By John Harrington

When you think of Dublin GAA clubs, chances are the ones that will immediately come to mind are the behemoths such as this year’s senior football and hurling champions, Kilmacud Crokes and Na Fianna, who between them would field over 300 teams across all codes.

The Dublin club scene is a varied one though, something highlighted by Man O’War’s Junior Football Championship success a couple of weeks ago.

Based in north county Dublin and surrounded by the parishes of Lusk, Skerries, and Balbriggan, they bear a much greater resemblance to your average rural GAA club than what you might expect to find in the capital county.

Their grounds are located in rolling countryside, and the community is a tight one with the Man O’War GAA club very much at the heart of it.

So when they beat their north Dublin neighbours O’Dwyers in the Dublin Junior Football Championship Final to win their first title in the grade for 44 years, it meant a hell of a lot to everyone involved.

“There was just a huge release of joy and emotion after the final,” says Club chairperson, Sean Owens.

“It was just great. What really struck me was how different generations really enjoyed it. We still have a lot of fellas around from the 1979 winning team and it was a big monkey off their back to have this team come along and win a county championship as well.

“Back at the clubhouse after the game we had tea and sandwiches for all the local community and the lads then had a meal upstairs and a celebration amongst themselves and then we went to the Man O'War pub for a super evening of celebration.

“There were a few of the older 1979 jersies knocking around and everyone just had a great evening. And we also remembered the club stalwarts who passed on in recent years who weren't around to join in the celebrations.”

If you’ve never heard of Man O’War GAA club before now, there’s a good chance you’re wondering where their name comes from.

The Man O’War public house dates back to 1595 but the place-name existed before then, and the best guess is that it’s an anglicisation of ‘mean bharr’, meaning ‘middle height’, owing to its location on a hill.

Another theory is that a ‘Turks Head’ wooden carving which once stood outside the pub came from a Man O’War ship that was wrecked on the nearby Dublin coast.

Whatever the antecedents of their name, Man O’War GAA club’s identity has changed somewhat in recent years.

Once a very small and rural club, housing developments in the past couple of decades has led to a population surge in their parish which Man O’War are doing their best to capitalise on.

They’ve put a big emphasis on coaching at underage level, and the presence of so many talented young players on their Junior Championship winning team, including this year’s Dublin U-20 captain, Conor Dolan, suggests that’s beginning to pay off.

“What we've seen in the last 20 years is that the Man O'War catchment area has changed due to housing schemes in Balrothery village and we've seen a growing diverse population there and that has placed new demands on the community and sporting groups,” says Owens.

“That’s been our biggest challenge, moving from being a small, rural club to now a medium sized club.

“And to do that we need to have the right structures in place in terms of our operating models and making sure we can get enough volunteers to come in and be part of committees and also have enough coaches to look after our juvenile sides right the way up to the senior teams.

“That does bring its own headaches and we developed a five-year strategic plan a number of years ago to help us put in place the pillars to achieve the right structures in the club to help us set up a plan for the future.

“We are on a journey and we are in transition. Our nursery programme has grown vastly over the last number of years which is a very good sign of the health of Gaelic games in the area.

“We have very good working relationships with the local schools and other sports clubs like the soccer and rugby. We all work together so we can all field teams. It's the same lads and same girls that are playing all the sports so we work together to make sure that we can all survive.”

With membership rising and their underage teams increasingly competitive, this Dublin Junior Championship success couldn’t come at a better time for Man O’War.

Watching their club win significant silverware will inspire a new generation of players, and playing at a higher level will accelerate the development of the young cohort already on the senior team.

The club are ambitious about where they want to get to in the coming years, and won’t be resting on these Junior Championship laurels.

“After 44 years, Sunday October 29th will hopefully long live in memories, but we've got to ensure now that we build on it,” says Owens.

“Our team is in transition. We have loyal servants to the Man O'War for many years like Kieran Fleming, John Fleming, and Willie Moore. And we've also introduced fresh blood, the likes of Conor Dolan, Sam Clancy, Sean Hussey, Fionn Slattery, and Ben Moore.

“They all played a big part in our championship successs. Conor Dolan captained the Dublin U-20 team last year and that in itself was a big boost for our club.

“This county championship win and our Leinster campaign now will hopefully inspire another generation of players and really help us kick on.

"I always think that if you have a competitive minor team every year and a strong second team then it shows that you're doing something right and have a good conveyor belt of talent for your first senior team.

“We now have sufficient players of a good quality in both ladies and lads that will allow us to keep fielding strong teams and ensure we have players ready to take over from those that might step down in the coming years.

“We want to keep pushing on and producing more talented young players like Conor Dolan who represent the county.

“It's great for a club like ourselves to be able to show our younger players that if you have the right attitude and work hard then there is an opportunity there to play at a higher level for your club and also represent your county.”

As you can imagine, the ending of a 44-year famine for championship silverware saw the players and their supporters celebrate with gusto.

That didn’t prevent them though from winning their AIB Leinster Junior Football Championship Quarter-Final tie against Wicklow champions Ballinacor a week later, though.

And now that they’ve put their best foot forward in Leinster, they’re on a mission to make more history this year.

“The lads celebrated for a few days but then got themselves ready for Ballinacor and managed to win a tough match which has put us on a different journey now which is to try an win Leinster," says Owens.

"We were meant to play Ballinacor in Aughrim but the pitch was unplayable so it was moved to Ballinacor at short notice while we were on the way down. In fairness to Ballinacor, they turned it around quickly and got their pitch ready and the hospitality they greeted us with was unbelievable.

"The amount of tea and sandwiches that appeared at short notice was incredible, and everyone was invited back afterwards to chat to Ballinacor people. It was really everything that's great about the GAA, it would just lift your spirits.

"Now we're up against Glyde Rangers on Saturday the 18th in the Naul and we're expecting another tough match.

“Our manager Damien Hughes has taken this team to the next level and I know for a fact he’ll want them to keep driving forward now, and so will the players.”