History
of Bryansford
Although Bryansford is well up the
field in Down with ten Senior Championship victories
the first evidence of success in Gaelic games for
the parish of Maghera lies in the hurling sector.
The Newcastle based Clan na Boirea, formed in 1904
won the Senior Hurling Championstkip in 1905 and 1906.
Press reports from the first two decades of the century
show that Newcastle intermittently competed in football
between 1906 and 1928.
Bryansford football club as such
was founded in 1926 with names such as John McCartan,
Joseph McKinney, Pat Brannigan and Nicholas Cunningham
on the committee. It competed in various competitions
but was disbanded in 1932. Reformed in 1935 the club
hit a golden period at the turn of the decade, winning
the Senior Championship in 1939,40,41,42. Leaner times
followed and the club eventually disbanded again in
1935.
In the early Forties a team existed
in Ballyhaffrey and between 1945 and 1955 there was
a team in Burrenbridge which won the Junior league
in 1949,50,51.
In 1962 Bryansford reformed as a
parish team and had immediate success in the Junior
Championship of that year. Five years later a new
youing tearn lifted the Junior Championship of 1967.
This same team went on to dominate in Down and Ulster
making in 1970's the most glorious decade in the club's
history. Between 1969 and 1977 six senior championship
and three All-County League titles were won. The Ulster
Club Championship was won in 1969 and 1970, whilst
the Feis Sevens were taken in 1968,70,71,74,77,79,80.
The Eighties has been a less successful
decade though 1984 saw another generation of 'Ford
players sweep all before them in seven-a-side competitions.
On three occasions the club has finished runners_up
in the 'A' league. Bryansford are now experiencing
enormous success at juvenile level and it is hoped
that the 1990's will at least bring back some of the
Seventies success story.
