Wild Geese GAA
Encyclopedia
Wild Geese are a GAA club based in Oldtown
, Fingal
. They currently field a single junior football
, junior hurling
and ladies football teams. At juvenile level they field at hurling only with teams at Under 9, 10, 11 and 14. In Los Angeles
there is a Gaelic Football club who also go by the same name and at Lakenheath U.S. air force base there is a hurling club also called Wild Geese.
. The club in Oldtown was called Wild Geese
to commemorate those Irish who had travelled abroad to serve in the militaries of other countries. Royal Irish Constabulary
records show that the club had 40 members in 1889 and 1890 meeting in Oldtown and Ballyboghill. P. Mahon was secretary and treasurer at the time and E. Gorman was captain. Wild Geese were one of nineteen clubs represented at Charles Stewart Parnells
funeral in 1891. In 1893 P. Sutton attended the Dublin county boards annual convention as the clubs delegate on March 19th. However in 1896 the clubs name is missing from a list of those affiliated to the county board suggesting the club may have disbanded sometime between 1893-1896. In 1906 the nearest club to Oldtown was Naul but the club was affiliated along with Naul and Garristown in 1911 and again in 1915 and for the 1924-1925 season with the club disbanding once again.
While absent from the field of play in 1931 the club was reformed by Father Lennon and played their games in a field owned by Jim Hughes. Players were from not just Oldtown but also Rolestown
and Ballyboughal. The team captain was Stephen Griffin. They won the Feis Cup beating Donabate
in the final. Some time after however a dispute arose those from Ballyboughal and the rest in the club with those from Ballyboughal deciding to leave and set up their own club. In order to see who would keep the set of jerseys both sides agreed to a game to resolve the issue with Wild Geese winning meaning they kept the jerseys which are the clubs colours to this day, black and amber. However the club was to disband sometime shortly after and this the years to come a club was established in nearby Rolestown called Fingal Ravens
.
Patrick Archer reformed the club in 1935 but it disbanded again sometime before 1947 before regrouping again in a year where the GAA appeared to undergo something of a revival in the area with Fingal Ravens, Garristown and Man O’War also affiliating. Ballyboughal had won a Junior Football Championship in that year. However both Wild Geese and Fingal Ravens were finding it difficult to field and Fingal Ravens joined up with Wild Geese. The club disbanded some years after and in 1952 Fingal Rovers hurling club was established in Rolestown with many players having previously played with Wild Geese among their membership. Meeting were held in Hurley makers Owen and Tommie Butlers and they travelled to matches in their van. Fingal Rovers were runners up in the Fingal Hurling League, losing to Portrane
but won a County special competition defeating Porton Docks in Islandbridge. Wild Geese reformed some years after and continued to compete on and off through the years.
. They had also plans to sow a crop of spring oats
and it was hoped that this would make the ground easier to level and sow grass. Wild Geese played Ballyboughal on a challenge game at Damastown
Sports in 1954 also with a picture of the team featuring in the Irish independent
. Wild Geese were listed as one of eleven clubs who owned or leased their grounds in a special report by the county board. Wild Geese are one of the few clubs in Dublin to have a handball
alley which today is more often used for racquetball
. Oldtown has a tradition of handball producing world champions. In 2009 and 2010 the club refurbished their changing rooms, added a meeting room and public toilets, replaced pitch side fencing and upgraded their pitch.
Final, losing out to Park Rangers. In 2009 they again made the final and defeated St. Brendan’s of Grangegorman
. The club also enjoyed successive promotions in 2009 they were promoted from Division 10 North to Division 9. In 2010 they were promoted to Division 8. The club won the Sheridan Cup in 2007 and 2009. In 2010 they were defeated by Stars of Erin of Glencullen
in the Junior D Football Championship.
Football Roll of Honour
describing their own native stick game, shinty
. The decline of hurling coincides with the Tithe war
, the O’Connell campaign
, the resulting decline in landlord-ten anent relations and the farmers unwilling to lend their fields for games to be played as they at times ended in melees. Another influence was the Catholic Church who disapproved of the dances that took place after games.
