London GAA

History

London entered the National Football League in 1993 and were initially fairly successful with 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses in their first campaign and the renewed effort coincided with a drive to establish the games in schools. London now fields its second team in the British Junior football and hurling Championships. Their first football team have competed in the Connacht Senior Football Championship since 1975, but in the first 37 years of competing could only manage one win: a 0-9 to 0-6 defeat of Leitrim in 1977.

After going down by 9-19 to 1-10 against Roscommon in 1980 they staged matches at home in Ruislip and came close to victory against Leitrim in 1987, Sligo in 1988 and Roscommon in 2005. Among their footballers was Brian Grealish, whose brother Tony played association football for the Republic of Ireland. Due to the Foot and Mouth crisis in England, London withdrew from the 2001 Connacht Senior Football Championship; their first round championship fixture against Mayo was cancelled until the 2006 fixture between the teams. In June 2011, London were defeated in extra-time against Mayo in the Connacht Championship, London entered the first qualifying round and defeated Fermanagh by 0-15 to 0-9 in Ruislip in the first round of the qualifiers, recording their first championship win for 34 years. London were drawn against Waterford for their second qualifying round match.

In 2013, the GAA banned London from travelling to Ireland for warm-up games, as a result of a GAA rule put in place to prevent teams travelling abroad for training camps in the run up to the championship, putting them at a major disadvantage to other counties.^[2] On 26 May 2013, London defeated Sligo by a scoreline of 1-12 to 0-14 to gain their first victory in the Connacht Championship since 1977. Lorcan Mulvey scored the vital London goal.^[3][4][5] The day after they defeated Sligo was a bank holiday in England so the players rested.^[6] London held Leitrim in the Connacht semi-final then won the replay. After these three games they headed for the Connacht final - their first appearance at that level - but lost to Mayo. They arrived in Ireland for the final on a specially charted jet.^[7] Thus they entered Round 4 of the Qualifiers for the All-Ireland Series - also their first time to feature there. They drew Cavan, their first Championship meeting with them and the game was set for Croke Park, another historic occasion for London.^[8][9] Cavan won by a score of 1-17 to 1-08 to proceed to the All-Ireland quarter-finals.^[10] Lorcan Mulvey was later nominated for an All Star, but was not selected.^[11]

In 2018 London fielded a record 6 London-born starters in their Championship line-up in their defeat against Sligo in the Connacht Senior Football Championship with a further two on the bench.

London will host Galway in 2019 Connacht championship but the draws not expected to take place until mid-October 2018 at the earliest.

Honours

• All-Ireland Junior Football Championships: 6
  • 1938, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1986
• McGrath Cups: 1
  • 1988

Current football squad

• Manager: Ciaran Deely
• Selectors: Chris Byrne, Joseph Coulter, Noel Dunning
• Strength and Conditioning: Ross Bennett, Colm Smith
• Performance Analyst: Shane Mangan

Squad as per London vs Louth in the All Ireland 1st Round Qualifier, Sunday 10th June

Management history

The following is a table of London's senior inter county football managers since 1990.

History

London have a strong hurling tradition, and besides their All-Ireland win in 1901 they have also won three B All-Irelands in the last twenty years, and claim consistently good results in the National Hurling League. As a mid-table Division 2 side, London are actually placed above half the counties of Ireland, in strong contrast to their role as "whipping boys" in football. The Exiles also won the inaugural Nicky Rackard Cup in 2005, defeating Louth's hurlers by 15 points in the final. London will compete in the 2013 Senior All Ireland Championship facing Carlow in their opening match. In the 1973 All-Ireland hurling championship a London team that included six Galwaymen beat Galway by 4-7 to 3-5 in the All-Ireland quarter-final at Ballinasloe. Galwaymen Frank Canning and Lennie Burke scored three of the goals against their old county.

London won the 2012 Christy Ring Cup which allowed them to compete in the 2013 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. They made their Leinster Senior Hurling Championship debut against Carlow on 18 May 2013 in the 2014 Championship.^[12] The team finished bottom of the preliminary group after being beaten by Westmeath in the final game of the round robin stage, and were relegated back to the Christy Ring Cup for the 2015 season.

London's hurlers are currently managed by Fergus McMahon.^[13]

Honours

• All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championships: 1
  • 1901
• All-Ireland Senior B Hurling Championships: 5
  • 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1995
• All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championships: 5
  • 1938, 1949, 1959, 1960, 1963
• Christy Ring Cups: 1
  • 2012
• Nicky Rackard Cups: 2
  • 2005, 2011
• Kehoe Cups: 2
  • 1987, 1988

History

Ladies Football in London has mirrored the growth seen in Ireland, where it is the fastest growing ladies game. In London Parnells are senior champions and Fulham Irish are Junior champions for 2010. Many clubs now have ladies' teams. Senior teams are Thomas McCurtains GAA, Parnells, Kerry Kingdom Gaels, Fr Murphys, Holloway Gaels and Taras. Junior teams in London 2010 are Fulham Irish, Clonbony,Taras (Junior), Claddagh Gaels (Luton) and Dulwich Harps. In 2011, St Anthonys (Reading) joined the Junior ranks.

Honours

• All-Ireland Junior Ladies' Football Championship 2
  • 1993, 2008
• All-Ireland Junior Ladies' Football Championship Finalists: 1
  • 2007