Donegal Boston
Donegal Boston GFC is a Gaelic football club which was founded in 1988 in Boston, Massachusetts.
Dún na nGall Boston | |||||||||
Founded: | 1988 | ||||||||
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County: | Boston | ||||||||
Nickname: | The green and golds[1] | ||||||||
Colours: | Yellow and Green | ||||||||
Grounds: | Irish Cultural Centre | ||||||||
Playing kits | |||||||||
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Senior Club Championships | |||||||||
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Boston is the second largest division of the GAA on the North American continent, after New York.[1]
They train on Malibu Beach, Dorchester.[1]
Among the club's former players are: All-Ireland Senior Football Championship winners Diarmuid Connolly, Jim McGuinness and Martin Penrose; All Stars Kevin Cassidy, Dessie Dolan and John Lynch; All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship winner Liam Silke; Ireland international rules footballers Brendan Murphy and Colm Parkinson; former Australian Football League player Ray Connellan.
History
Donegal Boston Gaelic Football Club is known as Donegal GFC or Donegal Boston for short. The club was founded in 1988 by Irish immigrants.[1]
They won the North American Intermediate Football Championship in 1995.[1]
New York county manager Seamus Sweeney, whose team nearly defeated Galway in the 2010 Connacht Senior Football Championship, first became involved in U.S. football after emigrating to Boston as an 18-year-old in the early 1990s, and played for Donegal Boston.[2]
They won their first Boston Senior Football Championship title in 2002. In the 2002 final they scored a late goal from a 21-yard free.[1]
They won the Boston Junior Football Championship in 2005.[1]
In 2008, they won the Boston Junior Football Championship and were Boston Senior Football Championship finalists.[1]
They won the 2015 North-East Men's Senior Football Championship.[3]
They won the 2018 Boston Senior Football Championship.[4] They did so with Dublin All-Ireland winner Diarmuid Connolly, whose transfer stateside was covered by media nationally in Ireland.[5][6][7]
Connolly's unsuccessful effort to play for Donegal Boston again in 2019, when a minor problem with his ESTA could not be fixed before transfer deadline day, was again covered extensively by media nationally in Ireland.[8][9][10][11][12]
Honours
- Boston Senior Football Championship: 2002,[1] 2004, 2010, 2015, 2018[4]
- Boston Junior Football Championship: 2005,[1] 2008[1]
- North American Senior Football Championship runner-up: 2002, 2003
- North American Intermediate Football Championship: 2005[1]
Players
County players to have represented the club include the following:
- Ciaran Bonner (Donegal, i.e. the county)[1]
- Declan Bonner (Donegal)[1]
- Michael Boyle (Donegal)[3]
- Ryan Bradley (Donegal)[1]
- Michael Carroll (Donegal)[4]
- Kevin Cassidy (Donegal)[1][13]
- Ray Connellan (Westmeath)[14]
- Diarmuid Connolly (Dublin)[15]
- Eamonn Doherty (Donegal)[16]
- Dessie Dolan (Westmeath)[1]
- David Glennon (Westmeath)[1]
- Denis Glennon (Westmeath)[1]
- Cahir Healy (Laois)[1]
- Rory Kavanagh (Donegal)[1][3]
- Barry John Keane (Kerry)[14]
- John Lynch (Tyrone)[1]
- Jim McGuinness (Donegal)[1]
- Antoin McFadden (Donegal)[16]
- Kevin McMenamin (Donegal)[1]
- Emlyn Mulligan (Leitrim)[3]
- Brendan Murphy (Carlow)[17]
- Colm Parkinson (Laois)[1]
- Martin Penrose (Tyrone)[1]
- Liam Silke (Galway)[18]
- Matthew Smyth (Donegal)[3]
- Adrian Sweeney (Donegal)[1]
- Eoin Waide (Donegal)[1]
- Declan Walsh (Donegal)[16]
- Peter Witherow (Donegal)[1]
References
- "Donegal Boston come of age". Hogan Stand. 16 July 2009. Retrieved 16 July 2009.
- "On This Day: Galway given fright of their lives at Gaelic Park". Hogan Stand. 2 May 2020. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
- Foley, Alan (30 August 2015). "Donegal Boston seal North-East Men's Senior Football Championship". Retrieved 30 August 2015.
- McNulty, Chris (27 August 2018). "Diarmuid Connolly inspires Donegal Boston to Senior Championship title". Retrieved 1 November 2019.
- "Connolly puts Donegal Boston into 'different financial realm'". RTÉ Sport. 2 July 2018. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
- McCarry, Patrick (2018). "Diarmuid Connolly absolutely unstoppable as Donegal win Boston championship". JOE.ie.
- McCarry, Patrick (2018). "Diarmuid Connolly's Boston heroics captured in stunning, evocative video". JOE.ie.
- Sweeney, Peter (1 July 2019). "Connolly faces 30 days out after transfer hits snag". RTÉ Sport. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
- O'Brien, Kevin (1 July 2019). "Donegal Boston confirm Diarmuid Connolly won't be joining them after visa issue". The42.ie. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
- McQueirns, Oisin (1 July 2019). "Donegal Boston Confirm Connolly Won't Be Joining Due To Visa Issues". Pundit Arena. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
- Egan, Phil (1 July 2019). "Connolly's summer in America in jeopardy". Today FM. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
- Roche, Frank (30 June 2019). "Diarmuid Connolly's USA switch off the table over visa issue". Irish Independent. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- Fogarty, John (13 June 2018). "'I hope he's well protected': Diarmuid Connolly will be a target in Boston, warns Cassidy". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
- "Connolly-less Donegal Boston suffer defeat". Hogan Stand. 8 July 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
- Keys, Colm (4 September 2018). "Dublin leave door open for Diarmuid Connolly return ahead of five in-a-row bid". Irish Independent. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
- McNulty, Chris (13 September 2013). "SFC: Doherty keeps 'Eamon' high for St Eunan's". Donegal News. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
In 2011, Doherty headed to America. In his company were Antoin McFadden, James Carroll and Malin's Declan Walsh, who'll be an opponent in this weekend's quarter-final. In Boston, they had an enjoyable summer... Doherty says... 'It was great to get over to Donegal Boston to play football'.
- "Brendan Murphy: 'For me, this is the right time to go'". 11 May 2018. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
- McNulty, Chris (2 June 2018). "Some big guns touch down as Donegal Boston begin Championship campaign". Retrieved 1 November 2019.