Loughmacrory St Teresa’s GAC will celebrate a significant milestone on Saturday evening as a book charting the club’s 50 year history is launched.
‘Making Our Own Heroes’, written by club president Seamus Mullan, is the product of many years of research and recording by the author, who himself has played an important role in the development of a thriving and vibrant GAA unit in mid-Tyrone.
The Loughmacrory clubrooms is the venue for an evening of chat and reflection on half a century of gaelic games in the area, the culmination of the club’s 50-year anniversary celebrations.
The book, collated from a mass of interviews and information researched by Seamus will be the focal point of the evening, with a panel of special guests lined up to reminisce and recount stories of the history of the club.
At over 480 pages, this is a huge historic record for the St Teresa's club and, in light of hugely significant progress and developments in the past decade, comes at a time when the club is experiencing an all-time high across all aspects of club life.
Seamus Mullan has been working for many years on the book and has amassed hundreds of hours of recordings of players, members, officials and coaches in addition to the vast collation of reports and information throughout the media over the past half century and more.
Reflecting on the development of GAA activities in the area, Seamus commented: “While it was ninety years on from the founding of the GAA before Gaelic football was established on an official and firm footing in Loughmacrory, football had been played prior to this.
“As in the rest of the country the young men from the area played football down the years, indeed down the centuries, long before the founding of St Teresa’s club and indeed long before the founding of the GAA.
“No written records of these early games are extant, and we come right into the twentieth century before we find a report of a football match in the locality. The Ulster Herald of 19 March 1904 tells of a match played on 12 March 1904 between Altdrumman Stars and Mullaslin Volunteers.”
The book recalls the early days of the club, detailing its successful application to a county board meeting in Carrickmore for affiliation back in 1973.
“When they heard the news that their application had been accepted and their new club was officially affiliated, there was great rejoicing and they headed down the road in a cavalcade, cheering and honking their car horns,” a passage recounts.
“Cumann Naomh Treasa Loch Mhic Ruairí had been born, and would go on to become one of the top GAA clubs in the county and a very important part of Loughmacrory community. Not only would it provide football for the local youth for the years ahead but would also promote Gaelic culture, language and identity and give a sense of belonging and a pride of place on a scale that no other organization in Loughmacrory had done before.”
A number of Loughmacrory players have donned the county colours, the most notable being Michael McGee, a member of Tyrone’s great All-Ireland winning team of the noughties.
And in recent years, the club has celebrated quite a few young stars who have tasted Ulster and All Ireland successes with Tyrone at Minor and U21 level.
McGee himself recalls in the publication the pride he felt at having represented his club in Tyrone’s greatest successes.
“I was super proud to be representing Loughmacrory in the county panel… I thought that Loughmacrory could claim a bit more ownership of the title… I remember feeling happy that Loughmacrory could be involved in the All-Ireland Finals.”
Loughmacrory gaels will pack into the St Teresa’s Clubrooms this evening (6.00pm) for what promises to be a hugely enjoyed one hour live chat-show. Teamtalkmag will stream the show live and host, Noel McGinn, will talk to an array of well known members, officials and players from down through the years including Seamus Mullan, Sean Harte, Mickey McGee, Stephen Conway, Catherine Kelly and current Senior Club Captain, Cathal Donaghy.
In addition there will be the added excitement of welcoming a few very famous Cups, historically won in recent weeks by Tyrone players in schools and Colleges football - notably the Hogan Cup, MacRory Cup, Markey Cup and All Ireland inter-Varsities Cup.
Eoin McElholm (captain), Ruairi McCullagh (man of the match) and Eoin Donaghy will also reflect on that historic Hogan Cup triumph in what promises to be a terrific evening of chat and celebration.
