Down for me, for obvious reasons, both family and chromosomal disorder related. And I'm pals wi' Paul McComiskey
Today we reveal the first complete list of GAA tributes to men and women who were IRA members. Our map shows how the memorials have spread across the whole of Northern Ireland as controversy over the issue increases. And below, we detail the ways GAA grounds, contests, trophies and even badges are used to honour dead republican paramilitaries from the Troubles. Kevin Lynch The GAA hurling club in Dungiven, Co Londonderry, is named after INLA member and former player Lynch. He was the seventh of the 10 hunger strikers to die in 1981, after being sentenced to 10 years for stealing shotguns and conspiring to disarm the security forces. Lynch was captain of the 1972 All-Ireland-winning under-16 Derry team. Joe Cahill An under-12s football contest is played at Cardinal OâDonnell Park, west Belfast, in honour of the IRA veteran who died in 2004. Cahill joined the IRA aged 18 and was convicted for his part in killing Catholic cop and dad-of-ten, Patrick Murphy, in 1942. He also was a key figure in founding the Provisional IRA in 1969. Bobby Sands The Cumann na Fuiseoige GAA club honours IRA hunger striker Sands, who grew up near its base in Twinbrook, west Belfast. The clubâs badge shows a lark, barb wire and a capital âHâ representing the H-block in the Maze prison where Sands â who was convicted of arms offences â was the first IRA hunger striker to die. There is also a Bobby Sands Memorial soccer cup contest, held during the Feile an Phobail festival in west Belfast. Mairead Farrell A girlsâ camogie championship played in Tullysaran, Co Armagh, was named after IRA woman Farrell. She spent 10 years in jail for bombing the Conway Hotel, Dunmurry, and was killed by the SAS in Gibraltar with fellow IRA members Sean Savage and Daniel McCann in 1988 with whom she allegedly planned to bomb an Army band. Martin Hurson A commemorative Martin Hurson Memorial cup final is played every year at Galbally Pearses Football Field near Dungannon in Co Tyrone. The fifth of the H-block hunger strikers to die, Hurson was arrested in 1976 and quizzed over the attempted murder of UDR soldiers in a bomb attack. The charge was dropped but he was convicted in relation to several other charges. Michael McVerry The first member of the IRA in south Armagh to be killed in the Troubles, McVerry was shot by soldiers in 1973 after placing a 100lb bomb at Keady RUC station, helped by five men who fought a running battle with cops after the device exploded. The Michael McVerry cup is played for in Cullyhanna, Co Armagh, each year. Gerard and Martin Harte These East Tyrone IRA brothers were killed in a carefully-planned SAS ambush at Drumnakilly in 1988. Many branded it revenge for the Ballygawley bus attack 10 days earlier, which killed eight soldiers and injured 27 others. Palyed at Loughmacrory, the Gerard and Martin Harte Memorial cup is now one of Tyrone's foremost under-12 Gaelic football tournaments. Louis Leonard Memorial Park The ground in Donagh, Fermanagh, was named after IRA man Louis, who was killed by loyalists in 1972 while working late in his shop in the village of Derrylin. Loughgall bomber Paddy Kelly The Paddy Kelly cup was played in Dungannon, Co Tyrone as part of commemorations for the IRA Loughgall âmartyrsâ. A heavily-armed IRA unit including Kelly and OâCallaghan was trying to blow up a part-time police station in Loughgall, Co Tyrone, with a 200lb bomb when they were gunned down by the SAS. McDonnell/Doherty Park The home ground of the St Teresas GAA club in west Belfast is named after hunger strikers and former players Joe McDonnell and Kieran Doherty. McDonnell had been arrested in 1976 with Bobby Sands following a bomb attack on a furniture store in Dunmurry and Doherty was convicted for possession of firearms, explosives and hijacking. Jim Lochrie and Sean Campbell Lochrie/Campbell GAA Park in Dromintee, south Armagh is named after IRA members Jim Lochrie and Sean Campbell who were killed when a land mine exploded prematurely at Kelly's Road, Killeen in 1975.
Here's a few more Medro please give us the run down on all of these clubs,ta http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gaelic_games_clubs_in_Ireland