In 2008 Wild Geese set up a hurling team and entered into Division 7 of the 8 divisions at the time and the Junior E Championship. Members of the hurling team did not all play football with the club with some playing with Fingal Ravens, Garristown, Clann Mhuire
, Ballyboughal. They failed to win a game that season and were relegated to Division 8. The following year was to be their most successful to date. Wild Geese won Division 8 defeating Setanta of Ballymun
in the league final. They also took part in the Leinster
hurling league and entered an Under 21 team into the hurling championship. They hosted the first ever Gus Warren Challenge Cup game against Erin go Bragh
winning 2-9 to 2-5. Players Mattie Lambe was also selected for the Fingal hurling panel. Former Clare
manager Ger Loughnane
took the team for a training session. 2010 was to be another hard year for the club with players forced to emigrate to find work due to the countries economic situation and for the 2011 season the club dropped from Division 7 to Division 9 and the Junior F Championship
Roll of Honour
Inter County Players
Underage Honours
Oldtown, Dublin
Oldtown is one of a network of rural villages in North Fingal, which function as local centres, servicing the agricultural hinterland within the County. The R122 runs through the village linking Naul to St...
, Fingal
Fingal
Fingal is a county in Ireland. It is one of three smaller counties into which County Dublin was divided in 1994. With its county seat located in Swords, it has a population of 239,992 according to the 2006 census...
. They currently field a single junior football
Gaelic football
Gaelic football , commonly referred to as "football" or "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland...
, junior hurling
Hurling
Hurling is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic origin, administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association, and played with sticks called hurleys and a ball called a sliotar. Hurling is the national game of Ireland. The game has prehistoric origins, has been played for at least 3,000 years, and...
and ladies football teams. At juvenile level they field at hurling only with teams at Under 9, 10, 11 and 14. In Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
there is a Gaelic Football club who also go by the same name and at Lakenheath U.S. air force base there is a hurling club also called Wild Geese.
History
The club was established in 1888 by Patrick Archer making it one of the oldest in Dublin. Other GAA clubs in the surrounding area at the time would have been the Garristown Liberators and Magh go Bragh of NaulNaul, Dublin
Naul , is a village in the administrative area of Fingal, County Dublin, Ireland. The name also encompasses the townlands which surround the village: southward as far as Hollywood Rath, and northward to the River Delvin beside the village, which marks the boundary between County Dublin and County...
. The club in Oldtown was called Wild Geese
Wild Geese
Wild Geese may refer to:* Wild Geese , a war poem by Walter Flex, a later song is popular in airborn units* Wild Geese , Irish soldiers who served in European armies after being exiled from Ireland...
to commemorate those Irish who had travelled abroad to serve in the militaries of other countries. Royal Irish Constabulary
Royal Irish Constabulary
The armed Royal Irish Constabulary was Ireland's major police force for most of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. A separate civic police force, the unarmed Dublin Metropolitan Police controlled the capital, and the cities of Derry and Belfast, originally with their own police...
records show that the club had 40 members in 1889 and 1890 meeting in Oldtown and Ballyboghill. P. Mahon was secretary and treasurer at the time and E. Gorman was captain. Wild Geese were one of nineteen clubs represented at Charles Stewart Parnells
Charles Stewart Parnell
Charles Stewart Parnell was an Irish landowner, nationalist political leader, land reform agitator, and the founder and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party...
funeral in 1891. In 1893 P. Sutton attended the Dublin county boards annual convention as the clubs delegate on March 19th. However in 1896 the clubs name is missing from a list of those affiliated to the county board suggesting the club may have disbanded sometime between 1893-1896. In 1906 the nearest club to Oldtown was Naul but the club was affiliated along with Naul and Garristown in 1911 and again in 1915 and for the 1924-1925 season with the club disbanding once again.
While absent from the field of play in 1931 the club was reformed by Father Lennon and played their games in a field owned by Jim Hughes. Players were from not just Oldtown but also Rolestown
Rolestown
Rolestown, or Rowlestown , is a small village six miles north-west of Swords along the R125 in County Dublin, Ireland, about halfway between Swords and Ashbourne...
and Ballyboughal. The team captain was Stephen Griffin. They won the Feis Cup beating Donabate
Donabate
Donabate is a small suburban coastal town in Ireland, some 20 km north-northeast of Dublin City. The town is situated on a peninsula which it shares with the town of Portrane. This peninsula lies on Ireland's east coast, between the Rogerstown Estuary to the north and Broadmeadow Estuary to...
in the final. Some time after however a dispute arose those from Ballyboughal and the rest in the club with those from Ballyboughal deciding to leave and set up their own club. In order to see who would keep the set of jerseys both sides agreed to a game to resolve the issue with Wild Geese winning meaning they kept the jerseys which are the clubs colours to this day, black and amber. However the club was to disband sometime shortly after and this the years to come a club was established in nearby Rolestown called Fingal Ravens
Fingal Ravens
Fingal Ravens is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in Rolestown, County Dublin, Ireland. Fingal Ravens won the 2007 Dublin Intermediate Football Championship and are therefore in the Senior championship for 2008. Fingal Ravens Junior B Team won their championship match against St. Vincents...
