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London county football team

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The London county football team represents London in men's Gaelic football and is governed by London GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Connacht Senior Football Championship and the National Football League.

London's home ground is McGovern Park, South Ruislip, Oxley Park, Watford. The team's manager is Michael Maher.

London defeated Sligo to reach the Connacht Senior Championship final in 2013, but has never won the All-Ireland Senior Championship or the National League.

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. They played All Ireland series (1900-1910), Louth in 1913 Leinster Senior Football Championship. 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.[1] 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.[2][3][4] The day after they defeated Sligo was a bank holiday in England so the players rested.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7][8] Cavan won by a score of 1-17 to 1-08 to proceed to the All-Ireland quarter-finals.[9] Lorcan Mulvey was later nominated for an All Star, but was not selected.[10]

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

London withdrew from the 2020 championship due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Gaelic games. London were excluded from the 2021 league and championship for the same reason.[11][12]

Kit evolution

London released home and away jerseys to commemorate its 125th anniversary in 2021. Inspired by the jersey worn in the 1901 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final (the county's only All-Ireland senior win), both jerseys featured a sash from the left hip to the right shoulder.[13]

Current squad

Team as per London vs Louth in the All-Ireland SFC 1st Round Qualifier, Sunday 10 June[when?]

No. Player Position Club
1 Gavin McEvoy Goalkeeper Tír Chonaill Gaels
2 Philip Butler Right Corner Back Tír Chonaill Gaels
3 Ciaran Dunne Full Back Garryowen
4 Conor Murphy Left Corner Back Fulham Irish
5 David Carradine Right Half Back St Kiernans
6 Ryan Jones Centre Back St Brendans
7 Patrick Begley Left Half Back St Kiernans
8 Anthony McDermott Midfield Tir Chonaill Gaels
9 Martin Carroll Midfield Tír Chonaill Gaels
10 Adrian Moyles Right Half Forward St Kiernans
11 Mark Gottsche Centre Forward Tír Chonaill Gaels
12 Tom Waters Left Half Forward St Kiernans
13 Ryan Elliott Right Corner Forward Tir Chonaill Gaels
14 Liam Gavaghan (c) Full Forward Tir Chonaill Gaels
15 Ferghal McMahon Left Corner Forward St Brendans
No. Player Position Club
16 Daniel McDonagh Goalkeeper KKG
17 Conor O'Neill Left Corner Back KKG
18 Michael Walsh Full Back Tara
19 David Dunne Right Half Back St Brendans
20 Ger Byrne Midfield Cu Chullains
21 Ryan Forde Midfield Parnells
22 Eoin Murray Full Forward Tir Chonaill Gaels
23 Killian Butler Full Forward Tir Chonaill Gaels
24 John Daly Left Half Forward St Brendans
25 Liam Irwin Right Corner Forward North London Shamrocks
26 Conor Murphy Left Corner Forward Thomas McCurtains GAA

Current management team

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

Colours

Management history

The following is a table of London's county football managers at senior level since 1990. In October 2019, London-born Michael Maher became the first native to take charge of the London county football team. Maher experienced success while managing London sides at youth level and was part of former manager Ciarán Deely's backroom team for 2019.

Years Name County
1990 Tom Roche Kerry
1991 Paddy Corscadden
John McPartland
Longford
Down
1992 Seamus Carr Donegal
1993–1994 PJ McGinley Donegal
1995–1998 Pat Griffin Kerry
1999–2000 Tommy McDermott Donegal
2001 Tom Roche* Kerry
2002 Iggy Donnelly
Pat Griffin
Dermot O'Brien
Tyrone
Kerry
Laois
2002–2003 Chris Lloyd Longford
2004 John McPartland Down
2005–2010 Noel Dunning Westmeath
2011–2015 Paul Coggins Roscommon
2016–2019 Ciarán Deely Wexford
2019– Michael Maher London

Honours

References

  1. ^ "Exiles hampered by rules as Sligo call to London - Connacht SFC quarter-final preview: London v Sligo". RTÉ Sport. 24 April 2013. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
  2. ^ "London shock Sligo to secure first Connacht SFC victory since 1977". The Score. 26 May 2013. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
  3. ^ "London dump Sligo out of Connacht". RTÉ Sport. 26 May 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2013.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ "London end 36-year wait for Connacht championship glory". The Irish Times. 26 May 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
  5. ^ Foley, Cliona (28 May 2013). "It's boom time for rising Exiles". Irish Independent. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  6. ^ "The London team land in Ireland". Hogan Stand. 20 July 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  7. ^ "Cavan and London set for Croker date". Hogan Stand. 22 July 2013. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  8. ^ "Qualifier R4 to determine quarter-finalists". Hogan Stand. 24 July 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  9. ^ "London 1-08 Cavan 1-17". RTÉ Sport. 27 July 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
  10. ^ Browne, PJ (4 October 2013). "Dublin And Mayo Dominate The GAA/GPA Football All-Star Nominations". Balls.ie. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  11. ^ "GAA releases fixture planner with games starting on May 8". Hogan Stand. 8 April 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  12. ^ O'Brien, Kevin (8 April 2021). "GAA unveils 2021 roadmap with leagues starting in May and All-Ireland finals in August". The42.ie. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  13. ^ "London unveil commemorative 125th anniversary jerseys inspired by All-Ireland win". Hogan Stand. 3 April 2021.