Erins Own Lavey GAC

General information

Lavey GAC was formed in 1962, by a Mayoman, Liam O’Connor.

In the past 80 years, Lavey teams have been successful in winning county titles in all grades of football, hurling and camogie (18 hurling, 9 football, 8 camogie); their first trophy coming in 1936 when they collected the Dean McGlinchey Cup. Lavey have contested Ulster Senior club finals in all three codes in the last 20 years- a unique achievement which no other GAA club in Ireland has achieved. The pinnacle of the history of the club came in 1991 when the football team brought great honour to the parish by becoming All Ireland Champions, defeating Salthill of Galway. Five members of the panel went on to help Derry win the Sam Maguire in 1993, captained by Lavey No. 6 Henry Downey who, along with Johnny McGurk, received All-Star awards that year. The camogie team also had All Ireland success when in 2009 they became the first Derry side to win the All Ireland Junior Championship, defeating St Annes of Waterford.

Lavey have also seen All-Ireland success in the Scór; Maureen Quinn (nee McCrystal) collected the All Ireland title for instrumental music in 1984 and went on to collect a further three titles in the years to follow. In more recent times (2008), Niamh McGlinchey won the All Ireland title in the solo singing category.

In 2010, Lavey GAA opened the doors to their state of the art community and sports facility, which in September 2012, was awarded the ‘Derry Club Grounds of the Year’ award by an Ulster GAA inspection panel.