In Antrim it would probably be quicker and easier to list the GAA strongholds. There are many towns which have no GAA influence whatsoever e.g. Carrickfergus, Ballymoney and large parts of Belfast etc which are in the same boat e.g. anywhere in East Belfast. You then have other towns which are large but maybe only have one GAA club e.g. Antrim, Ballymena, Lisburn, Larne, Portstewart/Portrush etc.

Offside_Rule (Antrim) - Posts: 4058 - 23/06/2014 11:43:55    1607546

Portrush/Portstewart (nor anywhere up round that area) should have been in the non GAA strongholds as they have no teams.

Offside_Rule (Antrim) - Posts: 4058 - 23/06/2014 11:46:18    1607548

How can you take Inishowen man serious when he doesn't even know the boundaries of Inishowen?"Clubs of the top of my Head that you will encounter on your trip around Inishowen include,Buncrana, Malin,Burt, Naomh colmcille,urris,naomh padraig"

Neither Burt or Naomh Colmcille are in Inishowen.They are in Donegal but not Inishowen.

Ironically 2 Derry City clubs are within the pre-partition "original" confines of Inishowen- Na Magha and Steelstown. The Inishowen boundary runs from Pennyburn in Derry City in a line across to Bridgend.

christy sting (Derry) - Posts: 262 - 23/06/2014 12:01:53    1607566

Cant say any area is GAA free in Laois. Bigger towns tend to have a lot less playing than they should but smaller clubs around them do relatively well. Portlaoise only one club despite having about 1/4 of county population. Mountmellick chronic underachievers despite big pop. Cant think of a single parish with no club and a lot have two or even more. Stradbally(Stradbally, Timahoe, Annanough) Ballylinan( Ballylinan, Arles-Killeen, Arles-Kilcruise - all senior)
Big advantage in Laois that only 2 rugby clubs in whole county (Portlaoise and Portarlington) and Soccer is usually a disorganised mess with only a couple of halfway serious outfits and all junior. Our best young soccer players usually go to play for Dublin teams.

jpcampion (Laois) - Posts: 194 - 23/06/2014 12:08:57    1607574

SamOnErrigal
County: Donegal
Posts: 353

Really silly poster about Inishowen. Always remember players from there , Jim Quigley in the sixtys, John Farren Des Newton (won an Ulster medal in 1983) plus over the years a lot of lads played minor plus the Hurling lads from Burt, who made up the county team. Great GAA people in Innishowen and always was.

There are obviously Inishowen based players on the county team and there are plenty of clubs operating successfully up there, but would it not be fair to say that Soccer is marginally stronger on the peninsula?

By the way, Des Newton is from Roscommon.

decky (Roscommon) - Posts: 384 - 23/06/2014 12:41:18    1607601

in meath i would say the slane area is a soccer stronghold. two soccer clubs in the parish and close to drogheda the football team as gone into decline a bit too but look to be heading back in the right direction

srgt_slaughter (Meath) - Posts: 462 - 23/06/2014 13:22:45    1607635

christy sting 23/06/2014 12:01:53 Neither Burt or Naomh Colmcille are in Inishowen.They are in Donegal but not Inishowen.

I think if you were to ask a Burt man whether he is an Inishowen man or not he would say he is. They draw players from Bridgend, Burnfoot, Tooban so without a doubt Burt is an Inishowen club, so I wouldn't be getting too technical about it

decky 23/06/2014 12:41:18 There are obviously Inishowen based players on the county team and there are plenty of clubs operating successfully up there, but would it not be fair to say that Soccer is marginally stronger on the peninsula?

I think that traditionally soccer would have been a lot stronger, with a lot of the best teams in Donegal being from Inishowen. Now the gap is a lot closer with GAA probably just as strong on the peninsula.

Other non GAA-strongholds would be Ramelton, Rathmullen (Soccer), Raphoe (Hockey) and St Johnston (Cricket, Soccer), Killea (soccer).

HandballRef (Donegal) - Posts: 523 - 23/06/2014 13:23:14    1607637

Gleebo there are five Gaa football clubs in Drogheda and no hurling clubs. In Dundalk there are six Gaa football clubs and two hurling clubs. Dundalk most have the most Gaa clubs in a town in the country.

OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 23/06/2014 14:09:50    1607687

Offside_Rule
County: Antrim
Posts: 1342

1607548 Portrush/Portstewart (nor anywhere up round that area) should have been in the non GAA strongholds as they have no teams
__________________________
No GAA but some damned fine beaches, Portstewart strand beling my personal favourite and haunt of many a childhood holiday.

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 23/06/2014 14:16:15    1607695

Gleebo there are five Gaa football clubs in Drogheda and no hurling clubs. In Dundalk there are six Gaa football clubs and two hurling clubs. Dundalk most have the most Gaa clubs in a town in the country.

OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 23/06/2014 14:19:15    1607698

The majority of East Belfast is in Down Offside rule.