.
Patrick Archer reformed the club in 1935 but it disbanded again sometime before 1947 before regrouping again in a year where the GAA appeared to undergo something of a revival in the area with Fingal Ravens, Garristown and Man O’War also affiliating. Ballyboughal had won a Junior Football Championship in that year. However both Wild Geese and Fingal Ravens were finding it difficult to field and Fingal Ravens joined up with Wild Geese. The club disbanded some years after and in 1952 Fingal Rovers hurling club was established in Rolestown with many players having previously played with Wild Geese among their membership. Meeting were held in Hurley makers Owen and Tommie Butlers and they travelled to matches in their van. Fingal Rovers were runners up in the Fingal Hurling League, losing to Portrane
Portrane
Portrane or Portraine ) is a small seaside town one kilometre from, and merging into the larger town of Donabate in Fingal, north County Dublin, Ireland.- St. Ita's Hospital :...
but won a County special competition defeating Porton Docks in Islandbridge. Wild Geese reformed some years after and continued to compete on and off through the years.
Club Facilities
The name Wild Geese made an appearance in ‘Gaelic weekly’ in 1954 where it was revealed the club had purchased a field and sown a crop of wheatWheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
. They had also plans to sow a crop of spring oats
OATS
OATS - Open Source Assistive Technology Software - is a source code repository or "forge" for assistive technology software. It was launched in 2006 with the goal to provide a one-stop “shop” for end users, clinicians and open-source developers to promote and develop open source assistive...
and it was hoped that this would make the ground easier to level and sow grass. Wild Geese played Ballyboughal on a challenge game at Damastown
Damastown
Damastown is the name of two townlands in Dublin, Ireland.-Fingal:In Fingal Damastown is a townland of the village of Naul previously a small village complete with Catholic Church, Saint Canice's, which is still in use, and national school which was is now a family home, the area is now sparsely...
Sports in 1954 also with a picture of the team featuring in the Irish independent
Irish Independent
The Irish Independent is Ireland's largest-selling daily newspaper that is published in both compact and broadsheet formats. It is the flagship publication of Independent News & Media.-History:...
. Wild Geese were listed as one of eleven clubs who owned or leased their grounds in a special report by the county board. Wild Geese are one of the few clubs in Dublin to have a handball
Team handball
Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...
alley which today is more often used for racquetball
Racquetball
For other sports often called "paddleball", see Paddleball .Racquetball is a racquet sport played with a hollow rubber ball in an indoor or outdoor court...
. Oldtown has a tradition of handball producing world champions. In 2009 and 2010 the club refurbished their changing rooms, added a meeting room and public toilets, replaced pitch side fencing and upgraded their pitch.
Gaelic Football
Since 1982 the club has fielded a single football team. In 1986 they were competing at the intermediate grade in the Fingal league and won the McArdle Cup in the same year. in 2007 they were relegated to Division 10. In 2008 they reached the Junior E Football ChampionshipDublin Junior Football Championship
The Dublin Junior Football championship is the Junior Gaelic Athletic Association Gaelic football competition of Dublin. The winners of the Junior championship go on to qualify for the Dublin Intermediate Football Championship. The winners will also represent Dublin in the Leinster Junior Club...
Final, losing out to Park Rangers. In 2009 they again made the final and defeated St. Brendan’s of Grangegorman
Grangegorman
Grangegorman Development Agency is an agency of the Government of Ireland charged with redevelopment of the Grangegorman Campus, formerly within the curtilage of St. Brendan's Hospital...
. The club also enjoyed successive promotions in 2009 they were promoted from Division 10 North to Division 9. In 2010 they were promoted to Division 8. The club won the Sheridan Cup in 2007 and 2009. In 2010 they were defeated by Stars of Erin of Glencullen
Glencullen
Glencullen , is a village in south County Dublin. It is also a townland in the civil parish of Kilternan, in the Barony and Poor Law Union of Rathdown in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County....
in the Junior D Football Championship.
