THE players and volunteers of St Paul's GAC, Holywood have had more challenges to contend with than most in their 41-year history.
The club and its McNamee Park ground, named after former GAA president Padraig McNamee, are located in an area that hasn't been renowned for its association with Gaelic games.
Yet over recent years in particular St Paul's has thrived and on Friday night all the hard work was crowned with an extra-time victory over Aughlisnafin in the Down Junior Football Championship final.
The team is managed by Peadar Heffron, a former captain of the PSNI GAA team who lost a leg when a dissident republican bomb detonated under his car near Randalstown in 2010.
"Peadar's been an absolute inspiration to us all," St Paul's public relations officer and vice-chairman Stephen Kane said in the aftermath of the club's historic weekend win.
"Along with coach Paddy Hannigan, he's the one responsible for attracting and keeping the good young players who we'd ordinarily lose to other clubs and codes – the two of them together have been fantastic."
While there has been a club in Holywood since 1927, St Paul's was founded in 1979 when GAA activists in the north Down town came together with those in Bangor and Newtownards.
The St Paul's crest, which depicts St Colmcille's Church in Holywood, a boat and Scrabo Tower, reflects the three towns the club serves.
Among those lining out for the side on Friday night were captain and man of the match Daniel Eastwood and his brother Patrick, both grandsons of the late bookmaker and boxing promoter Barney Eastwood.
These days, the club is celebrated as a respected part of the community but in the past its presence wasn't always welcomed by a small minority in the area.
"There were some issues in the past which we'd rather not dwell on and we now have brilliant relations with our unionist neighbours," said Mr Kane, a former goalkeeper with the club.
"Many unionist politicians have sent us messages of congratulations."
In the past players also had to contend with a substandard, often boggy pitch before work started on the club's new grounds in the late 1990s.
The St Paul's facilities are now the envy of many visiting teams.
The 2-06 to 0-10 victory at Newry's Pairc Esler in front of a crowd restricted to just a few hundred is, according to the club vice-chairman, the culmination of more than a decade's work.
"Around 2004-5 we looked at how our underage structures could be improved and we started taken children from age five," he said.
"We are now seeing that strategy come fruition with that generation of players making up a large part of the team – it's down to the hard work of the youth coaches over the years."
It's because of this long-term planning that Mr Kane is confident the club will excel in its new intermediate status.
"Saturday night's win was just a stepping stone and we're now looking ahead to sustaining ourselves – our goal is to be playing senior football in the county within the next 10 years," he said.
"We look to Carryduff, a successful club that has many parallels with our own, and they've put a hell of a lot of work in which is now paying off."
The club is drawing many of its players from outside what would traditionally be considered GAA hotbeds and is making inroads into integrated schools in north Down where Gaelic games wouldn't ordinarily feature.
"We welcome that diversity and we're doing our best to promote the game in schools where historically Gaelic hasn't been played," said Mr Kane.
"Kids who would've normally played rugby and hockey are coming along and finding that they're actually very good at Gaelic football."
