure how it was in the bigger picture of Cuala, but I think we were one of the first teams from the club that was quite successful. In my first year back there we won the U13 League and got to an All-Ireland Feile in the hurling. Everyone played both hurling and Gaelic then.

We had lost the Dublin Féile Hurling Final, so we entered the Division 2 All-Ireland Féile and got to a semi-final in that and lost up in Belfast. Travelling up there together really developed our bond. Then we won U16 Leagues and the U16 hurling championship and eventually went on to win the Dublin Minor football championship.

Q: Was that the same group that also won the Dublin U21 ‘A’  hurling and football double in 2009?

A: Yeah, that was our final year together, and it was a great way to finish up. We beat Kilmacud Crokes in the football final and wouldn’t have had anyone anywhere near the Dublin senior football team at the time whereas they had Rory O’Carroll, Kevin Nolan, and Cian O’Sullivan. It was massive, because they’re our nearest rivals and would have been heavy favourites.

Q: How happily do hurling and football coexist together at senior level in the club?

A: At underage it was seamless. There was never any hassle and the system worked perfectly. At overage, there were one or two years when both teams were getting to Finals. We got to an intermediate final which was big for the footballers, and the hurlers got to the senior final.

That was 2012 and things got a little bit difficult and messy because both teams wanted the same players. But for the last few years it’s been run fairly well. The number of dual players has dropped a bit, and that obviously makes it easier. There’s definitely no tensions there. All the footballers support the hurlers and vice-versa. Socially-wise, we all get on well together, there’s no divide. We’d like to see Mark Schutte, Cian O’Callaghan, Colm Cronin and Oisin Gough all play football at some stage. It would boost our football team massively.

Q: Do you play any hurling anymore?

A: I went back once or twice but it was hard getting the touch back right. I actually played a Junior Championship game two years ago against St. Marks. I only played because I wanted to mark Dotsy (O’Callaghan). I’d know Dotsy because I played with him in UCD. He didn’t even notice it was me marking him until five minutes into the game and asked me what I was doing there! I just told him I fancied a handy game of hurling. I got a point off him that day and held him scoreless, so I was happy enough!

Q: Cuala lost two Intermediate football titles in a row in 2010 and 2011 before finally winning it in 2012. That must have felt like a big moment?

A: Yeah, that was huge. We had expected to win it for a while with that group of players, but we were a bit slow at getting up to the required level. It was a bit disappointing that it took that long, but it was a huge relief to finally get up to the senior grade. We still haven’t pushed on yet. I hope we will, but it’s just been very slow each year.

It took us so long to get promoted to Division 1. I felt we should have done it a while back, but it’s just been little gains every year. If we continue this way, then the lads my age are running out of time if we want to win a Senior Championship. We’re hoping to up it in the next year or two.

Q: Cuala won the Dublin Minor ‘A’ Football Championship in 2013, so has there been an influx of talented young players onto the senior team that can help that push?

A: Yeah, Con O’Callaghan and Martin Cahalane are Dublin U21s. Mick Spillane’s young lad, Daragh, didn’t play minor for Dublin but is on the Dublin U21 team in his first year in the grade now.

Q: Someone like Con O’Callaghan has been touted from a very young age. Your own progression through the ranks was not as predestined, was it? For instance, you didn’t play minor for Dublin.

A: It’s all a bit strange. I think I was good enough at a young age. When I came in at U13 it went well for me. But then I think I maybe got a bit tall and lost coordination and that’s why I fell out of favour around U16 level. I was on the Minor ‘B’ team in my first year in the grade. By my second year at minor I was still only a sub until they tried me corner-back.

They were struggling then to find a full-back so then they tried me there and I sort of took to it well enough. When I got a chance with the senior team I got straight into it more or less after a game or two and it just sort of went from there. I found it quite enjoyable, the challenge of marking someone and trying to improve each game.

I played Dublin Junior under Mick Deegan and that was my first step away from Cuala. Playing with UCD helped as well. Tony Fayne, who’s from our area and would have known David Billings, told me to go visit Dave in his office when I was in first-year. I didn’t think that Dave would care about someone like me from Cuala because he had so many good players in UCD at that stage.

I ended up playing an intermediate game and Dave was at all of those matches and got to know me and called me up to the seniors. He straight away saw that Cuala were an intermediate club so I could play senior Dublin Championship with UCD.

I wasn’t playing Sigerson, but I was playing Senior Championship, and I didn’t feel out of my depth, so that was good. After that, Dave called me into the Sigerson team, and that helped me as well. Cuala won the Dublin U21 Championship around the same time and Dublin were looking for new players in the full-back line after 2009 and when I was given a chance I surprised myself really and maybe a few other people.

Q: Did seeing what last year’s County Championship success by the hurlers meant to the club make everyone involved with the football team even more determined to achieve something big too?

A: It definitely did. You could see they had some seriously good times after it, they enjoyed it, and it was a great journey. I don’t think anyone expects the footballers to do that as well soon, but within the panel we’d hope that we can do it.

We still haven’t even won a Senior Championship game but anything is possible if you get some momentum. We all saw what Clontarf did last year. They were very close to beating Ballyboden and getting to a Final. So, yeah, if we got a bit of a run and built up a bit of confidence in the group, then I think it’s a possibility.

Q: So you’ve lost your first-round Championship match every year since going Senior in 2012?

A: Yeah. We lost to Vincent’s the year they went on to win it (2013, St. Vincent’s went on to win the All-Ireland title). We were three points down with five minutes to go and I went on two runs and lost the ball twice and we lost by five. We were struggling to score and I just felt we needed to do something towards the end, but it didn’t work! We lost to Na Fianna by a good bit in 2014, and then we lost to Ballinteer last year when they scored a goal in the last few minutes. We have St. Judes in the first-round this year, so we’ll see how it goes.