If only we could get a handful of hurlers out of Tullycarnet and Ballybeen we'd be laughing.

bricktop (Down) - Posts: 2503 - 23/06/2014 14:25:48    1607705

Fair point bricktop - and I should know that as I cross the Lagan every morning to work in the East! Good luck with the recruitment drive in and around the Newtownards Road... ;-)

Brend - you'd think with those strands which go on and on that they would be great for an aul puck around. Spent manys a summers night with the impromptu BBQ on the go there.

Offside_Rule (Antrim) - Posts: 4058 - 23/06/2014 14:34:33    1607712

OLLIE
County: Louth
Posts: 6639

1607687
Gleebo there are five Gaa football clubs in Drogheda and no hurling clubs. In Dundalk there are six Gaa football clubs and two hurling clubs. Dundalk most have the most Gaa clubs in a town in the country.]

Cheers Ollie, interesting info. Out of interest, which are the other two clubs in Drogheda?

I knew that Dundalk had a few sides knocking around. I suppose they're all within the town limits, not counting nearby villages like Blackrock, Knockbridge etc?

Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 23/06/2014 14:42:31    1607718

https://maps.google.ie/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa...

If you look at this map it can seem a bit deceiving. An awful lot of Junior football clubs with no real juvenile structure in place.

Tallaght has 3 GAA clubs and approx 20 soccer clubs to 100,000 people.
From Irishtown down to Dalkey along the coast or inland 3/4 miles is all rugby country.

Southside in general is not GAA land, either Rugby or soccer with 3/4 big GAA clubs.

GAAHattrick (Dublin) - Posts: 278 - 23/06/2014 14:44:35    1607720

"Some small club on Seville Place"!!!!!

That's the Joeys cuedrocket. Nearly a hundred years and still going strong.

hurlingdub (Dublin) - Posts: 6978 - 23/06/2014 14:47:38    1607724

Christy sting 'Im not interested in your "Pre partition" Chat' it may be true that Inishowen may geographically include parts of Northern Ireland on a map but it has no relevance to GAA sport in Donegal. Your in a Different County man.

For your info Burt is part of Inishowen ' ie the parish of Burt,Inch and Fahan. just Because the Inishowen 100 starts and ends in Bridgend it is not classed as a definitive Boundary.It is usually considered you are either entering or leaving Inishowen when you enter or leave Newtown Cunningham and most definitely so when you Hit Burt.

This thread suggests that Inishowen has not a strong fan base or the sport is not popular which Could not be further from the truth.
I cant go back as far as the previous poster to the 50's or 60's but i can go back to 1992 when we first won the All Ireland and yes it is true that the only Inishowen man on the panel was the Sub Goalie ie Paul Callaghen from Burt. But the support back then was as good as it is today. SAM was in every school from Bridgend around the peninsula and back again as it was in 2012.

It may be true that We did not produce many quality players that made the County panel For a period after that' But it does not mean the Sport was not popular or the fan base was any different. Both the sport and supporters have always been there.

I do recall some Inishowen men that went to County training and at the time it was considered that Inishowen boys where considered outcasts as I recall talk at the time' Players where complaining that at training players from the Greater Donegal would not pass the ball to them.Wither there is any truth in the matter or Not' I cant be Sure.Thankfully this is not the case at present wither true or not.

Anyone who thinks that GAA sports are not popular here, then I urge them to buy the Weekly "Inishowen independant" Newes paper' and you will see the coverage it Gets.Every primary and secondary school in Inishowen participates in GAA sports and all the results and club notes are included in the paper. The back page Headlines will almost definitely be off GAA sports and not Soccer like some of the other papers i can think off..!! Of Course other sports like Soccer and Boxing are popular here also and many Who play GAA sports also partake in Soccer and boxing ect..And What is Wrong with that..? I would ask..? We are a Multi talented Bunch...LOL...

From Bundoran to the Rosses' INISHOWEN to Dongloe' Wer Walking tall in DONEGAL.............

InishowenMan (Donegal) - Posts: 216 - 23/06/2014 14:51:08    1607727

A lot of those soccer "club" are pub teams with no kids teams. Unfortunately a lot of working class areas in cities and big towns are waste lands for any sort of sport.

hurlingdub (Dublin) - Posts: 6978 - 23/06/2014 14:52:17    1607729

in county down surprisingly to some, it's Newry! surely with a population of over 30,000 the town should have at least one successful club

offtheground1 (Down) - Posts: 128 - 23/06/2014 14:54:42    1607732

You know what i mean hurlingdub.The north inner city is not a GAA stronghold.Anthing but.Fair play to all involved in Joeys but wen is the last county player to ever come out of der?The fact is nearly half of the county cud be described as a non GAA stronghold.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 23/06/2014 15:03:16    1607741

@ Inishowen Man: My apologies, I didn't mean to imply that Inishowen was a GAA wasteland; merely that I had read a comment to that effect.

Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 23/06/2014 15:14:08    1607749