St. Finbarrs Hurling Club in Derry fielded an U-17 team for the first time this year.
By John Harrington
Sometimes you have to look back at where you started to fully appreciate just how far you’ve travelled.
That’s certainly the case for St. Finbarr’s Hurling Club in Derry who first came together as a collective this week five years ago.
Back then they were fuelled by a dream to bring hurling to the children of South Derry’s football heartland.
Fast-forward to the present day, and it’s fair to say they’ve done exactly that.
Having spent that summer in 2017 simply organising training sessions for as many children as were interested, to formally establishing themselves as a club the following spring, St. Finbarr’s now field teams at U-7, U-9, U-11, U-13, U-15, and U-17 level.
They draw around 100 players from clubs like Ballinderry, Magherafelt, The Loup, Drummullan, Moneymore, Lissan, Ballymaguigan, and even a couple from as far away as Cookstown.
A good deal of credit for their ability to make such progress in such a short period of time goes to the generosity of Ogra Colmcille Gaelic Football Club who opened their gates to give the St. Finbarr’s hurlers a home.
The dedication of the club members to keep driving things forward has also been crucial to this overnight success story.
Club chairperson, Brian Waldron, typifies the can-do attitude of everyone involved. A retired teacher, in his own time he spends four days a week travelling to the local primary schools spreading the hurling gospel.
A photograph of St Finbarrs first ever training session which took place this week five years ago.
The club has passed some pretty impressive milestones in recent times. Last year their U-14s won the Derry ‘B’ league while their U-13s also won their ‘B’ League as well as their section of the U-13 Táin Óg League.
Earlier this year Leo Gribbon became the first ever St. Finbarrs hurler to be selected for the Derry minor panel, last month they fielded a team in the U-17 grade for the very first time, and just this week their U-15s battled their way to a first ever competitive win over Derry hurling king-pins Slaughtneil.
“That was massive for us,” admits St. Finbarrs secretary and U-15 coach, Seamus Keane.
“The Slaughtneil manager said beforehand his intention was to play some of their weaker players but then a good few of them didn't turn up so he had to play his stronger lads.
“Against the wind we were down 2-9 to 1-1 at half-time. I don't know how, but we held them scoreless in the second-half and it ended up 2-10 to 2-9. That's massive for us.
“There's six lads in the front row of the photograph (below) of that team who are still playing U-13. Our number 11 doesn't play football for any club and that was his third only hurling match and it was only a fourth ever hurling match for our number seven.
“We had a wee guy corner-forward who threw himself in for every ball and scored 1-1 against guys who were two years older than him and much bigger physically. i just don't know how they turned it around, it was massive. They got a taste of a few scores and realised they could actually do something. It was great to see.”
The St. Finbarrs U-15 team that defeated Slaughtneil this week.
With the wind firmly in their sails, St. Finbarrs intend to keep sailing forward at a rate of knots. There’s clearly a great appetite for hurling in their part of Derry, and Keane sees only further growth in the club’s future.
“We've come a long way in a short period of time and there's no doubt but that we want to keep building on this,” he says.
“We're not just doing this to get a team from U-13 to U-15 and then just leave it, that would be a waste of time.
“Our ambition is to be fielding a junior team in Derry and to be winning the Junior Championship in the next five years.
“We also want to play in the Cúchulainn Cup, and may aim for that even before we play in the Derry Junior League. We might possibly play in that for a couple of years when our oldest lads are 20/21, before we got into the Derry Junior League.
“In the short-term we just want to keep growing our numbers in every age-group. All are welcome, just come down to our pitch at Ogra Colmcilles, Drummullan on Tuesday nights at half six.”
Anyone interested in joining St. Finbarrs Hurling club can contact them through their Facebook page.
