Naomh Ultan GAA Club’s 50 year celebrations this weekend

Naomh Ultan GAA club are all set for a weekend of celebrations this weekend to mark the club’s 50th anniversary.

To coincide with the special event, a 400-page book detailing the history of Gaelic Games in the area, and especially the 50 years of Naomh Ultan, will be launched on Friday night at the clubhouse.

On Saturday, the club will welcome the GAA President, Jarlath Burns, who will officially open their walking track around the club grounds while on Sunday night a special sold-out banquet takes place in the Bayview Hotel, Killybegs.

One of the driving forces behind the book compilation is Colm Shovlin and he was just 14 when the club was formed in 1974.

“Our football that time was soccer when we were growing up. There was no Gaelic football around at that time. It was all Bobby Charlton and George Best when we were growing up.

“McShane’s football field was the soccer field. We were never out where the football field is now.

“It was the likes of Terence McGinley and the late Jack Furey, who were playing their football in Mountcharles (that started it). It was their brainwave. In 1974 Donegal had won their second Ulster title, which had a big influence at that time. Things were on a high. You had Christy Kelly and Jimmy Byrne and Eugene Byrne, they were the lads that started it up; PJ Kennedy.

“They went to the Co Board looking for club boundaries and they were drafted in 1975. From Drumnakillew Bridge on the east to the Hollybush Bar on  the west and the Crooked Bridge was the boundary with Ardara.

“The name Naomh Ultan came in 1975. A lot of people were still calling the club Dunkineely, even up to 1984 when we won the Intermediate Championship. It’s in the minutes of a meeting where Fr Patrick Cunningham proposed that the name St Ultan  would be on the name of the club. It is believed St Ultan was from Co Meath but he founded a small church at St John’s Point and there’s a townland in St John’s Point called Killultan. Gerry Floyd seconded that proposal. 

“Gerry was a great GAA man too. He was involved back in the 1950s and they kept it going until 1959. But there was nothing from 1959 until 1974,” says Shovlin.

There is a link to the Killinkere club in Co Cavan who also have Saint Ultan included in their name and the local church there is St Ultan’s Church.

The cover of the book which will be launched on Friday night

But there was Gaelic football in the Dunkineely area as far back as 1923. They were affiliated with the Co Board in 1926. But at that time it wasn’t Dunkineely but pockets outside like Croagh and St John’s Point.  “It was local  parish leagues. Croagh was a great place for Gaelic games and Bruckless. Dunkineely was mainly Protestant residents at that time, if you look at the Census. Gaelic Games was more in the outlying areas, out in the mountains.”

Dunkineely won a junior championship in 1936 and the Killybegs team that won the senior championship in 1952 had the Cunninghams from the Dunkineely area.

“Killybegs had the pick from Dunkineely to Kilcar that time,” said Shovlin.

Dunkineely won the St Connell Cup in 1958, which was a south-west Donegal competition.

The impressive 400-page book being launched on Friday night deals mainly with the history of the Naomh Ultan club from 1974 but there is a section dealing with the origins of GAA in the general area.

Apart from the 400 pages, there are over 400 photographs, and there is a special piece remembering one of the founders, Jack Furey, and also Aidan O’Donnell, who both died recently.

It details all the highs and the lows of winning. There were wins in the Intermediate Championship and Intermediate Reserve but there were also losing finals in both. There was also success and failure and Junior and Junior B over the years.

Much of the material for the book was gathered by Colm, Martin and Mary Shovlin. The book was produced by Hero Books (Liam Hayes). “They were a great help,” says Shovlin. 

The editorial committee was Daniel McGlynn, Colm Shovlin, Ann Alvey, Stephanie Kyles and Willie Mackey. There is a special section on All-Ireland winner, Martin Shovlin, with photos of the Sam Maguire arriving in Dunkineely, no doubt the biggest individual highlight for the club in their 50 years.

“I remember as a 14 year old back in 1974 going up and down the hill and it’s a big step on to the facilities that we have now. It took a lot of hard work,” said Shovlin.

Much of the material in the book came from a scrapbook that Colm Shovlin kept from when he was very young. “There was one article from The Follower (the late Cormac McGill) which covered the opening of the present facilities in 1997. Donegal played Roscommon on the June bank holiday.

The Follower had descendants from the St John’s Point area and he turned down an invitation to go with Leitrim to London for the Connacht championships to come to the opening, but he was wondering where the famous slope had gone to (the new pitch was going in a different direction!)

“It shows what determination, goodwill and love of the GAA can do and congratulations to one and all,” wrote the Follower.

Until the arrival of the present field, the sloped field was shared by Naomh Ultan and the local soccer club.

Stories included in the book include going to Alfie Walker’s to get the sawdust to line the field on Sunday morning. 

“We used to train in the old hall in Dunkineely and the roof was leaking. We used to throw sawdust on the floor to stop slipping. Everything was the same. Ballintra had some pitches around the time. I remember playing in Bridgetown in hailstones and covered in muck and we went into a yard at the top of the hill and there was a hose and we hosed each other down.

“We always forgot to do our elbows and when we went to the pub our elbows were all muck,” said Shovlin.

Those were different times and one story related by Colm Shovlin underlines the big difference with today. “Jimmy Byrne used to be sent with the ball. He used to come home with one ball and take away another ball to get it fixed in O’Neill’s in Dublin. Sweet God, now they won’t even lift the footballs.

“The first membership of the club was 50p. Willie Mackey has the membership card and it is included in the book. There were only about 20 members at the time. The book includes the names of all those who won at sports days, throwing the wellie, etc.

“We were the first club in Donegal to take out a £100 draw in 1985. We made £17,000 profit on that draw.”

The book will be launched by Colm Shovlin, who said he was informed of this by the club at the weekend. “I told them I would be short and sweet. And do you know what they said back to me, ‘we know you will’.”

The book launch takes place at 7pm on  Friday night.

A full list of the activities which takes place this weekend to mark the 50th anniversary