WHO ARE NAOMH ÉANNA?

Naomh Éanna represent one of the most impressive GAA communities in the country. What they represent more than anything else is resilience, defiance and grace under fire – literally so.

The story of the club – based in the Glengormley area of north Belfast and formed in 1956 – is, in a lot of ways, the story of the GAA in the six counties during the Troubles in microcosm. Theirs is a story of tragedy and repression, but also of the determination and ingenuity of people who simply refused to give in.

Naomh Éanna holds the dubious distinction of being the most terrorised GAA club – and probably spor ting club – on the island of Ireland. In 1974 a bomb was planted in their changing rooms and they were most for tunate that it didn’t go off with twenty five people in the room at the time the bomb was found.

For most clubs that alone would be the most traumatic thing to ever befall it, but for Naomh Éanna it was just a sign of what was to come. Four years later, in 1978, their goalposts were cut down – a sign of rising and near ever present intimidation. In 1981 one of their promising young players was shot by a UDR soldier.

Two years after that, in 1983, their clubhouse (only in operation for two years at that point) was burned to the ground. They rebuilt only for it to be burnt down a second time in 1986. In 1992 the clubhouse was burnt down a third time.

In 1993 the club president Seán Fox was murdered. In 1997 club member Gerry Devlin was shot dead leaving the club grounds by a loyalist gunman. Two other players were shot dead in the early noughties. In all the club suffered as many as thir teen arson attacks over the years. The club often found glass placed maliciously on their pitch.

Despite all this the club has surived and thrived, especially in the post Good Friday Agreement era. The club has a membership of 800 members, which is thought to be amongst the largest in Antrim at the moment.

They are an impressive and progressive group of people. A group of people for whom you can fairly accurately say it’s more than a club and more than a game.