| Port An Pheire | |||||||||
| Founded: | 1912 | ||||||||
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| County: | Down | ||||||||
| Colours: | Blue and Yellow | ||||||||
| Grounds: | St. Patrick's Park | ||||||||
| Coordinates: | 54°22′28″N5°31′48″W / 54.37445°N 5.530086°W | ||||||||
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| Senior Club Championships | |||||||||
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Portaferry GAC (Irish : Port An Pheire) is a GAA club in the east of County Down in the Ards Peninsula. It is one of three Senior Hurling Clubs in Down, the other two being Ballygalget GAA and Ballycran GAA.
The depth of the hurling tradition in the Ards can be gauged from the fact that the game was first played on the Peninsula as early as 1900 by Portaferry Carraig Uladh.
But it was Ned Purcell, an agricultural inspector from Tipperary, who laid the real foundations between 1912 and 1917. His influence not only left Portaferry with the Tipp colours, but also Tipperary skills and love of the game.
Locals such as John Emerson, John McCullough, John and Eddie Dumigan and Fr Toal carried on where Ned left off and such was the interest that 4 teams from Portaferry competed in the Ards Gaelic Association during the early Twenties. Thiswas rewarded with Carraig Uladh's first S.H.C. title in 1926 and their winning of the Antrim League title in 1929.
The tradition was sustained, in both Antrim and Down leagues in theThirties, but the war years, with travel curtailed, saw the Ards thrown once more back on its own resources, and the formation of clubs in Ballycran and Ballygalget with wholehearted assistance from Portaferry.
The club's modern period date from 1948 when it was reformed as St. Patrick's under the guidance of the Very Rev. George Watson and by 1950 had moved into its new pitch at St. Patrick's Park.
Progress was slow but steady through the Fifties. In 1960 Portaferry gained entry into the Antrim League Division II, won promotion and won its first Down S.H.C. title as St. Patrick's. Many more County titles have been added since and the club have produced many players of inter-county and inter-provincial calibre.
In 2002 Portaferry won their third Down County Hurling Senior Championship in a row as well as lifting the Antrim Division one league title.
In 2022, Portaferry again won Antrim Division One League title alongside Down Senior Hurling Championship.
In 2024, Portaferry won their third Down County Hurling Senior Championship in a row.
Portaferry Hurling club have still competed at the highest level of Ulster Hurling in both Senior, Intermediate and Junior. They are still in the Division 1 Antrim League and last won the county Championship in 2014 and won their first ever Ulster Senior Club Championship on 2 November 2014.
Ciara Mageean's cousin Conor plays hurling for Portaferry and she watched him win the 2020 Down Senior Hurling Championship. [5]
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Portaferry is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland, at the southern end of the Ards Peninsula, near the Narrows at the entrance to Strangford Lough. It is home to the Exploris aquarium and is well known for the annual Gala Week Float Parade. It hosts its own small Marina, the Portaferry Marina. The Portaferry – Strangford Ferry service operates daily at 30-minute intervals between the villages of Portaferry and Strangford, less than 1500 metres apart, conveying about 500,000 passengers per annum. It had a population of 2,514 people in the 2011 Census. The town is located within the Barony of Ards Upper.
The Down County Board or Down GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in Ireland, and is responsible for the administration of Gaelic games in County Down,.
The Down Senior Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition contested by top-tier Down GAA clubs. The Down County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1903. Ballycran won the 2021 championship defeating Portaferry in the Final after extra time.
The Derry Senior Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition contested by top-tier Derry GAA clubs. The Derry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1887.
Robert Emmet's Gaelic Athletic Club Slaughtneil is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based on the townland of Slaughtneil, near Maghera, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The club is a member of Derry GAA and competes in Gaelic football, hurling and camogie. The club is named after Irish patriot and revolutionary Robert Emmet and the club plays its home games at Emmet Park.
The Ulster Senior Club Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association and contested by the champion hurling teams in the province of Ulster in Ireland. It is the most prestigious club competition in Ulster hurling.
Terence "Sambo" McNaughton is an Irish former hurler who played as a left wing-back at senior level for the Antrim county team.
Graham Clarke is an Irish sportsperson. He plays hurling with his local club Ballygalget and was a member of the Down senior inter-county team from 1993 to 2012.
Greg Blaney is an Irish dual player who played Gaelic football and hurling for Down in the 1980s and 1990s. He was part of the Down team that won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in 1991 and 1994. Blaney won three Ulster Senior Football Championships and a National League title with Down and won three All Star awards during his career. He also had a distinguished underage career with the county - winning Ulster Minor, Ulster Under 21 and All-Ireland Under 21 Football Championship medals.
St Joseph's GAA Club, Ballycran is a Gaelic Athletic Association club located in Rubane, County Down, Northern Ireland. The club is exclusively concerned with hurling and camogie. The club competes in Down GAA competitions and in Division 1 of the Antrim Hurling League. The Club's grounds are called 'McKenna Park' and house the John Mallon Stand. McKenna Park is the home ground for the county hurlers. They are designated as The Kings of Down hurling
Loughgiel Shamrocks GAC is a Gaelic Athletic Association club located in the village of Loughgiel/Loughguile in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. They are currently the only club in Ulster to have won an All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship, which they first won in 1983. They repeated the feat by defeating Coolderry from Offaly by 4-13 to 0-17 in the All Ireland Club Hurling Final on 17 March 2012. On Sunday 29 September 2013, they achieved their first four in a row of Antrim Senior Hurling Championships by beating Cushendall, in the first final to be staged outside Casement Park since 1990.
Ballygalget GAA is a Gaelic Athletic Association club located in The Ards Peninsula in County Down, Northern Ireland. The club is almost exclusively concerned with the game of hurling.
The 2014 Down Senior Hurling Championship was the 106th staging of the Down Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Down County Board in 1903. The championship began on 13 September 2014 and ended on 28 September 2014.
The 2017–18 All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship was the 48th staging of the All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship, the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county club hurling tournament. The championship began on 8 October 2017 and ended on 24 March 2018.
The 2021–22 All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship was the 51st staging of the All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship, the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county club hurling tournament. It was the first club championship to be completed in two years as the 2020–21 Championship was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The championship began on 27 November 2021 and ended on 12 February 2022.
The Down county hurling team represents Down GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association, in the Gaelic sport of hurling. The team competes in the Joe McDonagh Cup and the National Hurling League.
The 2023 Down Senior Hurling Championship was the 115th staging of the Down Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Down County Board in 1903. The draw for the opening round fixtures took place on 28 June 2023. The championship ran from 6 August to October 2023.
The 2022 Down Senior Hurling Championship was the 114th staging of the Down Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Down County Board in 1903.
Daithí Sands is a Northern Irish hurler. At club level he plays with Portaferry and at inter-county level with the Down senior hurling team.
The 2024 Down Senior Hurling Championship is the 116th staging of the Down Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Down County Board in 1903. The draw for the opening round fixtures took place on 3 June 2024. The championship is scheduled to run from 4 August to 20 October 2024.