Football Roll of Honour
- 2010 Junior D Football Championship Runners Up
- 2010 Promoted to Division 8
- 2009 Junior E Football Championship Winners
- 2009 Division 10 North Runners Up
- 2008 Junior E Football Championship Runners Up
- 2007, 2009 Sheridan Cup Winners
- 1986 McArdle Cup Winners
- 1931 Feis Cup Winners
Hurling
Hurling in Oldtown dates back to the 19th century. Founding member Patrick Archer found that the older people I the area were able to recall that hurling was a popular sport in Fingal up to around the 1820 and called camanacht, a word still used in ScotlandScotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
describing their own native stick game, shinty
Shinty
Shinty is a team game played with sticks and a ball. Shinty is now played mainly in the Scottish Highlands, and amongst Highland migrants to the big cities of Scotland, but it was formerly more widespread, being once competitively played on a widespread basis in England and other areas in the...
. The decline of hurling coincides with the Tithe war
Tithe War
The Tithe War was a campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience, punctuated by sporadic violent episodes, in Ireland between 1830-36 in reaction to the enforcement of Tithes on subsistence farmers and others for the upkeep of the established state church - the Church of Ireland...
, the O’Connell campaign
Daniel O'Connell
Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847; often referred to as The Liberator, or The Emancipator, was an Irish political leader in the first half of the 19th century...
, the resulting decline in landlord-ten anent relations and the farmers unwilling to lend their fields for games to be played as they at times ended in melees. Another influence was the Catholic Church who disapproved of the dances that took place after games.
In 2008 Wild Geese set up a hurling team and entered into Division 7 of the 8 divisions at the time and the Junior E Championship. Members of the hurling team did not all play football with the club with some playing with Fingal Ravens, Garristown, Clann Mhuire
Clann Mhuíre CLG
Clann Mhuíre is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based at Naul, County Dublin, Ireland, serving Naul and its surrounding areas.The club currently fields teams from U-8 to U-16 for both boys and girls....
, Ballyboughal. They failed to win a game that season and were relegated to Division 8. The following year was to be their most successful to date. Wild Geese won Division 8 defeating Setanta of Ballymun
Ballymun
Ballymun is an area on Dublin's Northside close to Dublin Airport, Ireland. It is infamous for the Ballymun flats, which became a symbol of poverty, drugs, alienation from the state and social problems in Ireland from the 1970s...
in the league final. They also took part in the Leinster
Leinster
Leinster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the east of Ireland. It comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Mide, Osraige and Leinster. Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the historic fifths of Leinster and Mide gradually merged, mainly due to the impact of the Pale, which straddled...
hurling league and entered an Under 21 team into the hurling championship. They hosted the first ever Gus Warren Challenge Cup game against Erin go Bragh
Erin go Bragh GAA
Erin go Bragh GAA are a Dublin based Gaelic Athletic Association club based in Clonee, Littlepace/Castaheaney/Ongar district in Dublin 15. The club currently field teams in Junior football, Junior hurling , Under 15, 13, 10 Ladies Football and camogie, and Under 8 to Under 14 football and...
winning 2-9 to 2-5. Players Mattie Lambe was also selected for the Fingal hurling panel. Former Clare
Clare GAA
The Clare County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association or Clare GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Clare. The county board is also responsible for the Clare inter-county teams....
manager Ger Loughnane
Ger Loughnane
Ger Loughnane is a Irish hurling manager and former player. He played hurling with his local club Feakle and with the Clare senior inter-county team in the 1970s and 1980s...
took the team for a training session. 2010 was to be another hard year for the club with players forced to emigrate to find work due to the countries economic situation and for the 2011 season the club dropped from Division 7 to Division 9 and the Junior F Championship
Roll of Honour
- 2009 Division 8 Winners
- 2009 Gus Warren Challenge Cup Winners
Inter County Players
- Mattie Lambe (Fingal)
Juvenile Section
Wild Geese wet up a hurling juvenile section in 2008 with Under 9, 10 and 11 teams. The Under 11 team won their league in 2009 and in 2010 the Under 13 team were Division 5 runners up. The club hosted the Division 4 hurling Feile in 2011. The competition was held in nearby Fingal Ravens ground in Rolestown as there was a need for two pitches and the clubs ground at Oldtown only had a single pitch.Underage Honours
- 2010 Under 13 League Runners Up (Div 5)
- 2009 Under 11 league Winners